Jack Lesberg

Jack Lesberg
Jack Lesberg, Max Kaminsky, and Peanuts Hucko, Eddie Condon's, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947. Image: Gottlieb
Background information
Birth name	Jack Lesberg
Born	(1920-02-14)February 14, 1920
Died	September 17, 2005(2005-09-17) (aged 85)
Genres	Swing, Big band
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Double bass

Jack Lesberg (February 14, 1920 – September 17, 2005) was a jazz double-bassist.

He performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden, Sarah Vaughan and Benny Goodman, with whom he went on several international tours.

Lesberg had the misfortune of playing in the Cocoanut Grove on the night in 1942 when 492 people lost their lives in a fire. His escape was memorialized by fellow bassist Charles Mingus in an unpublished section of Mingus's autobiography Beneath the Underdog; this passage was read by rapper Chuck D. on the Mingus tribute album Weird Nightmare. According to Mingus's telling, Lesberg used his double bass to "make a door" inside the club which aided in his escape.

Lesberg continued to tour in the 1980s and was interviewed for KCEA radio in 1984 following a performance in Menlo Park, California. During the taped interview Jack spoke of the many bands and performers he worked with and expressed his feelings that he felt blessed to be a musician.

Discography

As co-leader

• We've Got Rhythm/Live at Hanratty's (Chaz Jazz, 1981)
• No Amps Allowed (Chiaroscuro)

As sideman

• Dixieland Jazz (Waldorf, 1957)
• Tribute to Louis Armstrong (Jugoton, 1985)
• Tribute to Louis Armstrong Vol. 2 (Jugoton, 1989)
• The Music of Lil Hardin Armstrong (Chiaroscuro, 1988)

With Ruth Brown

• Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)

With Johnny Hodges

• Blue Rabbit (Verve, 1964)

With the Henri René Orchestra

• RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt (RCA, 1953)
• That Bad Eartha (EP) (RCA, 1954)
• Down To Eartha (RCA, 1955)
• That Bad Eartha (LP) (RCA, 1956)
• Thursday's Child (RCA, 1957)

With Eddie Condon

• In Japan (Chiaroscuro, 1964)

With Ralph Sutton & Ruby Braff

• R & R (Chiaroscuro, 1994)

References

• Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)‎
• Jack Lesberg at Discogs