Biography
Before the arrival of Elvis Presley and the Beatles, guitarists in popular music cultivated a restrained public image, much like that of Maryland-born Bernard Addison. Always impeccably attired and never drawing undue attention, he contributed to sessions by the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots yet earned most of his credits within jazz circles. There he accompanied an array of towering bandleaders, among them Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, and Jelly Roll Morton, while also taking part in the celebrated 1930s and 1940s studio dates of vocalist Billie Holiday.
Addison launched his professional career during the 1920s, when the banjo remained the preferred instrument for jazz rhythm sections. He led a small group featuring pianist Claude Hopkins, then relocated to New York City, where he joined Armstrong in 1930 and spent the next two years with the forward-looking bands of Fletcher Henderson. It was during his time with “Satchmo” that Addison made the switch to guitar, a change many of his banjo-playing contemporaries soon followed once the electric model made it possible to be heard above a drummer. He quickly mastered the new instrument and established himself as a first-rate rhythm guitarist.
Throughout the 1930s Addison also recorded with Morton, trumpeter Bubber Miley, Hawkins, and the Mills Brothers, the last association running from 1936 to 1938. The Mills Brothers sides were especially noted for their polished guitar textures and inventive chordal patterns, some of which later appeared in published guitar methods directly modeled on Addison’s approach. Although primarily a sideman, he occasionally shared leadership, as on a 1935 date co-billed with trumpeter Freddie Jenkins. Further engagements with leading swing figures followed into the following decade: he performed with violinist Stuff Smith and began an intermittent but enduring partnership with Bechet that extended through World War II and yielded appearances on more than a dozen Bechet collections. In 1950 he supplied the Ink Spots with the same understated support he had given the Mills Brothers years earlier, and his final notable jazz engagement came in 1958 alongside ragtime pianist Eubie Blake.
In subsequent decades Addison concentrated chiefly on teaching. Although the bulk of his discography stems from his sideman years, the limited solo space allotted rhythm guitarists on those sessions means his most characteristic work is generally found among the Morton, Bechet, and Hawkins recordings.
Addison launched his professional career during the 1920s, when the banjo remained the preferred instrument for jazz rhythm sections. He led a small group featuring pianist Claude Hopkins, then relocated to New York City, where he joined Armstrong in 1930 and spent the next two years with the forward-looking bands of Fletcher Henderson. It was during his time with “Satchmo” that Addison made the switch to guitar, a change many of his banjo-playing contemporaries soon followed once the electric model made it possible to be heard above a drummer. He quickly mastered the new instrument and established himself as a first-rate rhythm guitarist.
Throughout the 1930s Addison also recorded with Morton, trumpeter Bubber Miley, Hawkins, and the Mills Brothers, the last association running from 1936 to 1938. The Mills Brothers sides were especially noted for their polished guitar textures and inventive chordal patterns, some of which later appeared in published guitar methods directly modeled on Addison’s approach. Although primarily a sideman, he occasionally shared leadership, as on a 1935 date co-billed with trumpeter Freddie Jenkins. Further engagements with leading swing figures followed into the following decade: he performed with violinist Stuff Smith and began an intermittent but enduring partnership with Bechet that extended through World War II and yielded appearances on more than a dozen Bechet collections. In 1950 he supplied the Ink Spots with the same understated support he had given the Mills Brothers years earlier, and his final notable jazz engagement came in 1958 alongside ragtime pianist Eubie Blake.
In subsequent decades Addison concentrated chiefly on teaching. Although the bulk of his discography stems from his sideman years, the limited solo space allotted rhythm guitarists on those sessions means his most characteristic work is generally found among the Morton, Bechet, and Hawkins recordings.