Shelton Hemphill
Shelton "Scad" Hemphill (March 16, 1906 – January 6, 1960) was an American jazz trumpeter whose career lasted from the mid 1920s through the late 1950s. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Hemphill was still in his teens when he played in the band of Fred Longshaw, which accompanied Bessie Smith on recordings in 1924–25. Also in 1924, at age 18, he enrolled at Wilberforce University in Ohio, and was a member of Horace Henderson's student band alongside Ted and Castor McCord. He moved to New York City late in the 1920s, where he played with Benny Carter and Chick Webb before joining the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, playing with this group from 1931 to 1937. He was in Louis Armstrong's band from 1937 to 1944 and Duke Ellington's from 1944 to 1949. In the 1950s, he played occasionally in New York City but left music due to mounting health problems later in the decade. Shelton Hemphill died in New York City two months and ten days before his 54th birthday. His demise, along with that of blues singer Gladys Bentley, who died twelve days later, was noted in the syndicated column of music critic Ralph J. Gleason. He is the father of Barry Shelton Hemphill, who spent a career as a vocal artist in the US Army Chorus, retiring at the rank of E-9. Barry Hemphill was also the Artistic Director of The Metropolitan Chorus in Arlington Virginia for 38 years (1977-2015), and has been the Conductor of the renowned Kennedy Center Messiah Sing along every December 23 in Washington, DC, for over 20 years. |
Birth and Death Data: Born March 16, 1906 (Birmingham), Died December, 1959 (New York City)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1925 - 1946
Roles Represented in DAHR: trumpet, cornet
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 1-25 of 68 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | D5VB-0262 | 10-in. | 5/11/1945 | Caravan | Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D5VB-0265 | 10-in. | 5/14/1945 | In a sentimental mood | Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2093 | 10-in. | 7/9/1946 | Rockabye river | Duke Ellington Orchestra ; Duke Ellington | Jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2095 | 10-in. | 7/9/1946 | Transblucency (a blue fog that you can almost see through) | Duke Ellington Orchestra ; Duke Ellington | Female vocal solo, with jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2113 | 10-in. | 8/26/1946 | Back home again in Indiana | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Piano solo, with jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2114 | 10-in. | 8/26/1946 | Blue is the night | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Piano solo, with jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2115 | 10-in. | 8/26/1946 | Lover man (Oh, where can you be?) | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with piano and female vocal solo | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2116 | 10-in. | 8/26/1946 | Just you, just me | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Piano solo, with jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2117 | 10-in. | 8/26/1946 | Beale Street blues | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Piano solo, with jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Victor | D6VB-2131 | 10-in. | 9/3/1946 | Royal garden blues | Duke Ellington Orchestra ; Duke Ellington | Jazz/dance band | instrumentalist, trumpet | |
Columbia | W141369 | 10-in. | 12/9/1925 | At the Christmas ball | Bessie Smith | Female vocal solo ("blues singer"), with cornet and piano | instrumentalist, cornet | |
Columbia | W141370 | 10-in. | 12/9/1925 | Lonesome desert blues | Bessie Smith | Female vocal solo ("blues singer"), with cornet and piano | instrumentalist, cornet | |
Columbia | W141373 | 10-in. | 12/9/1925 | Squeeze me | Bessie Smith | Female vocal solo ("blues singer"), with cornet and piano | instrumentalist, cornet | |
Decca | 62328 | 10-in. | 7/2/1937 | Public melody number one | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62329 | 10-in. | 7/2/1937 | Yours and mine | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62330 | 10-in. | 7/2/1937 | Red cap | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62335 | 10-in. | 7/7/1937 | She's the daughter of a planter from Havana | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62336 | 10-in. | 7/7/1937 | Alexander's ragtime band | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62337 | 10-in. | 7/7/1937 | Cuban Pete | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62338 | 10-in. | 7/7/1937 | I've got a heart full of rhythm | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 62339 | 10-in. | 7/7/1936 | Sun showers | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 63775 | 10-in. | 5/13/1938 | So little time | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 63776 | 10-in. | 5/13/1938 | Mexican swing | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 63777 | 10-in. | 5/13/1938 | As long as you live | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet | ||
Decca | 63778 | 10-in. | 5/13/1938 | When the Saints go marchin' in | Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra | instrumentalist, trumpet |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hemphill, Shelton," accessed October 1, 2023, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/204407.
Hemphill, Shelton. (2023). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 1, 2023, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/204407.
"Hemphill, Shelton." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2023. Web. 1 October 2023.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Shelton "Scad" Hemphill
Discogs: Shelton Hemphill
Allmusic: Shelton Hemphill
Linked Open Data Sources
Wikidata: Shelton "Scad" Hemphill - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q15999318
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/66653479
MusicBrainz: Shelton "Scad" Hemphill - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0de10eee-da55-42fc-8cda-51f97fab6334
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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