CRAWFORD, HANK (1934–2009)
A saxophonist, Hank Crawford began playing in Memphis with artists including B. B. King and Ike Turner in the early 1950s. In 1958 he joined Ray Charles’s band, and by 1961 he became the musical director. After leaving the group in 1963, Crawford would record many soul jazz albums and continued to play in that trademark style for the remainder of his life. See also SAXOPHONE.
CREOLE
A record label that reissued many early jazz records in the 1950s.
CREOLE BAND
Popular name for many early jazz bands, referencing people of racially mixed backgrounds, typically including French, Spanish, or African.
CRESCENT
Record label that issued recordings by Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band in the mid-1940s.
CRESCENT CITY JAZZERS
A jazz band made up of New Orleans musicians that performed during the 1920s at the Arcadia Ballroom in St. Louis, later changing their name to the Arcadian Serenaders. See also EARLY JAZZ.
CRISS, WILLIAM “SONNY” (1927–1977)
An alto saxophonist, Sonny Criss was influenced early on by Charlie Parker, with whom he played in 1946 and again in 1948. In the early 1950s, Criss toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, and in the mid-1950s he played with Buddy Rich’s quintet and led his own groups. Criss moved to Europe in 1961 but returned to Los Angeles in 1966 and recorded many albums. In 1973 and 1974, Criss toured Europe again, but in 1977 he contracted stomach cancer and committed suicide.
CRISS CROSS JAZZ
Record label and company founded in 1981 in the Netherlands that focuses on albums by younger, bop-oriented jazz musicians. Artists include John Swana, Chris Potter, Seamus Blake, and Mark Turner, among numerous others.
CROSBY, HARRY LILLIS “BING” (1903–1977)
A singer and actor, Bing Crosby was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century. He got his start singing jazz in 1926 with Paul Whiteman, with whom he performed until 1930, when Crosby began his solo career. During the 1930s and into the 1940s, Crosby’s career reached nearly stratospheric levels thanks to radio and film. His most memorable contributions to jazz include partnerships with Louis Armstrong and Johnny Mercer. Easily the most popular singer of the first half of the 20th century, Crosby’s career declined in the 1960s, and he died in Spain while playing golf.
CROSBY, ISRAEL (1919–1962)
An outstanding bassist, Crosby was born in Chicago, Illinois. When only 16 years of age, he took one of the very first full-length jazz bass solos on record when he collaborated on a pickup date with drummer Gene Krupa. He is best known as a member of the Ahmad Jamal trio from 1957 to 1962, but he recorded with many jazz legends, including Albert Ammons, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, and Meade Lux Lewis. Crosby died of a heart attack only two months after joining the George Shearing Quintet.
CROUCH, STANLEY (1945–)
A musician and journalist, Crouch grew up in Los Angeles. Crouch began performing free jazz in 1967 with various groups, performing alongside members that included Arthur Blythe and David Murray. He taught at the Claremont Colleges in California from 1968 to 1975 before relocating to New York City where he promoted jazz performances and became a staff writer for the newspapers Soho Weekly News and the Village Voice. Crouch was also a mentor and advocate of Wynton Marsalis. In 1987, Crouch helped to establish a program of jazz concerts at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, New York City. The program became known as Jazz at Lincoln Center. Crouch remains a prolific writer and was among the contributors to Ken Burns’s PBS documentary Jazz in 2001. See also JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA.
CRUSADERS
Originally the Modern Jazz Sextet and founded in the 1950s by Wilton Felder, Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, Wayne Henderson, and two other musicians, the group moved to Los Angeles and changed their name to the Jazz Crusaders. They made several soul jazz albums and in 1970 shortened their name to the Crusaders and changed styles to jazz funk. Henderson would leave the band in 1975, and after the success of their album Street Life in 1979, the Crusaders began using vocalists. In 1983, Hooper also left the band, and after 1991 the group completely disbanded. In the mid-1990s the group would reunite again, and various disagreements resulted in there now being two groups—the Crusaders and the Jazz Crusaders featuring Wayne Henderson.
CUBER, RONNIE (1941–)
Starting on the clarinet at age nine, then switching to the tenor saxophone and then settling on the baritone saxophone his senior year in high school, Ronnie Cuber followed up his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959 with stints with Slide Hampton (1962) and Maynard Ferguson (1963–1965). He joined the George Benson quartet in 1966, followed by some time with Lionel Hampton and then Woody Herman. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cuber performed with a variety of Latin groups and rock and soul artists, including Aretha Franklin and Eddie Palmieri. During the 1970s he also started leading his own groups, and he would record with many notable rock musicians through the mid-1980s, including Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and others. In the mid-1980s, Cuber joined the NBC Saturday Night Live band and continued to lead and record his own groups, and in the 1990s he performed and arranged for the Mingus Big Band.
CUBOP
See AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ.
CUICA
A Brazilian drum.
CULLUM, JIM (1941–2019)
A cornetist, bandleader, and educator, Cullum was known for his contributions to the early jazz style of music. He played alongside musicians including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Pete Fountain, and many others. Based in San Antonio, Texas, Cullum hosted a syndicated weekly radio program on National Public Radio, Riverwalk Jazz, for 25 years. He led a San Antonio–based ensemble, the Jim Cullum Big Band, which recorded dozens of albums and performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in New York’s Carnegie Hall. Cullum also served on the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop from 1993 to 2005. See also DIXIELAND (JAZZ).
CUP MUTE
See MUTE.
CUPOL
A record label founded in 1947 in Sweden that became a part of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1970.
CUT
A term with several meanings, it can refer to a record, a recording, or a specific track on a record; to the editing process of a recording; or to