Haymes, Joe

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Haymes, Joe

Haymes, Joe, pianist, arranger; b. Marshfield, Mo., 1908; d. 1964. While in his teens he worked with a traveling circus as a trapeze artist, and also played bass drum in the circus band. He later worked as a self-taught pianist and arranger. He joined Ted Weems as staff arranger before forming his own band, which came to N.Y. in the early 1930s for residencies at leading dance halls, including Roseland. The band did many recordings; some were issued under Haymes’s name, many were issued using nom-de-discs. In 1934 Haymes turned the band over to Buddy Rogers, but later reformed a band, 12 members of which became the original Tommy Dorsey Band (1935). Haymes again reformed and continued recording. He continued leading in the 1930s, but occasionally fronted other bands (includine a tour with Les Brown in 1938). During the 1940s he lived for a while in Okla., then worked in Hollywood Studios before joining the CBS studio band in N.Y

—John Chilton Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter