James Joseph "Buster" Bennett (March 19, 1914 – July 3, 1980) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

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

and

blues shouter A blues shouter is a blues singer, capable of singing unamplified with a band. Notable blues shouters include: *Big Maybelle *Big Mama Thornton *Piney Brown *Walter Brown (singer), Walter Brown, of the Jay McShann orchestra *Beulah Bryant *H-Bomb F ...

. His nickname was "Leap Frog". At various times in his career, he played the

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

, the

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

, and the

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. He was known for his gutbucket style on the saxophone. He also played the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and the

string bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

professionally.

Biography

Bennett was born in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. By 1930 or so, he was working in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, but he spent most of his active career (1938 to 1954) in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He was employed as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

Lester Melrose Lester Franklin Melrose (December 14, 1891 – April 12, 1968) was a talent scout who was one of the first American producers of Chicago blues records. Career Lester Franklin Melrose was born in Sumner, Illinois, the second of six childr ...

from 1938 to 1942; he played on

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

with

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...

, the Yas Yas Girl,

Monkey Joe Jesse "Monkey Joe" Coleman (January 26, 1906 - November 16, 1967) was an American country blues pianist and singer, who recorded sporadically from the 1930s into the 1970s. Coleman was born in Shelby County, Tennessee. He worked locally in Jack ...

, and

Washboard Sam Robert Clifford Brown (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966), known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues musician and singer. Biography Brown's date and place of birth are uncertain; many sources state that he was born in 191 ...

. Concomitantly he played on sessions with Jimmie Gordon under the direction of

Sammy Price Samuel Blythe Price (October 6, 1908 – April 14, 1992) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the ...

. In 1944, the Buster Bennett Trio featured Arrington Thornton on piano and Duke Groner on bass. Other lineups led by Bennett included

Wild Bill Davis Wild Bill Davis (November 24, 1918 – August 17, 1995) was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with t ...

Israel Crosby Israel Crosby (January 19, 1919 – August 11, 1962) was an American jazz double-bassist born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. One of the finest to emerge during the 1930s, he was also a member of the Ahmad Jamal trio for most of 1954 t ...

, and Pee Wee Jackson."Buster 'Leap Frog' Bennett"
The Red Saunders Research Foundation. Retrieved 15 May 2013. In 1945, Bennett signed a three-year

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

; he was marketed as a

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

sound-alike. In early 1946, while under contract to Columbia, Bennett appeared, under the name of his trumpet player, Charles Gray, on a recording for the short-lived Chicago

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

Rhumboogie. He also made an unannounced appearance on a Red Saunders session for

Sultan Records Sultan Recording Company, headquartered in Detroit, was a short-lived label started c. 1946 by Morton Sultan (1921 - 1983).

in 1946 and on a "tenor battle" session with

Tom Archia Ernest Alvin Archia, Jr. (November 26, 1919 – January 16, 1977) known as Tom Archia, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Early life Archia was born in Groveton, Texas, moving with his family as a child to Rockdale and then Baytown, ...

for

Aristocrat Records Aristocrat Records, sometimes billed as the Aristocrat of Records, was founded in April 1947 by Charles and Evelyn Aron, together with their partners Fred and Mildred Brount and Art Spiegel. By September, Leonard Chess had invested in the young re ...

in 1947. At the height of his popularity, in the late 1940s, he was known for his ability to draw customers into a South Side club—and for his cantankerous personality. On one occasion, he and

Preston Jackson James Preston McDonald, better known by his stage name Preston Jackson (January 3, 1902 – November 12, 1983) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist. Biography Jackson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and moved to Chi ...

got into a fistfight at the Musicians Union hall, over a $2 debt. Bennett recorded his last session for Columbia in December 1947. By 1956 he was out of music, because of the loss of recording opportunities and his failing health. He retired to

, where he lived out the remainder of his life. He died in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in 1980, at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Buster 1914 births 1980 deaths Musicians from Pensacola, Florida Blues musicians from Florida American male saxophonists American blues singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians