Jack Teagarden: Back Roads of Texas
Broadcast Date: 3/1/2001

Riverwalk presents the first of two hour-long tributes to Jack Teagarden in March featuring trombonist and bandleader Rex Allen. Through the courtesy of Joe Showler and his Jack Teagarden Collection, we'll hear some wonderful old archive tapes of Jack Teagarden himself, talking about his life and music. 

Above: a publicity photo of Jack Teagarden with an inscription: "To Vic, Best of Everything, Jack Teagarden."  This was to Vic Moore, drummer of the Wolverines, the first band that Bix Beiderbecke recorded with in the early 1920s.  Moore gave his photo collection to the Cullums in 1963 when they were getting started with the Landing Jazz Club in San Antonio, and many of the prints are displayed on the Landing walls.

This week's show, Jack Teagarden: Back Roads of Texas, follows Jack and his trombone through the dusty back roads of Texas in the 1920s--from the grimy oilfields of western Texas, to Sylvan Beach on Galveston Bay.

Bandleader Paul Whiteman once described Jack's playing this way:

"They talk about hot jazz and cool jazz but when it comes to Jack Teagarden there's another phrase that fits his music -- Warm Jazz.   He has an emotional and yet always controlled way of playing -- full of meaning and compassion."

Jack got his first steady job in 1920 in a San Antonio road house called the Horn Palace not far from the Landing.  He was a fifteen-year-old kid with slicked-back hair and a handsome face. Jack's first reaction to San Antonio was, "It's the biggest town I've ever seen!" And at that time, San Antonio was the biggest city in the Southwestern US.

A year later, on the heels of a shoot-out at the Horn Palace and the famous flood of '21, Jack decided it was time to hit the road. He headed for Houston and Galveston, where he began a long association with the legendary pianist Peck Kelly.

But he always kept coming back. In 1926 he was playing at the Somerset Club in San Antonio with the New Orleans Rhythm Masters. The Somerset was a hot night spot at the height of Prohibition. It had gambling and drinks--and outdoor dancing in the days before air conditioning.

Jim Cullum says: "Jack Teagarden was to become the greatest of all Texas jazzmen. He revolutionized the role of trombone and is still thought of as its greatest exponent. In addition to his virtuosity, he brought a depth of feeling or 'soul' which has seldom been equaled."

Don't miss the second hour of this two-part series, broadcast next week: Jack Teagarden: Big City Jazz in the Forties.

Purchase CDs online:

• B.G. & Big Tea In NYC
  
• Jack Teagarden's Big Eight/Pee Wee Russell's Rhythmakers
  
• The Indispensable Jack Teagarden (1928-1957)
  
• Meet Me Where They Play The Blues

Jack Teagarden Bookshelf

• Jack Teagarden: The Story of a Jazz Maverick by Jay D. Smith, Leonard F. Guttridge (Photographer), Len Guttridge
  
• Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945
  by Richard M. Sudhalter. Hardcover (January 1999)
  
• Jack Teagarden's Music, His Career and Recordings by Howard J. Waters, Jr. Published by Walter C. Allen, Stanhope, New Jersey

On the Web:

• Michael Palmer's tribute to Jack Teagarden with a biography, discography, and photo gallery.
  
• Red River Valley Museum in Vernon, TX, birthplace of Jack Teagarden.
  
• Down Beat: biography, discography, photo gallery and interviews
  
• Red Hot Jazz Archive: brief biography and photo
  
• Red Hot Jazz Archive: Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra
  
• "Jack Teagarden, the Flood, and the Riverwalk" by Jim Cullum
  
• Browse William P. Gottlieb's collection of Jack Teagarden photographs.
  
• Visit the William P. Gottlieb Collection: Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz at the Library of Congress website.