Eugene Staples, better known by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Blue Steele (March 11, 1893 – July 1, 1971) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer, trombonist and bandleader. He also played

mellophone The mellophone is a brass instrument used in marching bands and drum and bugle corps in place of French horns. It is a middle-voiced instrument, typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historica ...

. Staples was born in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

and played in a hot jazz group called Watson's Bell Hops in the early 1920s. He put together an orchestra in the middle of the decade in Atlanta, and had his first engagement in

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 25,117 at the 2020 census. As of ...

soon after. The group became a popular territory band in Florida and the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

, later touring in the Midwest as well."Blue Steele". Colin Larkin, ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. 4th edition, 2006. Steele recorded around 20 songs for

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

during the period 1927-1930.Blue Steele
biography,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

His sidemen included Frank Martinez, Pat Davis, Joe Hall, Sammy Goble, Gene Gifford, and

Kenny Sargent Laurel Kenneth Sargent (March 3, 1906 – December 20, 1969)

, all of whom later joined the

Casa Loma Orchestra The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the ...

. Singers for the group included Kay Austin, Mabel Batson, Clyde Davis, George Marks, and

Bob Nolan Bob Nolan (born Clarence Robert Nobles; April 13, 1908 – June 16, 1980, name changed to Robert Clarence Nobles in 1929) was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and comp ...

. Staples had a notoriously bad temper and was regarded by his bandmates as difficult to work with; big band historian Leo Walker wrote, "musicians, anxious to depart the Steele orchestra, had sometimes...been physically beaten by the bandleader."Leo Walker, ''The Big Band Almanac''. Ward Ritchie Press, 1978, pp. 386-387. His popularity waned over the course of the 1930s, and by 1941 he was conducting a radio orchestra on Mexico City's XEW and leading smaller ensembles. In the 1950s he led a dixieland revival group known as the Rhythm Rebels, which included

Elmer Schoebel Elmer Schoebel (September 8, 1896 – December 14, 1970) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life He was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, United States. Career Schoebel played along to silent films in Champaign, Illinoi ...

as a sideman.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Blue American jazz bandleaders American jazz trombonists American male trombonists 1893 births 1971 deaths Jazz musicians from Arkansas 20th-century American trombonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians