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Chief Bey

{{short description|American jazz musician and African folklorist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Chief Bey

| image = Photo of Chief Bey.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = James Hawthorne Bey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|4|17|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Yemassee, South Carolina

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|4|8|1913|4|17|mf=y}}

| death_place = Brooklyn, New York

| nationality = African American

| other_names =

| occupation = Baritone opera singer Jazz and African drummer

| years_active =

| known_for = Strong Paul Roberson voice, Singer in the original Musical Porgy & Bess along with his wife Louise Hawthorne: Soprano, Principle Drummer for Baba Olatunji, Bernice Johnson, Clark Center & Alvin Ailey Dance Studios. Principal musician for Broadway musical Timbuktu. Drummer for Trailblazer, Pearl Primus and Katherine Dunham. To name a few

| notable_works = Completed CD/Albums: Chief Bey & Ife Olofi, Taboo Chief Bey and his Royal Household 1959, Congo Percussion 1960, Hamiet Bluiett Dangerous Suite. Daughter’s website below.

| website = www.africandanceaz.org

}}

James Hawthorne (April 17, 1913 – April 8, 2004), also known as James Hawthorne Bey and Chief Bey, was an American jazz percussionist and vocalist, a visual artist and folklorist of African traditions. He was also ordained in Nigeria as a Shango Priest.

Early life

Born James Hawthorne in Yemassee, South Carolina,Associated Press. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/arts/13BEY.html "Chief Bey, 91 Jazz Drummer."] The New York Times, April 13, 2004. Retrieved October 28, 2016.Jenkins, Todd S. [http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=1083437436 "Chief Bey: Master of African drums."] www.jazzhouse.org. Retrieved October 28, 2016. Bey moved with his family to Brooklyn and then to Harlem, where he began playing drums and singing in church choirs. He also served in both the Army and Navy and during World War II, and believed to have another daughter in Germany. He attended cosmetology school.

Later life and career

In the 1950s, Chief Bey performed in an international tour of Porgy and Bess along with his wife Louise Hawthorne, starring Leontyne Price and Cab Calloway. He also began a busy recording career, performing with flautist Herbie Mann's At the Village Gate (1961), Art Blakey's The African Beat (1962), Ahmed Abdul-Malik's Sounds of Africa (New Jazz, 1961), as well as albums by Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba, Miriam Greaves and Pharoah Sanders, among others.

He took his stage name after joining the Moorish Science Temple of America, a Muslim sect whose practitioners often add the suffix "Bey" to their names. Then he taught the Shékéré, a West African gourd percussion instrument, at the Griot Institute at Intermediate School 246 in Brooklyn. He performed on Baba Olatunji albums as a vocalist and played African drums and Percussion, Agbé/large Shékéré, Agogo/Bells. As a drum maker, he invented the No Whole Tension Technique of roping skin onto drums.

He worked with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Geoffrey Holder, Randy Weston, Reggie Workman, Sonny Morgan, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, John Coltrane.

Personal life and death

James Hawthorne died in his Brooklyn home of stomach cancer at the age of 90.Carlson, Russell. [http://jazztimes.com/articles/22657-percussionist-chief-bey-dies "Percussionist Chief Bey Dies."] www.jazztimes.com, April 15, 2004.{{Cite web|last=Carlson|first=Russell|title=Percussionist Chief Bey Dies|url=https://jazztimes.com/archives/percussionist-chief-bey-dies/|access-date=2020-07-30|website=JazzTimes|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|date=2004-04-13|title=Chief Bey, 91, Jazz Drummer|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/business/chief-bey-91-jazz-drummer.html|access-date=2020-07-30|issn=0362-4331}} His first wife passed 3 years before him, Louise Hawthorne, soprano opera singer traveled the world together, while she sang operas like Aida and Madame Butterfly leaving their 3 children, David, Denise and Carolyn with just their father. His youngest daughter Carolyn who’s on his last CD followed him in death.

His common law wife Barbara Kenyatta (born Barbara Ann Coleman in Harlem on June 9, 1944), was a priestess of Yémaya in the Yoruba religion. She collapsed and died four days later.

Discography

=As leader=

=As sideman=

With Hamiet Bluiett

  • Orchestra, Duo & Septet (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
  • Dangerously Suite (Soul Note, 1981)
  • Nali Kola (Soul Note, 1989)
  • Bearer of the Holy Flame (Black Fire, 1994)
  • Bluiett's Barbeque Band (Mapleshade, 1996)
  • Live at Carlos 1 (Just a Memory, 1997)
  • Live at Carlos 1: Another Night (Just a Memory, 1997)
  • Live at Carlos 1: Last Night (Just a Memory, 1998)

With Babatunde Olatunji

  • Zungo! (Columbia, 1961)
  • High Life! (Columbia, 1963)
  • Drums! Drums! Drums! (Roulette, 1964)

With others

References

{{reflist}}

Jo Anna Hunter Iyanifa Omotinuwe, My Journey To Aganjú: The Orisa so Hard to Find http://www.blackmadonnaenterprises.com

External links

  • [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Chief+Bey Chief Bey discography]
  • [http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chief-bey-mn0000093506/discography Chief Bey at allmusic.com]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Chief}}

Category:1913 births

Category:2004 deaths

Category:American jazz drummers

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II

Category:People from Yemassee, South Carolina

Category:Musicians from Brooklyn

Category:Jazz musicians from New York City

Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in New York (state)

Category:20th-century American drummers

Category:American male drummers

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:American male jazz musicians

Category:African-American drummers

Category:20th-century African-American musicians

Category:Drummers from New York City

Category:Drummers from South Carolina