Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (June 2, 1917 – August 22, 1987) 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 ...

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, ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

. He is best noted for the tracks "Blues at Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log".

Life and career

Leonard Caston Sr. was born in

Sumrall, Mississippi Sumrall is a town in Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County, Mississippi. It is part of the Hattiesburg metropolitan area, Hattiesburg, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,421 at the 2010 census. History Sumrall was ...

, United States, and raised in

Meadville, Mississippi Meadville is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Mississippi, United States, in the southwest part of the state. The population was 449 at the 2010 census, down from 519 at the 2000 census. It is situated north of the Homochitto R ...

, from age eight. He lived 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 ...

from 1934 to 1936 but then moved back to Mississippi after his family relocated to Natchez. He learned to play piano under the influence of Leroy Carr and

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum a ...

; he has also credited Andy Kirk, Jimmy Rogers, and his relative Kim Weathersby as stylistic influences. In 1938 he returned to Chicago, where he met with Mayo Williams, a producer for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. Williams recorded him in a trio with Eugene Gilmore and Arthur Dixon. Dixon introduced Caston to his brother,

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

. Caston, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Gilmore, Joe Bell, and Willie Hawthorne then formed the Five Breezes, a group in the style of the Ink Spots. In 1940, Caston recorded his first solo record for Decca, "The Death of Walter Barnes", with

Robert Nighthawk Robert Lee McCollum (November 30, 1909 – November 5, 1967) was an American blues musician who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk. He was the father of the blues musician Sam Carr. Nighthawk was ind ...

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 ...

. The Five Breezes disbanded in 1941, and Caston began playing in the Rhythm Rascals Trio with Alfred Elkins and Ollie Crawford. The group did

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tours and in 1945 performed at a conference for

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the ...

, and

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...

. After the war, Caston recorded under his own name and with

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

and Walter Davis and performed in many studio sessions. He also recorded again with Dixon as the Four Jumps of Jive and the Big Three Trio, playing in both groups with Bernardo Dennis. Ollie Crawford joined this group soon after Dennis's departure. The Big Three Trio recorded for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

and

Okeh Records OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

. The Big Three Trio's last sides were recorded in 1952, but the group did not officially break up until 1956. Caston continued performing for decades afterwards, reuniting with Dixon to perform in 1984. Caston released an album, ''Baby Doo's House Party'', shortly before his death from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, in 1987. His son, Leonard Caston, Jr., is an R&B singer and songwriter, who sang with the Radiants, and wrote songs for Motown Records, among other endeavors.

References

External links

*Bruce Eder, Leonard Castonat

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:Caston, Leonard 1917 births 1987 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists Guitarists from Mississippi People from Meadville, Mississippi People from Sumrall, Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians