Friday, January 9, 2009

Eddie South

If you ever check out my music listing over there on the right margin (which I am very lazy about updating), you may have noticed that Eddie South gets a lot of air time around here. South was a brilliant classical player who couldn't get work with major orchestras because he was black. He switched to jazz and wound up playing with the likes of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. You can read a little more about him here. He didn't make hit records and film of him seems to be pretty scarce, so I was very pleased to find this nice clip of him playing "Tzigani in Rhythm," one of my favorite tunes. I can't find the source of the clip. It seems to be from the late 40s, judging by the clothes and hairstyles. The only reference to South at IMDB is for a 1953 episode of the Dave Garroway show, and I'm sure this isn't from that. Anyway, enjoy. The picture is imperfect but the sound isn't bad. Pay attention to the bow work. Genius.

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3 comments:

ScentScelf said...

Thank you for introducing me to Eddie South! You've created a rounding of the circle, of sorts; in my youth, I played the string parts for a Dixieland swing band on my flute.

And now, here you are, having entered my world via a shared interest in perfume, always piquing my interest with your varied blog entries. You've connected my old & new! :)

January 9, 2009 at 8:41 PM
BitterGrace said...

I'm glad you enjoy ES-he's not everybody's cup of tea, but I just love all those ornaments and flourishes. I am trying to imagine flute featured in a Dixieland band--I would love to hear it.

It's funny how perfume lovers tend to cluster around other shared interests. Music is definitely one, poetry another. There seemed to be scads of serious musicians on POL when I hung out there. Maybe we are all descended from a common ancestor ;-)

January 9, 2009 at 9:40 PM
Anonymous said...

The Dark Angel of the Violin indeed!

January 10, 2009 at 11:32 AM

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