Eubie Blake

Eubie Blake

出生 : 1887-02-07, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

死亡 : 1983-02-12

略歴

Eubie Blake was born James Hubert Blake in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 7. He died later on February 12, 1983, having become one of the most important figures in early 20th-century African American music and a major contributor to ragtime and early jazz music and culture. Blake began his musical journey at age four playing a pump organ. At fifteen, he became a professional musician playing ragtime songs in a brothel. In 1905, he moved to New York City, where he asked Will Cook to assist him in promoting his first song, “Sounds of Africa.” When a buyer offered $100, Blake was elevated to the status of a professional songwriter. Although negotiations between Blake and the buyer ended without a sale, the song was later renamed ‘The Charleston Rag.” Blake returned to Baltimore where he performed with C. Luckeyeth Roberts and James Johnson. In 1910, he married Avis Lee, a classical pianist. Four years later he published his first song, “Chevy Chase.” In 1915, he met his longtime song writing partner, Noble Sissle, with whom he wrote a hit song for singer Sophie Tucker, “It’s All Your Fault.” Blake and Sissle collaborated to create Shuffle Along, the first all-black musical hit on Broadway. The show and its hit songs, “I’m Just Wild about Harry” and “Love Will Find a Way,” were so popular that in 1921 the show was performed by three different touring companies. Blake also created some shows on his own including Swing It and Blackbirds. When ragtime faded in popularity by the early 1920s, Blake shifted to jazz and performed continuously until 1946 when he took a twenty-three year hiatus from show business. He returned in 1969, at the age of 86. Blake toured the world playing piano and giving lectures on ragtime music and helped promote the ragtime revival of the 1970s, which partly grew out of the popularity of the Robert Redford film The Sting. Eubie Blake gave talks and performed his music well into his nineties. In 1979, the musical Eubie was created from his work; Blake himself made several cameo appearances in performances across the United States. Eubie Blake passed away in New York City shortly after his 100th birthday. bio from www.blackpast.org

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Eubie Blake

参加作品

Music Inn
Himself (archive footage)
During a decade rife with paranoia, in the middle of the McCarthy era, Music Inn was a bold experiment. Halfway between the Second World War and The Civil Rights Movement, Phil and Stephanie Barber created an oasis in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts where aspiring musicians came to learn from the very best. Students and faculty, young and old, rich and poor, white, black, and brown convened together and learned from each other. Defying the surrounding environment, Music Inn harbored a racial and cultural harmony where music was all that mattered.
Eubie!
Music
Eubie! began life as a Broadway musical, celebrating the life and work of legendary black entertainer/composer Eubie Blake. This taped version was specially prepared for cable TV in 1981, then released on videocassette a few years later. Gregory and Maurice Hines head the exuberant, toe-tapping cast. Among the highlights are such Blake standards as "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The race issue is brought into play every once in a while, but never in such an omnipresent fashion as to dampen the spirits of this sparkling example of Broadway at its best.
Scott Joplin
Will Williams
The life story of Scott Joplin and how he became the greatest ragtime composer of all time.
Pie, Pie Blackbird
Short featuring musician Eubie Blake and his orchestra, singer Nina Mae McKinney, and young tap dancers Fayard and Harold Nicholas.
Harlem Is Heaven
Eubie Blake
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson made his movie acting debut in this 1932 film, featuring Putney Dandridge, James Baskett (Oscar winner for "Song of the South"), Cotton Club dancer Anita Boyer, Henri Wassell, Alma Smith, Bob Sawyer, and composer/bandleader Eubie Blake and his orchestra.
Eubie Blake Plays His Fantasy on Swanee River
Blake plays his "Fantasy on Swanee River" (two takes of same piece, in different styles). The highest notes failed to record in this seminal experiment with synchronized sound.
Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake Sing Snappy Songs
Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake Sing Snappy Songs