James Andrew Rushing (Back here)
I Left my Baby (1957 With the Couint Basie Orchestra)

James Andrew Rushing was at Jazz and Blues singer who was born on August 26, 1903. Jimmy Rushing was born in Oklahoma City into a family that included a trumpet-playing father, a church-singing mother and a piano-playing uncle. Rushing`s mother and brother where also pianist. Rushing himself played the violin and piano as a child and sang with a church choir.

Jimmy left home in his teens and drifted, working pickup jobs as a musician. One of his first professional engagements was with Jelly Roll Morton in California.

Rushing toured professionally in the Midwest and in California before joining Walter Page`s Blue Devils (1927-1929) and Bennie Moton`s Kansas City Orchestra (1929-1935).

Rushing began his career during a period before microphones, when a singer had to be heard above the band. Jimmy Rushing`s mature tenor style was direct, articulate, sure-pitched, and rhythmic. Like many of the big band musicians who worked in Kansas City in the 30`s, Rushing had a background in the blues. He was the best known of the blues shouters. Rushing`s high-pitched, penetrating voice could sometimes be heard ten blocks away, ringing above the large swing bands. Rushing`s stile was like that of Bessie Smith. He crossed from blues to jazz. Where a blues singer would sing on the beat, Rushing sometimes anticipated it, swinging as hard as any of musician of the band.

Jimmy Rushing was best known as a vocalist with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1935 to 1950. He became widely known as he performed such songs as “Going to Chicago,” “Good Morning blues” “How Long, How Long” and “Mr. Five by Five.” After living the Count Basie`Orchestra in 1950, Rushing variously worked as a soloist. He also briefly led a band of his own and toured with other established jazz artists, including Buch Clayton and Benny Goodman. Jimmy Rushing was in demand for music festivals, studio sessions, and other events and appeared in several motion pictures. He was widely recorded, both with orchestras and as a featured artist.

Performing with famed band leaders such as Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Walter Page, and Buch Clayton, Rushing was named British jazz critics` choice as top mail vocalist. Jimmy Rushing died on June 8, 1972 at the age of sixty-nine.

Thanks to Stamp of Black History