Joe Bushkin

Pianist Joe Bushkin lent his unmistakably light, spirited style to classic swing-era dates headlined by Bunny Berigan and Tommy Dorsey, later moving into pop, cabaret, and even Broadway. The son of a cellist father, he was born in New York City on November 7, 1916 -- although reputedly a student of the great Polish pianist Leopold Godowsky, he in fact began his musical studies at the age of ten with lessons from a neighbor who was, in turn, a student of their landlord's son and the Godowsky pupil in question. The teenaged Bushkin also studied the trumpet after a bicycle accident injured his hand and put his piano career in jeopardy, but he quickly recovered and soon joined a jazz group formed by classmates at DeWitt Clinton high school; his friendship with Benny Goodman's brother Irving earned him an invitation to fill in for absent pianist Teddy Wilson on a 1931 Goodman session, and although Wilson appeared just minutes before recording commenced, Bushkin nevertheless made invaluable contacts that landed him gigs with dance bands up and down the Eastern seaboard, making his professional debut at New York's famed Roseland Ballroom. He signed on with Berigan at the age of 19, soon after joining him and Artie Shaw on one of Billie Holiday's earliest recording dates, a session that yielded the landmark "Summertime" and "Billie's Blues." From 1936 to 1938, Bushkin also backed Eddie Condon, and was in fact the last surviving member of the guitarist's famous gang. After gracing cornetist Muggsy Spanier's 1939 classic "Relaxing at the Touro" with his elegant, ethereal touch, Bushkin joined Dorsey's orchestra, with whom he would make in excess of 100 records, many of them featuring bandmates Frank Sinatra and drummer Buddy Rich. He also wrote the lovely "Oh, Look at Me Now,"...