Biography
Often recognized as the "St. Louis Fireball," Milt Buckner receives widespread acknowledgment for bringing the Hammond organ to broad attention in the opening years of the 1950s. The instrument had made its debut in 1934 and was promptly taken up by Thomas "Fats" Waller, whose syncopated pipe organ discs from 1926 through 1929 established the foundational core of the jazz organ lineage. Count Basie, a friend of Waller’s, also turned to the Hammond from time to time, yet it was Buckner who revived curiosity in the instrument roughly seven years after Waller’s passing. His lively, boogie-rooted method introduced fresh sonic layers to the expanding R&B landscape, shaped an entire cohort of subsequent organ players, and ultimately won favor with jazz listeners at large. In addition to organ, Buckner performed on vibraphone and valve trombone; the concluding stretch of his professional life, dominated by European engagements that ran from 1966 until his death in 1977 at age 62, brought him unusual commercial achievement.
Milton Brent Buckner entered the world in St. Louis on July 10, 1915. His younger sibling Ted, distinct from their distant relative, the Texas-born trumpeter Teddy Buckner, would later serve as a saxophonist in the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra—where the two actually shared a session in 1939—and as an R&B and Motown studio musician. After both parents passed away when Milt was nine, the brothers were placed with members of the Earl Walton Orchestra in Detroit. From ages ten to thirteen he received piano instruction from his uncle John Tobias, Walton’s trombonist, and at fifteen he started crafting charts for the ensemble. While enrolled at the Detroit Institute of Arts he appeared with Mose Burke & the Dixie Whangdoodles as well as the Harlem Aristocrats. Once drummer and leader Don Cox engaged him in 1932, Buckner cultivated a markedly percussive attack built on parallel tonal clusters, later termed “block chords,” a manner now linked with Oscar Peterson and George Shearing. Throughout the 1930s he also performed in bands directed by Jimmy Raschelle, Lanky Bowman, and Howard Bunts. His major opportunity arrived in 1941 when he joined Lionel Hampton as staff arranger and assistant director; his affinity for driving rhythms and boogie-woogie meshed well with Hampton’s show-business orientation. Buckner remained with Hampton during 1941-1948 and again from 1950 to 1952.
Surviving examples of Buckner’s earliest work consist of piano solos captured on Presto transcription discs on the final day of August 1941. He next entered a studio as part of a small Lionel Hampton unit that accompanied Dinah Washington on her first recordings in December 1943; those vigorous, blues-centered performances later appeared on Harry Lim’s Keynote imprint. In 1945 he recorded with saxophonist Herbie Fields, Ellington vocalist Herb Jeffries, and R&B shouter Wynonie Harris, among them Harris’s hit version of Lionel Hampton and Curley Hamner’s “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop.” The following year marked the start of a series of dates issued under the varying names Beale Street Boys, Beale Street Gang, and Hot Shots. Over the ensuing three years Buckner led sessions for Savoy. In 1949 he cut sides with a large ensemble for MGM, joined an Eddie Condon Floorshow featuring drummer Buddy Rich and tap-dancer Baby Laurence on NBC television, and directed Teddy Stewart’s Orchestra for a Mercury date behind Dinah Washington.
During 1950 Buckner worked with the Three Flames for MGM, singer Florence Wright for National, Wynonie Harris for Vogue, Rufus Thomas (“Mr. Swing”) for the Memphis-based Bullet label, and vocalists Mabel Scott together with saxophonists Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Buddy Tate, and Wild Bill Moore for King. On the Moore date he made his initial transition from piano to organ. He brought the instrument out once more in Houston, Texas, in spring 1952 while supporting vocalist Sonny Parker alongside Gladys Hampton’s Blue Boys for Peacock. Further recordings appeared on Scooter, Regent, and Brunswick; in 1953 he jammed with saxophonist Charlie Parker at New York’s Bandbox. He played piano for the Imperials (with Willie Dixon on bass) at a Great Lakes session held in Detroit during spring 1954. That summer he also traveled to Philadelphia to cut several numbers with guitarist Big Ham Williams and drummer Sam Woodyard, later released on 20th Century, a Gotham subsidiary.
