Blake, Eubie

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Blake, Eubie [James Hubert] (b Baltimore, 7 Feb 1883; d New York, 12 Feb 1983). American pianist and composer. When he was six years old his parents, who had been slaves, purchased a home organ and arranged for him to have lessons. Later he studied music theory with a local musician, Llewelyn Wilson. Blake began to play professionally in a nightclub in Baltimore at the age of 15, and in 1899 wrote his first piano rag, Sounds of Africa (later titled Charleston Rag). In 1915 he formed a songwriting partnership with Noble Sissle, and the two men had an immediate success with It’s all your fault, performed by Sophie Tucker. Blake and Sissle then went to New York and joined James Reese Europe’s Society Orchestra, and after World War I they formed the Dixie Duo, a vaudeville act. In 1921 they produced an extremely successful musical, Shuffle Along, which ran for more than 14 months on Broadway and subsequently went on tour. Blake continued to collaborate with Sissle (see illustration), presenting their show In Bamville (soon renamed The Chocolate Dandies) in the USA (1924) and performing in Europe, mainly in London (1925–6), but also in Dublin; he then worked into the 1930s with other lyricists, writing for shows. Many of his more than 300 songs are infused with the syncopated ragtime rhythms that swept Tin Pan Alley between 1900 and 1920. During World War II he toured as music director for USO productions, but in 1946 he retired and returned to the study of composition, completing the Schillinger system of courses at New York University three years later. Thereafter he spent much time notating many of his works. Blake made his first recordings in 1917, and continued to record as a soloist (making piano rolls as well as phonograph records) and with his orchestra into the 1930s. A ragtime revival in the 1950s focused attention on him as the foremost rag pianist in the USA and launched him on a new career as a touring artist and lecturer, and he resumed recording in 1969 with the album The Eighty-six Years of Eubie Blake. His playing demonstrates strikingly the interconnections among brass-band music, ragtime, and jazz; his own ragtime piano pieces have prominent “oom-pah” rhythms in the left hand and a syncopated interpretation of the melody in the right, but he also introduces a compelling sense of swing and virtuoso improvised breaks into his performances, reflecting the influence of jazz. His works, along with others written in the 1920s by such composers as Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, had a direct influence on the development of the Harlem stride-piano school. In 1972 Blake established his own publishing and record company, Eubie Blake Music, and the following year he cut some piano rolls, this time for the QRS company. He became a legendary figure, performing constantly on television and at jazz festivals in the USA and elsewhere. He received many awards from the music and theater industries and from civic and professional organizations, notably the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1981), and honorary degrees from Brooklyn College (1973), Dartmouth College, Rutgers, and the New England Conservatory (all 1974), and the University of Maryland (1979). His life was celebrated in documentary films and on Broadway in the show Eubie (1978). The Eubie Blake Cultural Center in Baltimore and the Maryland Historical Society hold collections of his music, papers, and memorabilia. Oral history material in CtY, NN-Sc (HBc), and TNF.

SELECTED RECORDINGS As unaccompanied soloist: †Baltimore Buzz/†Bandana Days (1921, Vic. 18791); †Baltimore Buzz/*Sounds of Africa (1921, Emerson 10434); Ma (1921, Emerson 10450); The Eighty-six Years of Eubie Blake (1969, Col. C2S847) As leader: The Wizard of Ragtime Piano (1958, 20CF 3003), incl. *Eubie’s Boogie Rag, *I’m just wild about Harry

Selected films and videos Eubie Blake Plays (c1922); Snappy Tunes (1923); Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake (1927); Pie, Pie, Blackbird (1932); Jazz USA, episode 10 (1960); Scott Joplin (1976); The Great Rocky Mountain Jazz Party (1977)

BIBLIOGRAPHY R. Blesh and H. Janis: They all Played Ragtime (New York, 1950, rev. 4/1971) W. Smith and G. Hoefer: Music on my Mind: the Memoirs of an American Pianist (Garden City, NY, 1964/R1975), 39 J. R. T. Davies: “Eubie Blake: his Life and Times,” Sv, i/6 (1966), 19; contd as “Blake and Noble Sissle,” ii/7 (1966), 12

R. Blesh: “Little Hubie,” Combo, USA: Eight Lives in Jazz (Philadelphia and London, 1971), 187 E. Southern: The Music of Black Americans: a History (New York and London, 1971, rev. 3/1997) P. Bailey: “A Love Song to Eubie,” Ebony, xxviii/9 (1973), 94 R. Kimball and W. Bolcom: Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake (New York, 1973) [incl. work-list, discography] E. Southern and B. King: “Conversation with Eubie Blake,” Black Perspective in Music, i (1973), 50, 151 M. Montgomery, comp.: “Piano Roll Notes: Eubie Blake Piano Rollography,” Record Research, nos.159–60 (1978), 4 L. T. Carter: Eubie Blake: Keys of Memory (Detroit, 1979) A. Rose: Eubie Blake (New York, 1979) E. A. Berlin: Ragtime: a Musical and Cultural History (Berkeley, CA, Los Angeles, and London, 1980/R1984 with addns) B. Doerschuk: “The Eubie Blake Story: a Century of American Music,” Keyboard, viii/12 (1982), 52 E. Southern: Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (Westport, CT, 1982) D. Jasen: “Eubie at 100,” Sv, no.105 (1983), 84 M. Jones: “Britain Salutes: Eubie Blake, 100,” Jazz Express, no.39 (1983), 1 L. Norment: “Farewell to Ragtime’s Apostle of Happiness,” Ebony, xxxviii/7 (1983), 27 H. Rye: “Visiting Firemen 7: Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle,” Sv, no.105 (1983), 88 L. A. George: The Early Piano Rags (1899–1916) of James Hubert (Eubie) Blake: a Stylistic Study and Annotated Edition (diss., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1995) M. Tucker: “In Search of Will Vodery,” Black Music Research Journal, xvi/1 (1996), 123 EILEEN SOUTHERN © Oxford University Press 2007 EILEEN SOUTHERN: 'Blake, Eubie', Grove Music Online (Accessed 21 December 2007), Emails sent from the Grove sites are best viewed using Unicode (UTF-8) Generated:13:28:14 21:12:2007