Charlie Echols 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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

trumpeter and bandleader. He led several California-based dance bands in the 1930s that featured a large number of important early jazz and

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

sidemen. Almost nothing is known of Echols's own life, including his birth and death dates; most of what is known about him is reconstructed from

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people w ...

interviews done by Albert McCarthy with musicians who had played in his bands, though the group did receive coverage in contemporaneous newspapers."Charlie Echols". Colin Larkin, ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. 4th edition, 2006. Echols led a band based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

starting in 1931, whose membership included Babe Carter, Herman Pettis, , Lawrence Brown,

Red Mack William Richard "Red" Mack (June 19, 1937 – April 8, 2021) was an American football wide receiver and halfback in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Green Bay Packe ...

, and . The group was revamped in 1932 with Prince remaining and

Bumps Myers Hubert Maxwell "Bumps" Myers (August 22, 1912, Clarksburg, West Virginia - March 2, 1968, Los Angeles) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known primarily as a tenor saxophonist, he also occasionally played alto and soprano sax. Myers moved to sout ...

and Kid Ory joining; soon after Jack McVea, Eddie Beal, Buddy Banks, and were added to the lineup. Echols left this ensemble and Flennoy became its leader in 1934; Echols then formed a new group with Red Mack,

Andy Blakeney Andy Blakeney (June 10, 1898, Quitman, Mississippi – February 12, 1992, Baldwin Park, California) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was a fixture of the New Orleans jazz scene for decades. Blakeney played briefly for King Oliver and Doc Cook i ...

, Paul Howard, Johnny Miller, and

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charle ...

, which played at Los Angeles's Cotton Club. Echols then retook leadership of the previous ensemble in 1935, again with an altered lineup - McVea remained with the group, and Buck Clayton, Tyree Glenn, Don Byas, and Herschel Evans all played with it. Later in the 1930s, he led yet another band which included Ernie Royal,

Al Morgan Al Morgan (January 16, 1920 – March 3, 2011) was an American producer of ''The Today Show'' during the 1960s, and a novelist best known for his trenchant look at media personalities, ''The Great Man'' (Dutton, 1955), which reviewers compared ...

, and Lee Young, alongside Bumps Myers and Paul Howard. By the early 1940s he appears to have left music. Because he never recorded, his bands were never heralded by later jazz scholars and critics, but "many of the musicians who played in bands led by Echols recalled it with great affection and admiration".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echols, Charlie American jazz bandleaders Musicians from California Year of birth missing Year of death missing Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown