Chick Webb (1905 - 1939) & Ella Fitzgerald Extremely Rare ' 30s Big Band Autographs




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Reference Number: Avaluer:8161011
Original Description:
Here is an extremely rare pair of cut autographs from the 1930s, from the same autograph book, one of legendary drummer and Big Band leader Chick Webb (1905-1939) and one of Ella Fitzgerald, from the very beginning of her career, in the 1930s, when she sang with Chick Webb and His Orchestra. William Henry "Chick" Webb was born in Baltimore. From childhood, he suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, leaving him with short stature and a badly deformed spine, which caused him t...o appear hunchbacked. The idea of playing an instrument was suggested by his doctor to "loosen up" his bones. He supported himself as a newspaper boy to save enough money to buy drums, and first played professionally at age 11. At the age of 17 he moved to New York City and by 1926 was leading his own band in Harlem. Jazz drummer Tommy Benford said he gave Webb drum lessons when he first reached New York. He alternated between band tours and residencies at New York City clubs through the late 1920s. In 1931, his band became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom. He became one of the best-regarded bandleaders and drummers of the new "swing" style. Drummer Buddy Rich cited Webb's powerful technique and virtuoso performances as heavily influential on his own drumming, and even referred to Webb as "the daddy of them all". Webb was unable to read music, and instead memorized the arrangements played by the band and conducted from a platform in the center. He used custom-made pedals, goose-neck cymbal holders, a 28-inch bass drum and other percussion instruments. Although his band was not as influential, it was feared in the battle of the bands. The Savoy often featured "Battle of the Bands" where Webb's band would compete with other top bands, such as the Benny Goodman Orchestra or the Count Basie Orchestra. By the end of the night's battles the dancers seemed always to have voted Webb's band as the best. Webb lost to Duke Ellington in 1937. Although a judge declared Webb's band the official winner in 1938 over Count Basie's, and Basie himself said he was relieved to come away from the contest without embarrassing himself, surviving musicians continued to dispute the ruling for decades. In 1935 Webb began featuring a teenage Ella Fitzgerald as a vocalist. Together Chick and Ella would electrify the Swing Era of jazz with hits such as "A-Tisket a Tasket", which was composed by Van Alexander at Fitzgerald's request. In November 1938, Webb's health began to decline; for a time, however, he continued to play, refusing to give up touring so that his band could remain employed during the Great Depression. He disregarded his own discomfort and fatigue, which often found him passing out from physical exhaustion after finishing sets. Finally, he had a major operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 1939. Webb died from Pott disease on June 16, 1939, in Baltimore. Reportedly his last words were, "I'm sorry, I've got to go." He was roughly 34 years old. Webb was buried in Baltimore County, in Arbutus Memorial Park, in Arbutus, Maryland. Webb's death hit the jazz/swing community very hard. After his death, Fitzgerald led the Chick Webb band until she left to focus on her solo career in 1942 and caused the band to disband. Art Blakey and Ellington both credited Webb with influencing their music. Gene Krupa credited Webb with raising drummer awareness and paving the way for drummer-led bands like his own. Webb's thundering solos created a complexity and an energy that paved the way for Rich (who studied him intensely) and Louie Bellson. On February 12, 1940 a crowd of about 7, 500 people attended a Chick Webb Benefit in Baltimore, Maryland. In attendance were Sally Webb, Chick's widow, his mother Marie Webb, his sister Mabel Porter, Governor Herbert R. O'Conor, Fitzgerald and boxing champion Joe Louis. Exceptionally rare. The only Chick Webb autograph I have ever come across. Also very rare Ella Fitzgerald autograph from the very start of her illustrious career.
Will ship worldwide. I always combine shipping on multiple orders. 
Chick Webb represented the triumph of the human spirit in jazz and life. Hunchbacked, small in stature, almost a dwarf with a large face and broad shoulders, Webb fought off congenital tuberculosis of the spine in order to become one of the most competitive drummers and bandleaders of the big band era. Perched high upon a platform, he used custom-made pedals, goose-neck cymbal holders, a 28-inch bass drum and a wide variety of other percussion instruments to create thundering solos of a complexity and energy that paved the way for Buddy Rich (who studied Webb intensely) and Louie Bellson. Alas, Webb did not get a fair shake on records; Decca's primitive recording techniques could not adequately capture his spectacular technique and wide dynamic range. He could not read music, but that didn't stop him either, for he memorized each arrangement flawlessly. Although his band did not become as influential and revered in the long run as some of its contemporaries, it nevertheless was feared in its time for its battles of the bands in Harlem's Savoy Ballroom; a famous encounter with the high-flying Benny Goodman outfit at its peak (with Gene Krupa in the drummer's chair) left the latter band drained and defeated.
William Henry Webb bought his first set of drums with his earnings as a newsboy, and he began playing in bands on pleasure boats. After moving to New York in 1925, he led bands in various clubs before settling in for long regular runs at the Savoy beginning in 1931. Although Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges played with the band early on, the Webb band was oddly short on major soloists during its heyday from the mid-'30s onward; the young alto sax player Louis Jordan made the biggest impression after leaving the band. But the band made up for it with a crisp ensemble sound, Webb's disciplined, ferociously driving drum pyrotechnics, trumpeter Taft Jordan's impressions of Louis Armstrong, and most of all, a series of strong compositions and charts by Edgar Sampson ("Blue Lou" and "Stomping at the Savoy" among them). In 1935, Webb hired the teenaged Ella Fitzgerald after she won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater, became her legal guardian, and rebuilt his show around the singer, who provided him with his biggest hit record, "A Tisket-A-Tasket, " in 1938. The band's fame continued to grow, fueled by its reputation as a giant-killer in the Savoy battles and a continuous string of Decca 78s that featured such irresistible numbers as "T'aint What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" and the B-side of "Tasket, " "Liza." But Webb's precarious health began to give way, and after a major operation in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, he died (his last words reportedly were, "I'm sorry, I've got to go."). After Webb's death, Fitzgerald fronted the band until it finally broke up in 1942.



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