Jimmy Witherspoon

Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mother was a piano player.

Witherspoon served in the Merchant Marines until 1944. which made regular radio broadcasts over the US Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Having made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945, and two years later, still with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business", The program description stated that Witherspoon was "one of the most sought-after blues singers in the business. He has a strong, clear voice and diction that you would hear in the classics. Although he has been quite successful singing the blues, Witherspoon can sing ballads with a surprising sweetness." He played at the fifth Cavalcade of Jazz concert on July 10, 1949, along with Lionel Hampton, The Hamptones, Buddy Banks and his Orchestra, Big Jay McNeely, and Smiley Turner. Witherspoon returned for the seventh Cavalcade of Jazz concert on July 8, 1951, and performed alongside Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton and his Revue, Percy Mayfield, Joe Liggins's Honeydrippers, and Roy Brown. His last appearance at the Cavalcade of Jazz was at its eighth edition on June 1, 1952. Also featured that day were Anna Mae Winburn and Her Sweethearts, Jerry Wallace, Toni Harper, Roy Brown and His Mighty Men, Louis Jordan and his Orchestra, and Josephine Baker.

Witherspoon's style of blues—as a "blues shouter"—was no longer fashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, and Mel Lewis. Witherspoon later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes, and T-Bone Walker. He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.

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— 4 | 1952

— 7 | 1965

98 — | 1975

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Filmography/DVDs 2000: Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon & Ben Webster, from a 1962 Jazz Casual appearance (Jazz Casual/Idem) reissued in: Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon/Jimmy Rushing 2003: 20th Century Jazz Masters: Mel Tormé/Jimmy Witherspoon/Carmen McRae/Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan 2009: Jimmy Witherspoon: Goin' Down Blues with Marshal Royal and John Collins