From April 1955 to July 1957 Buckner recorded for Capitol in the company of saxophonists Earle Warren and Sam Taylor, guitarists Everett Barksdale and Skeeter Best, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummers Osie Johnson and Shadow Wilson. His first Argo album was taped in New York in December 1959 with guitarist Kenny Burrell and bassist Joe Benjamin. Additional Argo dates took place in Chicago during 1960 and 1961; he also worked with Bethlehem in Cincinnati in 1962 and 1963. A March 1966 performance alongside saxophonist Illinois Jacquet at Lennie’s on the Turnpike in West Peabody, Massachusetts, was issued on Cadet.
Preferring Europe’s artistic and professional atmosphere, Buckner, like numerous American jazz musicians, limited his returns to North America after 1966 to brief concert and club appearances—five in the United States and two in Canada. Beginning with his initial Parisian session that year alongside Illinois Jacquet and trumpeter Roy Eldridge, his recording activity reflected steadier circumstances with capable colleagues and receptive listeners. The final decade of his output appeared chiefly on Black & Blue, aside from scattered releases on Prestige, Jazz Odyssey, and Riff.
He performed in Paris, Villingen, Boulogne, Cologne, Antwerpen, Lausanne, Biarritz, Barcelona, Toulouse, London, Herouville, Valauris, Besançon, Geneva, Salon, Yverdon, Nice, Scheveningen, and Leiden. Fellow musicians included multi-instrumentalist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown; trumpeters Buck Clayton, Joe Newman, Johnny Letman, and Bill Coleman; trombonist Gene “Mighty Flea” Connors; saxophonists Ben Webster, Candy Johnson, Eddie Chamblee, Hal Singer, Lucky Thompson, Big Nick Nicholas, Marcel Zanini, Guy Lafitte, Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Illinois Jacquet; pianists André Persiany, Jean-Paul Amouroux, and Jay McShann; guitarist Al Casey; bassists Milt Hinton, Major Holley, and Roland Lobligeois; and vocalists Jodie Drake, Little Mary Anglade, and Big Joe Turner. His final studio date occurred in Paris on July 4, 1977. Three weeks afterward, on Wednesday, July 27, he suffered a fatal collapse while preparing his Hammond organ for a performance with Illinois Jacquet at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase.
Milton Brent Buckner entered the world in St. Louis on July 10, 1915. His younger sibling Ted, distinct from their distant relative, the Texas-born trumpeter Teddy Buckner, would later serve as a saxophonist in the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra—where the two actually shared a session in 1939—and as an R&B and Motown studio musician. After both parents passed away when Milt was nine, the brothers were placed with members of the Earl Walton Orchestra in Detroit. From ages ten to thirteen he received piano instruction from his uncle John Tobias, Walton’s trombonist, and at fifteen he started crafting charts for the ensemble. While enrolled at the Detroit Institute of Arts he appeared with Mose Burke & the Dixie Whangdoodles as well as the Harlem Aristocrats. Once drummer and leader Don Cox engaged him in 1932, Buckner cultivated a markedly percussive attack built on parallel tonal clusters, later termed “block chords,” a manner now linked with Oscar Peterson and George Shearing. Throughout the 1930s he also performed in bands directed by Jimmy Raschelle, Lanky Bowman, and Howard Bunts. His major opportunity arrived in 1941 when he joined Lionel Hampton as staff arranger and assistant director; his affinity for driving rhythms and boogie-woogie meshed well with Hampton’s show-business orientation. Buckner remained with Hampton during 1941-1948 and again from 1950 to 1952.
