#1 - Buddy Banks, (Ulysses "Buddy" Banks, October 3, 1909, Dallas - September 7, 1991, Desert Hot Springs, California) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, pianist, and bandleader.
Banks played in Charlie Echols's band in Los Angeles from 1933 to 1937 and remained in the group after it was taken over by Claude Kennedy and then by Emerson Scott after Kennedy's death. The group then scored a gig at the Paradise Cafe, and Cee Pee Johnson became its leader; Banks played in Johnson's ensemble until 1945. Following this Banks led his own group; this band featured tenor sax and trombone as its most prominent instruments, the trombone position being held by Allen Durham and then by Wesley Huff. Guitarist Wesley Pile and drummer Monk McFay also recorded as members of this group. The ensemble played throughout southern California and recorded until 1949. Banks led a new group in 1950, but disbanded it quickly.
In 1950 he began playing piano, and though he accompanied Fluffy Hunter on tenor saxophone in 1953, he spent most of the rest of his life on piano, including in a piano-bass duo with Al Morgan (1953-1976). He played solo piano into the 1980s.
# 2 - Alvin "Buddy" Banks (January 15, 1927, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada - August 7, 2005, Las Vegas, USA ) was a jazz double-bassist.
Banks grew up in the United States, and traveled to Europe with the U.S. military in 1948. His first appearance on record was in Vienna with Thurmond Young; this group also played live at the Colored Club. He played in Paris with Gerry Wiggins in 1950, and then with Bill Coleman in Berne, Switzerland, Belgium, and Le Havre, France. After problems with his passport in Switzerland, he left for Paris in 1953, where he recorded often with expatriate American jazz musicians as well as local performers. These include Hazel Scott, Buck Clayton, Lionel Hampton, Mezz Mezzrow, Don Byas, Albert Nicholas, and André Persiany. He toured with Michel Attenoux and with Sidney Bechet through Western and Central Europe in 1954.
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
View All
Minimize