Hill, Teddy (actually, Theodore)
Hill, Teddy (actually, Theodore)
Hill, Teddy (actually, Theodore), jazz tenor saxophonist, other reeds, leader, b. Birmingham, Ala., Dec. 7, 1909; d. Ohio, May 19, 1978. He played drums in his school band, then switched to trumpet. While studying at the industrial high school in Birmingham, he received tuition from “Fess” Whatley, gave up trumpet and specialized on saxes and clarinet. He toured with the Whitman Sisters’ show (1926-27), then joined drummer George Howe’s Band (1927) at the Nest Club (N.Y.). He subsequently worked in Luis Russell’s Band (1928-29), and also assisted in management of Russell’s Band. He regularly led his own big band from 1932, first at N.Y.’s Lafayette Theater. At various times, his band featured many distinguished sidemen, including Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Dicky Wells, among many others. He toured England and France in 1937, played at Moulin Rouge in Paris before touring Britain (including bookings at the London Palladium, July 1937). He returned to the U.S., continued to lead the band until 1940, and was then active as manager of the famous early bop club at Minton’s in Harlem. He managed Minton’s through the late 1960s and then ran the Club Baron into the 1970s.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz /Lewis Porter