Surviving examples of Buckner’s earliest work consist of piano solos captured on Presto transcription discs on the final day of August 1941. He next entered a studio as part of a small Lionel Hampton unit that accompanied Dinah Washington on her first recordings in December 1943; those vigorous, blues-centered performances later appeared on Harry Lim’s Keynote imprint. In 1945 he recorded with saxophonist Herbie Fields, Ellington vocalist Herb Jeffries, and R&B shouter Wynonie Harris, among them Harris’s hit version of Lionel Hampton and Curley Hamner’s “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop.” The following year marked the start of a series of dates issued under the varying names Beale Street Boys, Beale Street Gang, and Hot Shots. Over the ensuing three years Buckner led sessions for Savoy. In 1949 he cut sides with a large ensemble for MGM, joined an Eddie Condon Floorshow featuring drummer Buddy Rich and tap-dancer Baby Laurence on NBC television, and directed Teddy Stewart’s Orchestra for a Mercury date behind Dinah Washington.
During 1950 Buckner worked with the Three Flames for MGM, singer Florence Wright for National, Wynonie Harris for Vogue, Rufus Thomas (“Mr. Swing”) for the Memphis-based Bullet label, and vocalists Mabel Scott together with saxophonists Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Buddy Tate, and Wild Bill Moore for King. On the Moore date he made his initial transition from piano to organ. He brought the instrument out once more in Houston, Texas, in spring 1952 while supporting vocalist Sonny Parker alongside Gladys Hampton’s Blue Boys for Peacock. Further recordings appeared on Scooter, Regent, and Brunswick; in 1953 he jammed with saxophonist Charlie Parker at New York’s Bandbox. He played piano for the Imperials (with Willie Dixon on bass) at a Great Lakes session held in Detroit during spring 1954. That summer he also traveled to Philadelphia to cut several numbers with guitarist Big Ham Williams and drummer Sam Woodyard, later released on 20th Century, a Gotham subsidiary.
From April 1955 to July 1957 Buckner recorded for Capitol in the company of saxophonists Earle Warren and Sam Taylor, guitarists Everett Barksdale and Skeeter Best, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummers Osie Johnson and Shadow Wilson. His first Argo album was taped in New York in December 1959 with guitarist Kenny Burrell and bassist Joe Benjamin. Additional Argo dates took place in Chicago during 1960 and 1961; he also worked with Bethlehem in Cincinnati in 1962 and 1963. A March 1966 performance alongside saxophonist Illinois Jacquet at Lennie’s on the Turnpike in West Peabody, Massachusetts, was issued on Cadet.
Preferring Europe’s artistic and professional atmosphere, Buckner, like numerous American jazz musicians, limited his returns to North America after 1966 to brief concert and club appearances—five in the United States and two in Canada. Beginning with his initial Parisian session that year alongside Illinois Jacquet and trumpeter Roy Eldridge, his recording activity reflected steadier circumstances with capable colleagues and receptive listeners. The final decade of his output appeared chiefly on Black & Blue, aside from scattered releases on Prestige, Jazz Odyssey, and Riff.
He performed in Paris, Villingen, Boulogne, Cologne, Antwerpen, Lausanne, Biarritz, Barcelona, Toulouse, London, Herouville, Valauris, Besançon, Geneva, Salon, Yverdon, Nice, Scheveningen, and Leiden. Fellow musicians included multi-instrumentalist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown; trumpeters Buck Clayton, Joe Newman, Johnny Letman, and Bill Coleman; trombonist Gene “Mighty Flea” Connors; saxophonists Ben Webster, Candy Johnson, Eddie Chamblee, Hal Singer, Lucky Thompson, Big Nick Nicholas, Marcel Zanini, Guy Lafitte, Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Illinois Jacquet; pianists André Persiany, Jean-Paul Amouroux, and Jay McShann; guitarist Al Casey; bassists Milt Hinton, Major Holley, and Roland Lobligeois; and vocalists Jodie Drake, Little Mary Anglade, and Big Joe Turner. His final studio date occurred in Paris on July 4, 1977. Three weeks afterward, on Wednesday, July 27, he suffered a fatal collapse while preparing his Hammond organ for a performance with Illinois Jacquet at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase.
Albums
