A Concise Biography of Jack Teagarden


"Well, I was born around midnight, by daybreak I could talk..."

Weldon Leo 'Jack' Teagarden was born in in Vernon, Texas on the 20th August 1905. He came from a musical family with his mother, Helen, playing piano and his father,Charles, trumpet. His two brothers, Charlie (trumpet) and Clois (drums) were also talented musicians as was his sister Norma (piano). Jack started on piano at the age of five and two years later learned to play the baritone horn, bought for him by his father. By the age of ten Jack was playing trombone.

The family moved from Vernon to Chappell, Nebraska in 1918 and Jack was soon playing in local theatres accompanied by his mother on piano. From here his travels become a little blurred but we know that he lived for a while in 1919 in Oklahoma City then with his uncle in San Angelo and started playing with local bands. He then played with a quartet at the Horn Palace Inn, San Antonio led by drummer Cotton Bailey,from late 1920 until September 1921 except for a summer season in Shreveport.

It was from Cotton Bailey that the young Weldon received his nickname, "Jack". From then until the spring of 1923 he played with the legendary Peck Kelly's Bad Boys. Dropped out of music in Wichita Falls in the summer of '23 then joined Marin's Southern Serenaders before rejoining Peck Kelly.

In October 1924 he joined Willard Robison before settling in with the Doc Ross band where he stayed, on and off, until 1927. It was with Doc Ross that he made his first visits to the West Coast and to New York. He depped for an unknown player in the 'Johnny ' Johnson Band then he had a week's work with trumpeter Wingy Manone followed by a six week variety tour accompanying vocaliste Elixabeth Brice before joining Billy Lustig's Scranton Sirens at the famous Roseland Ballroom, New York in late February 1928.

His recording debut came with Johnny Johnson and his Statler Pennsylvanians in early December 1927 when they cut two sides for Victor, "Thou Swell"/"My One and Only". Jack was twenty-two years old. Two months with the Tommy Gott Orchestra then a major move to Ben Pollack where he remained from June 1928 until May 1933. This period with Pollack was extremely productive in recording terms as he led his own recording groups as well as playing as a sideman with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Eddie Condon, etc.

He took part in the first 'mixed' recording session with Louis which produced the majestic blues "Knockin' a Jug". In October 1928 Jack cut "Makin' Friends" with Eddie Condon and made history by using a water glass as a substitute for a mute, removing the bell of the trombone and holding the glass over the open end of the tubing producing a unique sound.

He stayed in Chicago after leaving Pollack working first with Eddie Sheasby then with Wingy Manone at the Brewery Club at the time of the Chicago World's Fair Expo. He had a short stay with Mal Hallett in the summer of 1933 then made his big move to join Paul Whiteman in December of that year. He stayed with Whiteman's star-studded aggregation until December 1938 playing along side Bill Rank, Joe Venuti, Tram, brother Charlie,etc.

The Paul Whiteman story is too big to cover here and is worth a page of its own! His stay with Whiteman brought him financial security but we will never know if this residency was a good move or a bad one. Opinions differ strongly. It has been surmised that Benny Goodman would have offered Jack the trombone chair in his new orchestra as featured soloist......no-one knows

"Rather drink muddy water, Lord, sleep in a hollow log"

After leaving Whiteman, Jack started up his own big band which he led until from February 1939 until November 1946. Musically the band was a success but financially a disaster. When the band was finally broken up, Jack gigged around, recorded as a freelance and played at the 'Esquire ' jazz concert in January 1944 at the Metropolitan Opera House with Armstrong, Eldridge, Tatum, Hawkins. He led his own sextet until joining Louis Armstrong's All Stars where he stayed from July 1947 until August 1951.

When he left Louis he formed his own All Stars and toured with them until he disbanded in 1956 when he played with Ben Pollack for a few months. He co-led another all-star group with Earl Hines which visited Britain and Europe in the fall of 1957 which was raptuorously received. Jack led another group on a State Department sponsored tour of Asia from September 1958 until January 1959.

"Look down look down, that lonesome road"

Jack was married first to Ora Binyon in San Angelo, Texas in 1923.  they had two sons before they were divorced.  In the 1930s he was married to and divorced from, successively, Clare Manzi of New York City and Edna "Billie" Coates.  Jack married Adeline "Addie" Barriere Gault in September 1942: they had three children of their own and one foster child.

He continued playing and leading a group until his death on the 15th January 1964. He played his last engagement at The Dream Room in New Orleans while suffering from bronchial pneumonia, returned to the Prince Conti Motor Hotel, just three blocks from Basin Street, after the gig and was found by the room-maid the next afternoon, dead on the floor clad in his dress shirt and shorts. He was 58 years old. The New Orleans "Times-Picayune" published his obituary on 16 January. Jack was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Plot # 7281. The headstone reads "Where there is Hatred, Let Me Sow Love"

© Michael Palmer 1996-2005

( I acknowledge with thanks John Chilton's fine reference book "Who's Who of Jazz" and the assistance I have received from Christopher Logan in England who opened his files for me. Christopher was the founder and secretary of the Jack Teagarden Appreciation Society, now sadly defunct. )