Jimmy Rushing 1903–1972

Jazz vocalist pianist

At a Glance…

Selected discography

Sources

Jimmy Rushing, also known as “Mr. Five by Five,” possessed a joyous, booming voice that could be clearly heard over the swinging jazz orchestras of the big band era and beyond. He began his career as a piano player in the 1920s, but soon found his voice. He made his name with the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1940s, and enjoyed an active career singing solo and with jazz and big-band greats such as Humphrey Lyttleton, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Eddie Condon, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, among others. He toured the United States and abroad, and his voice can be heard on countless recordings, including the most recent compilations The Essential Jimmy Rushing (1978), Mister Five by Five (1980), and The Classic Count (1982).

James Andrew Rushing was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on August 26, 1903. He came from a musical family; his father played trumpet, his mother and brother were singers, and his uncle played piano in a gambling house. Rushing played the violin as a child, but switched to piano when a cousin, Wesley Manning, began teaching him to play. He continued his music studies as a teen at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He was known in his younger days as “Little Jimmy,” but earned the nickname “Mr. Five by Five” when he grew up—the name was descriptive of his short height and wide girth. The “official pianist” of Wilberforce University dances went on to earn his living as a pianist, and moved to California in the mid-1920s.

When asked about how he started singing after he had already begun his career as a pianist, Rushing recalled in-Jazz: The Essential Companion: “I could only play in three keys. After a time everything began to sound alike to me and it was then they told me to sing.” Jazz: The Essential Companion went on to describe Rushing’s voice as “surprisingly high, intense and with a dramatic, near-operatic vibrato.” Richard S. Ginnell wrote on the All Music Guide website that Rushing possessed a “booming voice that radiated sheer joy in whatever material he sang,” and added that he could “dominate even the loudest of big bands.” It was this voice, not Rushing’s piano chops, that could be heard throughout Southern California with the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Harvey Brooks, and Paul Howard during the 1920s. He moved back home to Oklahoma City for a time in 1925 in order to help his family run their luncheonette business. The vocalist then toured with the Billy King Revue, of which Walter Page was a band member.

At a Glance…

Born James Andrew Rushing on August 26, 1903 in Oklahoma City, OK; died on June 8,1972, in New York, NY.

Career: Jazz vocalist. played in Southern California with Jelly Roll Morten, Harvey Brooks, and Paul Howard, 1920s; member of Walter Page Blue Devils band 1927-29; joined Bennie Moten’s orchestra, 1929-35; member of Count Basie Orchestra, 1935-50; toured with his own septet, 1950-52; as a solo act, 1952-72; Europe with Humphrey Littleton, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, 1961; Japan and Australia with Eddie Condon, 1964; appeared in film The Learning Tree, 1969; appeared at the Half Note in New York City playing with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, early 1970$.

Awards: Voted Best Male Singer and Record of the Year for The You and Me That Used to Be, Down Beat music poll 1972.

When Page formed his own band, Rushing was hired to tour the Southwest with Page’s Blue Devils from 1927 to 1929. He recorded the album Blue Devil Blues with the group in 1929 on the Vocalion record label.

Rushing joined up with Bennie Moten’s big band in 1929, and remained with the group until Moten’s death in 1935. He then worked for a time with Buster Moten, before becoming one of several Moten band members who joined Count Basie’s orchestra in Kansas City. It was with Basie that Rushing, as featured vocalist, would enjoy his glory years. They played at the Reno Club in Kansas City until Basie took the band to New York. Rushing sang on Basie’s famous 1936 recording of “Boogie Woogie,” and the recording placed Rushing on the national music scene. Rushing also appeared on several Basie recordings from that era on the Decca, Columbia, and RCA record labels, and was featured in several films with Basie’s band, including Funzapoppin in 1943. Rushing also recorded with Benny Goodman, Bob Crosby, and Johnny Otis during these years.

The 1950s brought the end of the big band era, and Rushing worked only occasionally with Basie during 1949-50, after Basie streamlined his orchestra in 1948. He formed his own septet, which included Buck Clayton and Dicky Wells, and toured and played a residency at the Savoy Ballroom in New York from 1950 to 1952. He worked as a solo act after June of 1952, and toured and played residencies in such places as New York, Newark, Kansas City, Cleveland, Oakland, California, and Canada. He toured the United Kingdom with Humphrey Lyttleton’s band, and went to Europe in 1957 as a solo act, returning in 1958 to play the Brussels World Fair with Benny Goodman. He played in 1959 with Buck Clayton and made frequent appearances with Basie at high-profile jazz festivals during the 1950s and 1960s. He toured with Harry James and the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1961, and the following year enjoyed a residency at a club in Miami. He then toured Japan and Australia with Eddie Condon’s group in 1964. Rushing’s solo recordings included The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq. (1957), Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass (1958), and Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Girls (1960), which were all recorded on Columbia by legendary jazz producer John Hammond.

The mid-1960s found Rushing back in the United States, appearing regularly at the Half Note jazz club in New York City. He also had a singing and acting role as the character “Chappie Logan” in director Gordon Parks’s 1969 film The Learning Tree. Rushing could be found at the Half Note in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. During his later years he favored such tunes as “Going to Chicago,” “Every Day I Have the Blues,” and “Exactly Like You.” Leukemia sidelined Rushing in 1971, but he appeared at the Kansas City Jazz Festival and released his final album, The You and Me That Used to Be, in 1972. Despite the fact that his voice was sounding somewhat tired, Rushing was voted Best Male Singer and won Record of the Year for The You and Me That Used to Be in that year’s Down Beat reader’s poll. Rushing died of leukemia in New York City on June 8, 1972.

Selected discography

Jimmy Rushing Sings the Blues, Vanguard, 1955.

Listen to the Blues, Vanguard, 1955.

Cat Meets Chick, Columbia, 1956.

The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq., Columbia, 1957.

Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass, Columbia, 1958.

If This Ain’t the Blues, Vanguard, 1958.

Rushing Lullabies, Sony, 1960.

Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Girls, Columbia, 1960.

Five Feet of Soul, Colpix, 1963.

Two Shades of Blue, Audio Lab, 1964.

Every Day I Have the Blues, Impulse!, 1967.

Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You, Master Jazz, 1967.

Who Was It Sang That Song?, Master Jazz, 1967.

Blues and Things, Master Jazz, 1967.

Livin’ the Blues, Bluesway, 1968.

Sent for You Yesterday, Bluesway, 1968.

The You and Me That Used to Be, Bluebird/RCA, 1971.

Goin’ to Chicago, Vanguard, 1971.

Sources

Books

Carr, Ian, Digby Fairweather, and Brian Priestley, Jazz: The Essential Companion, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

Chilton, John, Who’s Who of Jazz, Da Capo, 1985.

Claghorn, Charles Eugene, Biographical Dictionary of Jazz, Prentice-Hall, 1982.

Kernfeld, Barry, editor, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, Ltd., 1998.

On-line

All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (August 20, 2002).

—Brenna Sanchez