Danny Barker

A humorous personality mattered as much to Danny Barker for his storytelling and teaching as for his instrumental work, and this trait marked a long, eventful career. Early in New Orleans he performed with the Boozan Kings and joined Little Brother Montgomery on a Mississippi tour. After relocating to New York in 1930 he changed from banjo to guitar and found employment alongside Dave Nelson, Sidney Bechet, Fess Williams, Albert Nicholas, and James P. Johnson, followed by stints with Lucky Millinder from 1937 to 1938, Benny Carter in 1938, and Cab Calloway from 1939 to 1946. He composed “Don’t You Feel My Leg” for his wife, the singer Blue Lu Barker, with whom he made numerous recordings, and scored another success with “Save the Bones for Henry Jones,” later cut by Nat King Cole. By 1947 Barker had immersed himself in the Dixieland revival—he had never embraced bebop—appearing on the This Is Jazz radio series, cutting sides with Bunk Johnson, and resuming banjo. Throughout the 1950s he played regularly at Ryan’s, frequently alongside Conrad Janis or Wilbur DeParis, before moving back to New Orleans in 1965. There he served as assistant curator at the New Orleans Jazz Museum from 1965 to 1975, directed the Onward Brass Band, mentored younger musicians, and chronicled his experiences in writing. Barker, who joined Milt Hinton at the 1993 Monterey Jazz Festival, published his memoirs, A Life in Jazz, in 1986 and remained committed to preserving New Orleans jazz until his death. His most representative session is the solo set issued by Orleans; late-career appearances also include albums with Wynton Marsalis and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.