Login
Login

Walter Dyett

{{Short description|American violinist and music educator (1901–1969)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Walter Dyett

| image = File:Walter_Dyett.jpg

| image_caption = Dyett (cira. 1958)

| birth_name = Walter Henri Dyett

| birth_date = January 11, 1901[http://www.jazzinchicago.org/educates/journal/articles/captain-walter-henri-dyett-1901-1969 JIC:Captain Walter Henri Dyett]

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|11|17|1901|1|1}}

| death_place = Chicago, Illinois

| occupation = Violinist, music educator

| spouse =

| nationality = American

| education = University of California, Berkeley
VanderCook College of Music

| yearsactive = 1931–62

| known_for = Music director at DuSable High School
Music director at Phillips High School

}}

Walter Henri Dyett (also known as Captain Walter Henri Dyett; January 11, 1901 – November 17, 1969) was an American violinist and music educator in the Chicago Public Schools system. He served as music director and assistant music director at Chicago's predominantly African-American high schools; Wendell Phillips High School and DuSable High School. Dyett served as musical director at DuSable High School from its opening in 1935 until 1962. He trained many students who became professional musicians.

Career

After studying pre-medical courses at University of California, Berkeley, Dyett returned to his home town of Chicago, where he worked in vaudeville orchestras and directed an Army band, after which he was known as Captain Dyett. In 1931, he became assistant musical director and later musical director at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago and, in 1935, moved to DuSable High School when it opened.{{cite web|url=http://dyett.publishpath.com/|title=Home|author=|date=|work=publishpath.com|accessdate=19 February 2017}} He received his B.M. degree at VanderCook College of Music (Chicago) in 1938, and his M.M. degree at the Chicago Musical College in 1942.

DuSable High School

=Students=

Among the musicians who studied in Dyett's program are:

{{div col|colwidth=28em}}

  • Gene Ammons
  • Fred Below[https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/september-1983-fred-magic-maker/ Fred Below — Magic Maker], an article of September 1983 by Scott K. Fish, which includes an in-depth interview with Fred Below, published in the Modern Drummer website (retrieved August 24, 2018)
  • Ronnie Boykins
  • Oscar Brashear[https://books.google.com/books?id=ma1BpsFE1WoC&q=Oscar+Brashear&pg=PA6 Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz Oxford University Press US, 2007] {{ISBN|9780195320008}}
  • Homer Brown
  • Wilbur Campbell
  • Sonny Cohn
  • Nat King Cole
  • Jerome Cooper
  • Richard Davis
  • Bo Diddley
  • Dorothy Donegan
  • Jimmy Ellis{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-captain-dyett-dusable-musicians-black-history-flashback-perspec-0219-md-20170215-story.html|title=How Capt. Dyett turned DuSable's young musicians into stars|first=Ron|last=Grossman|date=16 February 2017|work=chicagotribune.com|accessdate=19 February 2017}}
  • George Freeman
  • Von Freeman
  • John Gilmore
  • Bennie Green
  • Johnny Griffin{{cite news |last1=Ratliff |first1=Ben |title=Johnny Griffin, 80, Jazz Saxophonist, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/arts/music/26griffin.html |access-date=30 July 2021 |work=New York Times |date=26 July 2008 |quote=Johnny Griffin, a tenor saxophonist from Chicago whose speed, control and harmonic acuity made him one of the most talented American jazz musicians of his generation yet who spent most of his career in Europe, died Friday at his home in Availles-Limouzine, a village in France.}}
  • Eddie Harris
  • Johnny Hartman
  • Milt Hinton (at Phillips)
  • Fred Hopkins
  • Joseph Jarman
  • Leroy Jenkins
  • Clifford Jordan
  • Claude McLin{{cite web|url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/mclin.html|title=The Claude McLin Discography|author=|date=|work=clemson.edu|accessdate=19 February 2017}}
  • Jesse Miller

[http://campber.people.clemson.edu/sunra.html Campbell, Robert L. and Christopher Trent, and Robert Pruter "From Sonny Blount to Sun Ra: The Chicago Years"] Retrieved 6 July 2013.

{{div col end}}

Death/Legacy

Dyett died on November 17, 1969, aged 68.{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/08/21/saluting-capt-walter-dyett-who-made-stars-at-dusable/|title=Saluting Capt. Walter Dyett|author=|date=21 August 2013|work=chicagotribune.com|access-date=19 February 2017}} He is commemorated by Dyett High School, a Chicago public high school located in the Washington Park neighborhood in Chicago.[http://schools.cuip.net/dyett/images/header.jpg Walter H. Dyett High School]{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chicagohighschoo0000thor|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/chicagohighschoo0000thor/page/182 182]|quote=walter h dyett.|title=The Chicago High Schools Report Card: A Guide to Finding the Right School for Your Child|first=Linda|last=Thornton|date=1 April 2006|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=9781556526923 |accessdate=19 February 2017|via=Internet Archive|edition=Rev and Updated}}

Bibliography

  • "DU SABLE HIGH MUSIC CHIEF A STAR MAKER by Roi Ottley - Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963); Jan 9, 1960; pg. B12" for more biographical information.
  • An Autobiobraphy of Black Jazz by Dempsey J. Travis (1983)

References

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyett, Walter}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1969 deaths

Category:American music educators

Category:Musicians from Chicago

Category:20th-century American musicians

Category:Educators from Illinois