Dave Peyton (19 August 1889 – 30 April 1955) was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, orchestra leader, and music critic columnist for the ''

Chicago Defender ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

''. Peyton first began as a pianist in the trio of

Wilbur Sweatman Wilbur Coleman Sweatman (February 7, 1882 – March 9, 1961) was an American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader and clarinetist. Sweatman was one of the first African-American musicians to have fans nationwide. He was also a trai ...

, along with George Reeves, where he played from 1908 to 1912. Following this Peyton led his own ensembles in various theaters 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 ...

. His sidemen included Charlie Allen, George Mitchell,

Bob Shoffner Bob Shoffner (April 4, 1900 – March 5, 1983) was an American jazz trumpeter. Shoffner grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and played drums and bugle before settling on trumpet at age eleven. He played trumpet in a military band while serving in th ...

Reuben Reeves Reuben "River" Reeves (October 25, 1905 – September 1975) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Career Born in Evansville, Indiana, Reeves was the youngest of three brothers. He initially learned piano, encouraged by his pianist moth ...

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, Trombone, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of Music of New Orle ...

Bud Scott Arthur Budd Scott (January 11, 1890 – July 2, 1949) was an American jazz guitarist, banjoist and singer. He was one of the earliest musicians associated with the New Orleans jazz scene. As a violinist he performed with James Reese Europe' ...

Jasper Taylor Jasper Taylor (January 1, 1894, Texarkana, Arkansas – November 7, 1964, Chicago) was an American jazz drummer. Taylor performed in Wild West revues and minstrel shows in his teens, touring the American South and Mexico. He played in Memphis, Te ...

, Jimmy Bertrand,

Baby Dodds Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era. He varied his drum patterns with accents and f ...

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 ...

Darnell Howard Darnell Howard (July 25, 1895 in Chicago – September 2, 1966 in San Francisco) was an American jazz clarinetist and violinist. Early life Howard began playing violin at age seven, picking up clarinet and saxophone later in his youth. Career ...

Jerome Don Pasquall Jerome Don Pasquall (September 20, 1902 – October 18, 1971) was an American jazz reed player. Early life Pasquall was born in Fulton, Kentucky, and grew up in St. Louis. As a child, he played the mellophone in brass bands. He served in t ...

, and Lee Collins. While he only recorded under his own name once (with

Richard M. Jones Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones (sometimes written Richard Mariney Jones), (June 13, 1892 – December 8, 1945) was an American jazz pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer. Numerous songs bear his name as author, includ ...

, on piano in ''Baby o’ Mine'' (1935, Decca 7115) or ''Joe Louis Chant''), his orchestra also recorded in 1928 under

Fess Williams Fess Williams (born Stanley R. Williams; April 10, 1894 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz musician.''Biography Index, A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines, Volume 10: September 1973 — August 1976'', New ...

's name (''Dixie Stomp''/''Drifting and Dreaming'', Voc. 15690). In the 1930s he led an orchestra at the Regal Theater, and from the mid-1930s until late-1940s played as a soloist in bars and

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s. In the 1950s he changed career and opened a dry cleaning establishment. Peyton was known for his organising skills. He worked as a music contractor, filling orchestras with personnel upon request for the segregated black and white venues. He was able to do this in part because of his working relationship with Earnie Young (reputed to be one of the founders of the

Music corporation of America Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which opened on New Year's Day 1950 a ...

). Peyton was also good at arranging music and could personalise songs for performers so that their performance of popular songs was distinctive. He did this for stars such as

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...

and

Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay (August 1, 1878 – January 11, 1947) was a Canadian singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous". She was known as "The Queen of Vaudeville" during the height of her popularity from the early 1 ...

. He wrote a weekly music column in the ''Chicago Defender'' newspaper from 1925 - 1929. Peyton is best remembered for his songs, some of which became major hits; among them were the

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

I Ain't Got Nobody "I Ain't Got Nobody" (sometimes referred to as "I'm So Sad and Lonely" or "I Ain't Got Nobody Much") is a popular song and copyrighted in 1915. It was first recorded by Marion Harris, and became a perennial standard, recorded many times over the ...

" and the tunes "Hey Stop Kissin' My Sister" and "Roumania", both performed by

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star ...

References

American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American male songwriters 1889 births 1955 deaths 20th-century American male musicians {{US-musician-stub