FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Donald Tecumseh Carson Tee Carson February 13, 2000 Age 70  Lung Cancer     OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS  Buy or Hear the Music         Editor's Pick: Count Basie Orchestra: Long Live The Chief

OBITUARY 

Donald 'Tee' Carson; Jazz Pianist Replaced Basie                                                                          Donald Tecumseh "Tee" Carson, 70, a jazz pianist who replaced Count Basie on   piano in Basie's legendary big band after his death in 1984. A native of   Washington, D.C., Carson performed with some of the most renowned bands and   singers of the last century. Besides fronting his own trio for decades,   Carson accompanied such notable vocalists as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams,   Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Pearl Bailey and Tony Bennett from the 1950s to   the 1970s. Basie, who often played laconic counterpoint to his band's sharp   and spirited brass section, saw Carson as a suitable disciple and handpicked   him as a fill-in pianist as his health declined in the late 1970s. In 1987,   Carson's last year with the Basie outfit, Nat Hentoff wrote in the Wall   Street Journal that Carson "comes very close to approximating the catalytic   Basie touch." While working as a jazz pianist at night, Carson held a day   job with the Justice Department as a U.S. marshal. Carson moved to San   Francisco after his retirement from the Justice Department and hosted radio   jazz programs there. On Feb. 13 of lung cancer at his home in Cedar Park,    Texas.  ~ LA Times           NY TIMES           Tee Carson, 70, Pianist in Count Basie Orchestra            By BEN RATLIFF                 Donald Tecumseh (Tee) Carson, who inherited the piano chair from                 Count Basie after the band leader's health failed, died on Feb. 13            at his home in Cedar Park, Tex.             He was 70.             The cause was lung cancer, said Shirley Cason, his sister.             In addition to his career as a jazz musician, Mr. Carson was a United            States marshal working at the Justice Department on surveillance duty.            He retired from the department in 1977.             In the late 1970's, when Count Basie's health problems began, Mr.            Carson started to fill in occasionally as pianist. He was something of a            Basie protégé, having a similarly self-editing, bare-bones rhythmic style.             When Basie died in 1984, Mr. Carson became the band's pianist, playing            in the posthumous Count Basie Orchestra alongside such jazz luminaries            as the saxophonist Frank Foster and the longtime Basie guitarist Freddie            Green.             John S. Wilson, writing in The New York Times about a 1985            performance of the Basie orchestra under the direction of Eric Dixon,            said that Mr. Carson "manages to suggest Mr. Basie's manner without            adopting it, using single-note lines that are a variant of Mr. Basie's lines,            and dropping gentle but propitious chords behind the soloists."             In the late 1980's Mr. Carson recorded with the Basie band as well as            with the saxophonists Frank Wess and Richie Cole.             Born in Washington, Mr. Carson became an electronics engineer at the            Federal Aviation Administration in the early 1950's and joined the Army            in the mid-50's.             Leaving the Washington area in the late 70's, he lived in San Francisco            for a time, where he played jazz and was a jazz disc jockey on WCSM.             In addition to his sister, of Fairfax, Va., Mr. Carson is survived by his            wife, Robin LaStofka Carson; two daughters, Ja Don Carson of Las            Vegas and Jan Hill of Boise, Idaho; a son, Donald, of Austin, Tex.; and            two grandchildren.

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Tee Carson is one of those outstanding musicians who has been an integral part of  the San Francisco Bay Area jazz scene for what seems like forever.  Actually, he  came here in 1977.  Many Bay Area jazz fans know him from his long run at  San Francisco's Cypress Club or from his many nights at the piano at the   Fairmont Hotel's posh New Orleans Room.  An even larger audience heard   Tee's weekly radio show on KCSM, the all-jazz station in San Mateo.   Tee was born and raised in Washington, D.C.  He first performed professionally  there — at a club opening featuring Ethel Waters.  He joined the union for that   event and formed a trio.  According to Tee, this was in 1945 or 1946.   A long-standing engagement at Washington's prestigious Shoreham Hotel brought   Tee to prominence.  His trio was featured in the hotel's Marquis Lounge.  Also,  in the main entertainment room at the Shoreham, the Blue Room, the Tee Carson   Trio was the opening act for many famous visiting artists.  Tee's trio also   accompanied them and he arranged big band charts for these artists, including   Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, and Robert Goulet.  Tee calls this   period of his life "OJT" — on-the-job training.   Tee was first-call pianist in Washington, D.C., at that time.  He performed with   Billie Holiday and was present at the jam sessions that proliferated in Washington.   A highlight of his career was his personal friendship with Art Tatum, whom he   always revered.  Imagine a jam session at Tee's home with Tee and Tatum  together at a spinet piano!  Some of the others who participated in these informal  private sessions were Ahmad Jamal, Roger Williams, and Matt Dennis.  In 1972, at the Howard Theatre, Tee met Ella Fitzgerald.  Ella's accompanist,   Jimmy Jones, had suffered a heart attack.  His replacement was none other   than Tee Carson.  In addition to his musical duties, Tee was also employed by  the U.S. Marshall Service.  (He testified at the Watergate hearings.)   In 1977,   Bobby Kennedy arranged a leave of absence for Tee so that he could work full-  time with Ella.   He worked with Ella throughout 1977.   They were frequently joined by Count   Basie and his band and sometimes by another of Tee's heroes, Oscar Peterson.  Basie's health problems became acute and Tee frequently took over the piano   chair at The Count's request.  The two of them had become close friends.  Tee  travelled with the Basie band for 14 years, until Basie's death in 1984.  With the  Basie band, Tee travelled throughout the United States, Europe, South America,  and Japan. ~Five Spot Records

 

LINKS

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