Theodore "Wingie" Carpenter (April 15, 1898 – July 21, 1975) was a

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 ...

trumpet player, singer, and band leader active from the 1920s through the 1960s.John Chilton: ''Who's Who of Jazz, Storyville to Swing Street'',

Chilton Book Co. Chilton Company (AKA Chilton Printing Co., Chilton Publishing Co., Chilton Book Co. and Chilton Research Services) is a former publishing company, most famous for its trade magazines, and automotive manuals. It also provided conference and market ...

, Philadelphia, Pa., 1978, p. 61.Eugene Chadbourne: ''Theodore Carpenter Biography''
accessed December 31, 2011.
/ref>

Bio

Carpenter lost his left arm as the result of an accident during his early teens, with the amputation performed by a noted surgeon who was an uncle of jazz musician

Doc Cheatham Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham (June 13, 1905 – June 2, 1997), was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He is also the Grandfather of musician Theo Croker. Early life Doc Cheatham was born in Nashvi ...

. Sometime later, he took up the trumpet and by 1920 he was working in traveling carnival shows, and in 1921 he toured with Herbert's

Minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer w ...

Band. He was one of several one-armed trumpeters who worked in the music business, including similarly nicknamed

Wingy Manone Joseph Matthews "Wingy" Manone (February 13, 1900 – July 9, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His recordings included "Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a ...

. By 1926 he had settled in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, Ohio, where he worked with Wes Helvey, Clarence Paige,

Zack Whyte Zack Whyte (sometimes spelled Zach Whyte) (1898 – March 10, 1967) was an American jazz bandleader, best known for leading the territory band the Chocolate Beau Brummels. Biography Whyte was born in 1898 in Richmond, Kentucky. He studied at Wil ...

, and

Speed Webb Lawrence Arthur "Speed" Webb (18 July 1906 – 4 November 1994) was an American jazz drummer and territory band leader especially active in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Biography Webb first began playing on violin and mellophone before ...

. In 1927, he played in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, with Eugene Primus. Off and on from late 1926 through 1928, he was featured on the Whitman Sisters' Show with pianist Troy Snapp's band. During the early 1930s, Carpenter was featured with Smiling Boy Steward's Celery City Serenaders and another Florida band led by Bill Lacey. In the mid-1930s, he began regular touring with bandleaders including Jack Ellis, Dick Bunch, and

Jesse Stone Jesse Albert Stone (November 16, 1901 – April 1, 1999) was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun. His best-know ...

. In the late 1930s, he settled in New York City, where he worked with

Skeets Tolbert Campbell Aurelius "Skeets" Tolbert (February 14, 1909, Calhoun Falls, South Carolina - November 30, 2000, Houston, Texas) was an American jazz clarinetist, alto saxophonist, vocalist, composer and bandleader. He acquired the nickname "Skeets", whi ...

and Fitz Weston.WorldCat Identities: ''Weston, Fitz''
accessed January 5, 2012.
/ref> From 1939 on, Carpenter worked as the leader of his own band, working for periods at well-known clubs such as The Black Cat, The New Capitol,

Tony Pastor Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes refer ...

's The Yeah Man, and other venues. He continued to lead his band through the 1960s, playing occasional dance dates. Several of his works are still accessible as

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...

downloads, including ''Look Out Papa Don't You Bend Down'', ''Preachin' Trumpet Blues'', ''Put Me Back in the Alley'', ''Rhythm of The Dishes and Pans'', and ''Team Up''.Wingy Carpenter MP 3 Downloads
Retrieved December 31, 2011., is an example of Carpenter's music.

Personal

Carpenter was born April 15, 1898, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, a son of Jefferson and Pollie (née Middleton) Carpenter; he died July 21, 1975, in New York City.Frank Greene: ''Carpenter, Wingle heodore'
The Music Sack
Retrieved December 31, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Theodore 1898 births 1975 deaths American jazz bandleaders Musicians from St. Louis Musicians from Cincinnati Musicians from New York City 20th-century American conductors (music) Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Missouri Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century African-American musicians