William McKinley "Jazz" Gillum (September 11, 1902 or 1904 – March 29, 1966) 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 ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

player and singer.

Biography

Gillum was born in

Indianola, Mississippi Indianola is a city in and the county seat of Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta. The population was 10,683 at the 2010 census. History On June 30, 1874 the town was surveyed and on April 14, 1885 an addition ...

. He ran away from home at age seven and for the next few years lived in Charleston, Mississippi, working and playing for tips on street corners. He moved to Chicago in 1923, where he met the guitarist Big Bill Broonzy. The duo started working at nightclubs around the city. By 1934 Gillum was recording for ARC Records and

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...

. Gillum's recordings, under his own name and as a

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo o ...

, were included on many of the highly popular "Bluebird beat" recordings produced by

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 ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1940, he was the first to record the blues classic " Key to the Highway" (featuring Broonzy on guitar), utilizing the now-standard melody and eight-bar blues arrangement. (The song had first been recorded a few months earlier by Charlie Segar, with a different melody and a 12-bar blues arrangement.) Gillum's version of the song was covered by Broonzy a few months later, and his version has become the standard arrangement of this now-classic blues song. Gillum's records were some of the earliest featuring blues with electric guitar accompaniment, when the 16-year-old jazz guitarist George Barnes played on several songs on Gillum's 1938 session that produced "Reefer Headed Woman" and others. He joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in 1942 and served until 1945. Gillum recorded an early version of " Look on Yonder Wall" (1946) with Big Maceo on piano, which was later popularized by Elmore James. After the Bluebird label folded in the late 1940s, he made few recordings. His last recordings were on a couple of 1961 albums with

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

and the singer and guitarist Arbee Stidham, for Folkways Records. On March 29, 1966, Gillum was shot in the head during a street argument and was pronounced dead on arrival at Garfield Park Hospital, in Chicago. He is buried at Restvale Cemetery, in Alsip, Illinois. His late daughter, Ardella Williams, was a blues singer in Chicago.

References

External links

Gillum discography on Folkways
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Document Records biography of Gillum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillum, Jazz 1900s births 1966 deaths American blues harmonica players American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi Bluebird Records artists People from Indianola, Mississippi Deaths by firearm in Illinois 20th-century American musicians People from Charleston, Mississippi 20th-century African-American musicians Burials at Restvale Cemetery

Biography

See also

References

External links