Ralph Earl Sutton (November 4, 1922 – December 30, 2001) 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 ...

pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

and Fats Waller.

Biography

Sutton was born in Hamburg, Missouri, United States, the son of Earl and Edna Sutton. His younger sister Barbara Sutton Curtis was also a jazz pianist."Barbara Sutton Curtis"
''Ukiah Daily Journal'' (November 24, 2019). Sutton had a stint as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

with

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...

's band, before joining the US Army during World War II. After the war, he played at various venues in Missouri, eventually ending up at

Eddie Condon's club Eddie Condon's was the name of three successive jazz venues in New York run by jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader Eddie Condon from 1945 until the mid-1980s.Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. In 1956, he relocated to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where he recorded several albums with

Bob Scobey Robert Alexander Scobey Jr. (December 9, 1916 – June 12, 1963) was an American jazz trumpet player of traditional or Dixieland music based originally in the San Francisco area and later in Chicago, Illinois. He was born in Tucumcari, Ne ...

dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

band. From the 1960s onward, he worked mostly on his own. However, when the

World's Greatest Jazz Band The World's Greatest Jazz Band was an all-star jazz ensemble active from 1968 to 1978. Dick Gibson founded the group at his sixth Jazz Party, an annual event. The group performed mostly Dixieland jazz and recorded extensively. It was co-led by Y ...

was established in 1968, he was the natural choice for piano. He left that band in 1974 due to the extensive travel involved, and joined an old sidekick, Peanuts Hucko, in a quartet in Denver, near his home in Evergreen, Colorado. Fellow jazz pianist

Jess Stacy Jesse Alexandria Stacy (August 11, 1904 – January 1, 1995) was an American jazz pianist who gained prominence during the swing era. He is perhaps best known for his years with the Benny Goodman band during the late 1930s, particularly his pe ...

said this about Ralph Sutton: "He is a superb piano player and a great guy. There's nothing upstage about him. I really admire the way he plays. He's one of the few piano players who uses both hands, and it's sure nice to know that a player like Ralph is still around. I can't say enough good things about him. He's one of the greats, and I hope he gets the recognition he deserves." Sutton died of a stroke in

Evergreen, Colorado Evergreen is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Jefferson County, Colorado, U.S. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Eve ...

, at the age of 79.

Discography

As leader

* ''Piano Solos in the Classic Jazz Tradition'' ( Riverside, 1949, 1952) * ''Piano Moods'' (

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

), 1950 * ''Backroom Piano'' ( Down Home, 1955) * ''Wondrous Piano, the Private Family Recordings,'' ( Arbors, 1961) * ''Ragtime U.S.A.'' (

Roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

, 1963) * ''Off the Cuff'' (

Audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

, 1976

982 Year 982 ( CMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Emperor Otto II (the Red) assembles an imperial expeditionary force at ...

* ''Ralph Sutton – Live'' ( Flyright, 1978) * ''Ralph Sutton at St. George Church, England'' (Arbors, 1992) * '' Ralph Sutton at Maybeck'' (

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, 1993) * ''The Joint is Jumpin': the Music of Fats Waller'' ( Sackville 1999

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

with Bob Barnard)

As co-leader

With

Ruby Braff Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong". Bra ...

* ''Remembered'' (Arbors) * ''Ralph Suttom & Ruby Braff 1980 (Chaz Jazz Records inc.) CJ101'' * ''Ralph Suttom & Ruby Braff 1980 (Chaz Jazz Records inc.) CJ102'' With

Dick Cary Richard Durant Cary (July 10, 1916 – April 6, 1994) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Cary earned a bachelor's degree in music from Wesleyan University in 1938 and star ...

* ''Rendezvous at Sunnie's 1969'' (Arbors) With

Kenny Davern John Kenneth Davern (January 7, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American jazz clarinetist. Biography He was born in Huntington, Long Island, to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry. His mother's family originally came from ...

* ''Ralph Sutton and Kenny Davern Vol. I'' 1980 (Chaz Jazz Records inc.) CJ105 * ''Ralph Sutton and Kenny Davern Vol. II'' 1980 (Chaz Jazz Records inc.) CJ106 With

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Art ...

* ''Dick Hyman/Ralph Sutton'' 1993 (Concord) With

Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and ...

* '' Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players'' (Chaz Jazz, 1980) - originally released on 2 LPs as ''The Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players: Two Pianos Vol. I & Vol. II'' * '' Last of the Whorehouse Piano Players'' (Chiaroscuro, 1989) With Johnny Varro * *''A Pair of Kings'' (Arbors)

References

External links

* * *
Ralph Sutton Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Ralph E. 1922 births 2001 deaths American jazz pianists American male pianists Chiaroscuro Records artists Riverside Records artists Stride pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians World's Greatest Jazz Band members Sackville Records artists Arbors Records artists Columbia Records artists Concord Records artists Roulette Records artists