Dick Vance (November 28, 1915 – July 31, 1985) 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 ...

trumpeter and arranger.

Biography

Richard Thomas Vance was born in

Mayfield, Kentucky Mayfield is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Hi ...

, and raised in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, where he learned violin before concentrating on trumpet. He played in Cleveland with J. Frank Terry (1932) before joining

Lil Armstrong Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in t ...

's band in 1934. He moved to New York City and played with

Willie Bryant William Stevens Bryant (August 30, 1908 – February 9, 1964) was an American jazz bandleader, vocalist, and disc jockey, known as the "Mayor of Harlem". Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, while growing up he took trumpet lesso ...

Kaiser Marshall Joseph "Kaiser" Marshall (June 11, 1902 in Savannah, Georgia – January 2, 1948 in New York City) was an American jazz drummer. Marshall was raised in Boston, where he studied under George L. Stone. He played with Charlie Dixon before movin ...

, and

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical ...

(1936–38); in Henderson's band he was lead trumpeter and occasionally sang. In 1939, he joined

Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. The ...

's orchestra, and remained in the group when

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

took over leadership. Upon the disbanding of the Webb band, Vance became the staff arranger for Glen Grey's band and, in 1942, joined the

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 ...

Orchestra. Following this he worked with

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Nagasaki", "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "South ...

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...

Eddie Heywood Edward Heywood Jr. (December 4, 1915 – January 3, 1989) was an American jazz pianist and composer particularly active in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Heywood was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. His father, Eddie Heywood Sr., was a ...

(1944–45), and

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 ...

. From 1944 to 1947 he studied at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

, and moonlighted as a

pit orchestra A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in Musical theatre, musicals, operas, ballets, and other shows involving music. The term was also used for orchestras accompanying silent movies when more than a piano was used. ...

musician and an arranger for artists

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

. During this time he played on notable Broadway productions including ''

Pal Joey Pal Joey may refer to: * ''Pal Joey'' (novel), a 1940 epistolary novel by John O'Hara * ''Pal Joey'' (musical), a 1940 musical based on the novel * ''Pal Joey'' (film), a 1957 film, loosely adapted from the musical of the same name * ''Pal Joey' ...

'', ''

Beggar's Holiday ''Beggar's Holiday'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by John La Touche and music by Duke Ellington. History and background The project originated with black scenic designer Perry Watkins, who envisioned a jazz-driven adaptation of John G ...

'', and in the off-stage band for ''

Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of perso ...

''. In 1950, Vance reunited with his former band leader,

, and played in his New York-based sextet (this was actually Henderson's last public engagement before his death). 1951 to 1952 Dick Vance was a member of Duke Ellington's band's trumpet section where he arranged most of the items for the album Ellington ‘55. In 1958 he co-composed "Jazz Festival Suite" with Ellington for performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. Vance led Sonny Stitt's trumpet section on the album ''Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass'' (recorded in 1962). He toured abroad with his own band in 1969, which later appeared (1970) in the film L’aventure du jazz. He toured with Redman in 1953 and was a regular at the

Savoy Ballroom The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harlem ...

throughout the 1950s. He released two albums in the 1960s and toured with

Eddie Barefield Edward Emanuel Barefield (December 12, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and arranger most noteworthy for his work with Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington. Barefield's musical ...

in 1969. He appears briefly in episode 9 of the music documentary series '' All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music''. In 1979, he was cited as the composer for the documentary film

No Maps on My Taps ''No Maps on My Taps'' is a 1979 American documentary film directed by George Nierenberg. The film recounts the history of tap dancing in America through the lives of three influential tap dancers, Chuck Green, Howard Sims, and Bunny Briggs, and s ...

, starring

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

and

Howard Sims Howard "Sandman" Sims (January 24, 1917 – May 20, 2003) was an African-American tap dancer who began his career in vaudeville. He was skilled in a style of dancing that he performed in a wooden sandbox of his own construction, and acquired h ...

. Vance died in New York City in July 1985, at the age of 69.

Discography

, ''Liberian Suite'' (CBS, 1973) * Eddie Heywood Jr., ''Eddie Heywood at the Piano and His Orchestra Lightly and Politely'' (Decca, 1956) *

, ''Webb On the Air'' (Jazz Trip, 1970) *

, ''Newport Jazz Festival Live at Carnegie Hall July 5, 1973'' (CBS, 1973) *

, ''Live from the Roseland Ballroom New York 1940'' (Sunbeam, 1974) *

, ''The Complete Fletcher Henderson 1927–1936'' (RCA/Bluebird, 1976) *

All Stars/

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart dro ...

, ''The Big Reunion'' (Jazztone, 1958) *

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...

, ''Mary Lou Williams and Orchestra'' (Stinson, 1962) *

Paul Quinichette Paul Quinichette (May 17, 1916 – May 25, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, whose nickname was "The President", or simply "P ...

, ''Like Who?'' (United Artists, 1959) *

Sonny Stitt Sonny Stitt (born Edward Hammond Boatner Jr.; February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982) was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his era, recording over ...

, ''

Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass ''Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass'' is an album by saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded in 1962 and released on the Atlantic label.

'' (Atlantic, 1962)

References

External links

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, Dick Vanceat

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, Dick 1915 births 1985 deaths American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Duke Ellington Orchestra members 20th-century American musicians People from Mayfield, Kentucky Musicians from Cleveland American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians