Doc Cheatham, born Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, requested by a regular listener. Doc Cheatham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader. You’ll hear a set of bands he played in from live radio broadcasts, and a set of 1930s Cab Calloway in which band Cheatham played 1st trumpet. This is another classic Phantom Dancer as Sydney stays in lockdown.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 9 February at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

Doc Cheatham, born Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, requested by a regular listener. Doc Cheatham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader. You’ll hear a set of bands he played in from live radio broadcasts, and a set of 1930s Cab Calloway in which band Cheatham played 1st trumpet.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 3 August at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

NEVER STOPPED LEARNING – 1920s

His trumpet playing career began with jazz bands in the 1920s. When he started, he was influenced by the jazz that was around him and that had developed in the late 1910s. His early trumpet influences included Henry Busse and Johnny Dunn. He moved to Chicago in 1924 and heard King Oliver. Oliver’s playing was a revelation to Cheatham. Cheatham followed the Jazz King around and Oliver gave him a trumpet mute which Cheatham treasured and performed with for the rest of his career.

A further revelation came in 1925 when he met, and sometimes depped for Louis Armstrong. Armstrong became a lifelong influence on Cheatham.

So began a professional career playing in famous bands, and eventually leading his own, which involved constant experimentation with technique and musical form. A listener asked that I do a Phantom Dancer with Doc Cheatham as feature artist. When I read his story I connected immediately with his lifelong study of performance technique. I do it myself, currently experimenting with a different breathing technique for singing, and new camera techniques for acting.

1930s – SCHLOSSBERG

After touring Europe with the  Sam Wooding band in 1929-30, Cheatham returned to the US in 1930 and played with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers before joining the Cab Calloway Ork. Cheatham was Calloway’s lead trumpeter from 1932 to 1939.

He studied with Max Schlossberg for 6 months in 1931. 

 

1940s – CLAVE RHYTHM

As a swing trumpeter during WW2 Cheatham played in the orchestras Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, Fletcher Henderson and Claude Hopkins.

After 1945, he moved to Latin music, joining the bands of Perez Prado, Marcelino Guerra and Ricardo Ray. 

He was fired the first time he joined Machito’s band. He couldn’t handle clave rhythm. Cheatham eventually mastered it.

1950 – 60s

While continuing with Latin bands into the 1950s, Cheatham also played with Wilbur de Paris (in whose band he had played in 1927) and Sammy Price.

He was part of a tour of Africa for the US State Department in 1959 and led his own band on Broadway from 1960-65 before touring with Benny Goodman.

1970 – 90s

In his sixties during the 1970s, Doc Cheatham made a vigorous self-assessment of his trumpet playing. He taped himself, listening critically to the results. The discipline paid off with greater positive critical attention.

He even began singing. His singing career started by accident in a Paris recording studio on 2 May 1977. During a sound check at the start of a recording session with Sammy Price’s band, Cheatham sang and scatted his way through a couple of choruses of ‘What Can I Say Dear After I Say I’m Sorry’. The miking happened to be good from the start and the tape machine was already rolling. The track was included on the LP ‘Doc Cheatham: Good for What Ails You’. His singing was so well received, Cheatham continued to sing as well as play trumpet for the rest of his career.

In 1998, Doc received a posthumous Grammy for Best Jazz Solo on ‘Stardust’, a track on his CD, Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton (see video near the top of this article). His wife Amanda and daughter Alicia accepted the award on his behalf.

Watch Doc Cheatham on TV in Antwerp, 1958,

3 AUGUST PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #503
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 August 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 4RPH Brisbane Sunday 3 – 4am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Mickey Mouse Bands
Oh You Beautiful Doll (theme) + Lullaby of Broadway	Frank Foster Orchestra (voc) Frank Foster	‘One Night Stand’ Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 13 Aug 1945
The Ol’ Piano Roll Blues	Paul Neighbours Orchestra	Biltmore Bowl Biltmore Hotel LA via KGHL NBC Billings Montana 1954
Early in the Morning + Close	Freddy Martin Orchestra (voc) The Martin Men	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Aug 1944
Set 2	Women Singers on 1945-46 Radio
Open + Look For the Silver Lining	Dinah Shore	‘Showtime’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1945
I Can See It My Way	Doris Day	‘Barry Gray’s Nightclub’ WOR Mutual NY 5 Feb 1946
If a Nightinggale Could Sing Like You + I Surrender Dear + Close	Ginny Simms	‘Ginny Simms Show’ WABC CBS NY 11 Jan 1946
Set 3	Club Hangover
Open + Royal Garden Blues	Kid Ory	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 5 Feb 1955
I Found a New Baby	Ralph Sutton	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 7 Sep 1954
After Hours + When The Saints Come Marching In	Red Richards (piano) Muggsy Spanier Band	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 20 Nov 1954
Set 4	Doc Cheatham with Cab Calloway’s Ork
Hot Water	Doc Cheatham (tp) Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 7 Dec 1932
A Minor Breakdown	Doc Cheatham (tp) Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 10 Dec 1937
Mississippi Mud + Minnie the Moocher	Doc Cheatham (tp) Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) Cab Calloway	KTSP Studios St Paul-Minneapolis 28 May 1938
Set 5	Bands Doc Cheatham Played In
Rocky Road	McKinney’s Cotton Pickers (tp is Rex Stewart, not Doc C) (voc) Don Redman	Comm Rec NYC 3 Nov 1930
Cao, Cao	Machito (voc) Graciela	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Whatever Lola Wants + Close	Perez Prado	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 24 Jul 1953
Set 6	Let’s Dance 1934-35
Let’s Dance (theme) + The Object of My Affection	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Buddy Clark	Let’s Dance WEAF NBC Red NY 1 Dec 1934
Solitude	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward	Let’s Dance WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Mar 1935
Goodbye	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Let’s Dance WEAF NBC Red NY 1 Dec 1934
Set 7	Harry James 1950s Radio
Cirribirribin (Theme) + Stealin’ Apples	Harry James Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Chicago 18 Jun 1954
Honeysuckle Rose	Harry James Octet	Aircheck c 1950
Palladium Party	Harry James Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof WCBS CBS NY 25 May 1953
Honeysuckle Rose	Harry James Octet	Aircheck c 1950
Set 8	Women Radio Singers
Manhattan	Lee Wiley	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 1950
Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen	Kay Starr (voc) Charlie Barnett Orchestra	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC NY 11 Sep 1944
Robin Hood	Mildred Bailey	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 12 Feb 1945
I Miss Your Kiss	Joya Sherill (voc) Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date with the Duke’ WJZ ABC NY 12 May 1945