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Al Casey

Posted on | By Bylineadmin
A swing guitarist who played with Fats Waller on some of his famous recordings

A swing guitarist who played with Fats Waller on some of his famous recordings

Casey was born in Louisville, Kentucky (September 15, 1915 – September 11, 2005. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City and studied guitar.He was a child prodigy who started on violin, then ukulele. He began playing guitar in 1930 and met Fats Waller in 1933. The following year, at the age of eighteen, he became a member of Waller’s band. He made many recordings with the band, and he is noted for having played the solo in “Buck Jumpin'”. After Waller’s death in 1943, he led his own trio. For two consecutive years in the 1940s, he was voted best guitarist in Esquire magazine.

Beginning in 1957, he was a member of a rhythm and blues band led by King Curtis. Four years later he dropped out of music, though he returned in the 1970s to record with Helen Humes and Jay McShann. Another absence followed until 1981, when he returned to music to play with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band. He died of colon cancer on September 11, 2005. During his career, Casey worked with Louis Armstrong, Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Billy Kyle, Frankie Newton, Clarence Profit, Art Tatum, and Teddy Wilson

As leader

As sideman

The Buzz

Sometimes in the middle of night I wake with a start and wonder if any guitar-based contemporary instrumental music would ever have been created if George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass had never been born. After hearing the first few seconds of Ronny Smith’s “Bossa Awhile,” which leads off his sparkling new CD, you’ll note the influences from this troika of geniuses and know that their legacies are in good hands. -Brian Soergel

This CD, as his previous ones, has been a growing process for this talented guitarist. And this continuous quest for the best guitar sound results in a highly recommendable CD, which gets him closer to greatest jazz guitarists such as Wes Montgomery and George Benson. – by Akbar Nour

Smith is a master at creating atmospheres that make people eager to bury themselves in, and happy to stay submerged in for long lengths of time. Smith straddles the line of escapist music and compositions that touch human sentiment. He cites Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, and Roy Clark as his musical influences, and though his image of smooth jazz is arced by their impact on him, he also shows signs of moving past them, having tapped into his own ideas and developing a trademark sound that fits him totally

Not only does he play guitar, keys and bass throughout he also arranges, produces and programs all ten tunes. Eight of these are original compositions cleverly complemented by the addition of two immaculately crafted covers.

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