Green, Charlie (aka Big Green; Long Boy)
Green, Charlie (aka Big Green; Long Boy)
Green, Charlie (aka Big Green; Long Boy), jazz trombonist; b. Omaha, Nebr., c. 1900; d. N.Y., Feb. 1936. He worked with the Omaha Night Owls (c. 1920), then with Frank “Red” Perkins’s band at various Omaha venues. After touring with carnival shows, he settled in N.Y. He worked with Fletcher Henderson (1924-27, occasionally thereafter). After a brief stint with June Clark’s band at the Tango Gardens, he joined Fats Waller and James P. Johnson for the Keep Shufflin’ revue (1928). He then recorded with Bessie Smith. In 1929 he played with Zutty Singleton (Lafayette Theatre) and Benny Carter. During the following year he worked occasionally with Elmer Snowden and Chick Webb. He played with Jimmie Noone at the Savoy, then briefly with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers (1931); in 1932 he gigged with Sam Wooding and Don Redman. He worked regularly with Webb (1932-34) and again with Carter (1933). His last gigs were with Louis Metcalf s band and Kaiser Marshall’s band (Ubangi Club). He froze to death on a Harlem doorstep when he was unable to get into his home and decided to spend the night outdoors. A rumor that he was still alive and living in Holland resulted from a confusion with American trombonist Jake Green, who had worked in Rotterdam during the 1930s.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter