Joe Bishop

Joe Bishop (November 27, 1907, Monticello, Arkansas - May 12, 1976, Houston, Texas) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer.

Bishop learned piano, trumpet, and tuba when young, and also played flugelhorn and mellophone. He attended Hendrix College, and played professionally with the Louisiana Ramblers in 1927, including in Mexico. He then played with Mart Britt, Al Katz, and Austin Wylie before joining Isham Jones's band for five years. He was a founding member of Woody Herman's band in the 1930s, but he contracted tuberculosis in 1940 and had to leave the group. He was rehired by Herman as a staff arranger later in the 1940s, and his arrangements and compositions were recorded frequently by Herman, appearing on some 50 of Herman's albums. As a performer, Bishop played with Cow Cow Davenport and Jimmy Gordon's Vip Vop Band, but retired from studio work due to his health in the 1950s. He quit music and opened a store in Saranac Lake, New York, and later retired to Texas.

Bishop's compositions include "Midnight Blue", "Woodchopper's Ball", and "Blue Prelude" (with Gordon Jenkins), and his work has been covered by musicians as diverse as Ten Years After and Lawrence Welk.

Birth and Death Data: Born November 27, 1907 (Monticello), Died May 12, 1976 (Houston)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1928 - 1941

Roles Represented in DAHR: flugelhorn, composer, arranger, songwriter

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 151-151 of 151 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca 68328 11/9/1940 The golden wedding (La cinquantaine) Woody Herman Orchestra instrumentalist, flugelhorn  
(Results 151-151 of 151 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Bishop, Joe," accessed May 30, 2023, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108488.

Bishop, Joe. (2023). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved May 30, 2023, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108488.

"Bishop, Joe." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2023. Web. 30 May 2023.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108488

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