Howard, Darnell

Howard, Darnell, early jazz clarinetist, saxophonist violinist; b. Chicago, July 25, 1895; d. San Francisco, Sept. 2, 1966. His father, Sam, played violin, cornet, and piano; his mother played piano. Howard took up violin at the age of seven, and was already working in local theater orchs. as a teenager. His first professional work was with John H. Wickcliffe’s Ginger Orch. (1913–16) in Chicago and Milwaukee. In September 1917, he traveled to N.Y. with W. C. Handy’s Orch. for his first recordings (on violin). He returned to Chicago, led his own band at local clubs, then toured the Middle West with Charlie Elgar (1921). With several other Elgar sidemen, he joined the band accompanying the touring company of Plantation Days (led by James P. Johnson) for a brief stay in London (March-May 1923). He returned to the U.S., then revisited Europe with the five-piece Singing Syn-copators (1924). On his return to Chicago, he played with Carroll Dickerson, Dave Peyton, and finally King Oliver (on alto/soprano sax, clarinet, and violin) for seven months in 1925. Howard then left the country again, this time with the N.Y. Singing Syncopators (led by pianist William Hegamin). The N.Y.S.S. were based in Shanghai, but also toured the Philippines and Japan. On his return in July 1926, he rejoined King Oliver. Through the later 1920s he worked with various leaders, sometimes playing with two different bands simultaneously, including stints with Erskine Tate (1926-Octo-ber 1927), Carroll Dickerson (1927), and Dave Peyton (1928–29). He also led his own groups during these years. He spent much of the 1930s as a member of Earl Hines’s Big Band (from 1931-37). He then reverted to working as a sideman for various leaders, while continuing to lead small groups for club work in Chicago. He also operated a small electronics repair business in the mid- 1940s. He spent two periods working in Calif, (with Kid Ory from August-October 1945 and then Muggsy Spanier from late 1948-spring 1953). From 1955-62, he reunited with Hines, who was then leading a smaller band, but then quit due to a serious illness. He recovered enough to return to playing. He made a final European tour in early 1966, but returned home seriously ill; he suffered a stroke in June 1966, which ended his playing days. He died that September of a brain tumor.

—John Chilton, who’ who of Jazz/Lewise Porter