Teddy Hill

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Teddy Hill was an American big band leader and saxophonist, born in 1909 in Birmingham, Alabama. He played drums, clarinet and soprano and tenor saxophone. In the 1920s he played in New York with the Whitman Sisters, with George Howe and in the orchestra of Luis Russell. In 1934 he started his own band, which had regular slots on NBC radio and played regularly at the Savoy Ballroom. In the summer of 1937 the orchestra toured England and France. Hill recorded for ARC, Vocalion and Bluebird.

Music and breakthrough

His band was a breeding ground for young musicians, such as Roy Eldridge, Bill Coleman, Frankie Newton and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1940 he gave up the big band and became manager of Minton's Playhouse in Harlem. That club became a centre of bebop, with players such as Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke. Hill stayed there until 1969, by which time the club's musical importance had long since vanished, and afterwards ran Baron's Lounge. He died in 1978. His daughter, with the singer Bonnie Davis, became known as Melba Moore.

Influence

Hill stands in jazz history above all for what he made possible: a big band where young soloists could stand out, and a club where nightly jam sessions cleared the way to bebop.

Listening

In School of Rock

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