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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBASCOMB, Dud and Paul(Dud b Wilbur Odell Bascomb, 16 May 1916, Birmingham AL, d 25 December 1972, NYC; and Paul, b 12 February 1910, Birminham AL; d 2 December 1986, Chicago) Dud was an underrated and influential trumpeter; Paul played tenor sax almost until the day he died. Dud was the last of ten children; Paul's year of birth was sometimes given as 1912. Dud began on piano, switching to trumpet in elementary school: 'Louis was my only influence.' Paul played tenor sax with 'Bama State Collegians, Dud left high school to join them '32 and it became the Erskine Hawkins band. Paul told Stanley Dance that he and Dud were responsible for one of the band's biggest hits, 'After Hours', a tune that their father had taught them, but Avery Parrish, the pianist featured on the record, got the credit. Paul left Hawkins for a while to succeed Herschel Evans in Count Basie's band, then started his own combo; Dud stayed with Hawkins untill '44, then joined Paul's combo, which became a 15 piece band until '47. Paul carried on leading jump bands and was successful and influential in rhythm & blues, singing for a while under the name Manhattan Paul; CD Bad Bascomb on Delmark compiled '52 sides for United. Dud played short spells with Duke Ellington and led a combo for over three years at Tyler's Chicken Shack near Rahway NJ; Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt and others came to jam. Then there were one-night stands and studio work: an album for Savoy '60 with nine pieces was not issued; he sessioned with the Shirelles, the Isley Brothers ('Twist And Shout'), James Brown ('It's A Man's World'), etc; played in clubs with Dinah Washington, others; toured Japan several times in the '60s. His most famous recordings were muted solos with the Hawkins band, 'Swingin' On Lenox Avenue', 'Gin Mill Blues', 'Tuxedo Junction', etc. Dizzy Gillespie compared Dud's harmonies with those of Clifford Brown; in his autobiography To Be Or Not To Bop Diz rated him an influence: 'My solos started taking on a quality where there were long runs and...where the playing was sort of behind the beat. Sort of like the style of Dud Bascomb...' There is a good chapter on Dud in Dance's The World Of Swing. |