Biography
Jazz pianist James Sherman earned his living working with multiple swing ensembles throughout the mid- and late 1930s, yet his lasting renown rests on co-authoring the jazz standard “Lover Man.” Jimmy Davis and Roger Ramirez shared the songwriting credit; Billie Holiday gave the composition its first recording, after which it was taken up by numerous jazz singers that include Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Lena Horne, Betty Carter, Shirley Horn, and others. Sherman also supplied piano for Holiday herself and for additional swing outfits of the same period, among them groups fronted by Stuff Smith, Lil Armstrong, and Mildred Bailey.