Booker Pittman or Pitman (3 March 1909,

Fairmount Heights, Maryland Fairmount Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,528. The town was formally incorporated in 1935, making the town the second oldest African-American-majority municipali ...

, USA – 19 October 1969,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil) was a

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 ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

ist who played with

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

in the US and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. He also played alto and soprano

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Musical career

In 1930, Pittman was with Jap Allen's Cotton Club Orchestra, which included Joe Keyes,

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, a ...

, Jim "Big Daddy" Walker,

Clyde Hart Clyde Hart (born February 3rd, 1934) is an American of track and field at Baylor University. Hart retired as head coach for the Baylor track program on June 14, 2005, after 42 years with the program. Hart is primarily known as the only coach ...

, Slim Moore, Raymond Howell, Eddie "Orange" White, Al Denny, O.C. Wynne and Durwood "Dee" Stewart. He later joined

Bennie Moten Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchest ...

's band. He left the US for the first time in 1933, when he went with

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing music, swing and rhythm and blues, rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang ...

's orchestra to Monte Carlo, and then to Paris, where he stayed for four years. During that period, he met a Brazilian musician named Romeo Silva, who took him on a tour of Brazil along with other musicians. After a year in Brazil, he moved to Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he formed his own band, staying there until 1946, before returning to Brazil, where he was known by the nickname "Buca", and continuing his musical career there, playing at the

Urca Casino The Urca Casino was an internationally renowned Brazilian casino located in Urca, a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. It operated from 1933 to 1946, when gambling was banned. History The building was built in 1922, initially housing the Balneár ...

Personal life

Pittman was the son of Portia Washington Pittman and William S. Pittman and a grandson of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

. He lived in Copacabana and befriended

Jorge Guinle Jorge Eduardo Guinle (Petrópolis, 5 February 1916 – Rio de Janeiro, 5 March 2004), also known as Jorginho Guinle, was a Brazilian billionaire tycoon from the Guinle family of Rio, Brazil. He was known as one of the richest men on earth, a j ...

and

Pixinguinha Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho (May 4, 1897 – February 17, 1973), better known as Pixinguinha, () was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flutist, and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. He worked with Brazilian popular music and developed the '' c ...

. He died of laryngeal

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

at his home in the São Paulo quarter of Vila Nova Conceição at the age of 60. At the behest of his wife Ofélia, he was transferred to Rio de Janeiro and buried at the Cemitério São João Batista, in the

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

quarter. His stepdaughter,

Eliana Pittman Eliana Pittman (born Eliana Leite Da Silva; August 14, 1945), is a Brazilian former singer and actress. Pittman was one of the more soulful singers of the early 1970s. The stepdaughter of the jazz saxophonist Booker Pittman, she was deeply infl ...

, is a Brazilian jazz singer and actress.

References

Sources

*
Booker Pittman
' at

Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira The Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira (''Cravo Albin Dictionary of Brazilian Pop Music'') is a non-commercial website maintained by the Instituto Cultural Cravo Albin (Cravo Albin Cultural Institute). Its objective is to gath ...

. * Booker Pittmanat

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 ...

Official Website of Eliana Pittman Kripto Para
1909 births 1969 deaths American jazz clarinetists 20th-century American musicians American expatriates in France American emigrants to Brazil {{US-clarinetist-stub