Teddy Bunn

An overview of Teddy Bunn's recording activities during the 1930s reveals a skilled guitarist working shoulder to shoulder with many of the top jazz musicians of his generation, invariably bringing out the best in every participant, for as he himself frankly explained: "I have a very good ear and can usually sense what the cats are going to play a split second before they do it." Born in Freeport, Long Island, in 1909, Theodore Leroy "Teddy" Bunn grew up in a multi-instrumental family and gained his first professional experience accompanying a calypso singer. Bunn's recording debut took place on September 16, 1929. On that day he made records with Walter "Fats" Pichon and Henry "Red" Allen as well as Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Orchestra. A few weeks later Bunn recorded with the Six Jolly Jesters, a hybrid hokum ensemble combining some of Ellington's men with a kazooist and a washboard player. Bunn's adventures as a session guitarist during the first months of the Great Depression brought him into contact with Harlem stride piano legends Fats Waller and James P. Johnson, New Orleans cornetist King Oliver, multi-instrumentalist Adrian Rollini, and blues singer Lizzie Miles. During the year 1930 he cut records with the Washboard Serenaders (including his feature "Teddy's Blues"); with vocalist and songwriter Spencer Williams and pianist Clarence Profit; with vaudeville clarinetist Wilton Crawley and pianist Jelly Roll Morton; with blues queen Victoria Spivey; and with the Alabama Washboard Stompers. In May and June of 1931 he made a series of records with the Washboard Rhythm Kings, a lively and entertaining ensemble that benefited greatly from his presence. Up to this point, Bunn was mainly a Victor recording artist who sometimes crossed over to Vocalion. Beginning in...