Hot Lips Page

Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page

Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Shaw's Orchestra and Count Basie's Orchestra, and he worked with Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ida Cox. He was one of the five musicians booked for the opening night at Birdland with Charlie Parker in 1949.

Life and career Oran Thaddeus Page was born in Dallas, Texas, United States, to a schoolteacher and musician mother. He moved with his mother to Corsicana where he began attending Corsicana High School and later Texas College while also working at the oilfields. and Lips was a featured vocalist and hot soloist with Artie Shaw's Symphonic Swing Orchestra in 1941 and 1942,

From 1929, he made over 200 recordings, most as a leader, for Bluebird, Vocalion, Decca and Harmony Records, among others. His band backed the singer Wynonie Harris on the session that produced the hit "Good Rocking Tonight", though Page was never credited as the leader. He was the leader of the house band at the Apollo Theater during the early 1940s. Page was known as "Mr. After Hours" to his many friends for his ability to take on challengers in late-night jam sessions, and he was recorded at Harlem's Minton's Playhouse in 1941 playing in a proto-bebop style. He recorded for the Mezzrow-Bechet Septet (on two consecutive dates in 1945, as Pappa Snow White, with Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, Jimmy Blythe, Jr., and Sid Catlett, and on the second session with Cousin Joe on vocals. )

Page recorded duets with Pearl Bailey on "The Hucklebuck" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 1949. He traveled to Europe in 1949 and appeared at Salle Pleyel in the first international jazz festival there, and returned to Europe at least twice for extended tours in the early 1950s.

He was one of the most flexible of trumpeters, demonstrating a broad tone and a wide range on the instrument. He is considered by many to be one of the founders of what came to be known as rhythm and blues.

Page died in New York in November 1954, aged 46.

Discography 1938-40 – The Chronological Classics (1991) 1940-44 – The Chronological Classics (1995) 1944-46 – The Chronological Classics (1997) 1946-50 – The Chronological Classics (2001) 1950-53 – The Chronological Classics (2004)