Jazz royalty explained

Jazz royalty is a term encompassing the many jazz musicians who have been termed as exceptionally musically gifted and informally granted honorific, "aristocratic" or "royal" titles as nicknames.^[1] The practice of affixing honorific titles to the names of jazz musicians goes back to New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, before the genre was commonly known as "jazz".

History

In New York City in the 1920s, Paul Whiteman was billed as the "King of Jazz". His popular band with many hit records arguably played more jazz-influenced popular music than jazz per se, but to the dismay of many later jazz fans, Whiteman's self-conferred moniker stuck, and a film The King of Jazz starring Whiteman and his band appeared in 1930. The "King of Jazz" title was a publicity stunt in 1923 by an instrument manufacturer that Whiteman endorsed.^[2]

Titles

King

• King Bolden: Buddy Bolden^[3]
• The King of Swing: Benny Goodman^[4]
• King Oliver (Joseph Nathan Oliver)
• Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles)
• King Pleasure (Clarence Beeks)

Queen

• The Queen of Swing: Mildred Bailey
• The Queen of Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald^[5]
• The Empress of the Blues: Bessie Smith^[6]
• Malaysia's Queen of Jazz: Sheila Majid^[7]
• The Queen of Filipino Jazz: Katy de la Cruz^[8]

Other titles

• The Prince of Darkness: Miles Davis^{[9] [10]}
• The Maharaja: Oscar Peterson^[11]
• The Duke: Duke Ellington
• The Prince of Cool: Chet Baker
• The Jazz Baroness (Pannonica de Koenigswarter Rothschild)
• Count: William James "Count" Basie
• Lady Day: Billie Holiday
• The Senator: Eugene Wright^[12]
• The Ambassador: Louis Armstrong

See also

• The related tradition of Calypsonian nicknames
• List of honorific titles in popular music
• List of nicknames of jazz musicians
• Jazz Ambassadors

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20181119173532/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/04/07/jazz-musicians-nicknames/ "How did jazz musicians end up with all those nicknames?", section: "Performers as Royalty"
2. Book: Berrett, Joshua . Louis Armstrong & Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz . 978-0-300-10384-7 . Yale University Press . 2004 . 123 . registration .
3. Book: Marquis , Donald M. . In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz. LSU Press. 2005. 978-0-80713-093-3. 4.
4. Book: Yanow , Scott . Jazz on Record: The First Sixty Years. Backbeat Books. 2003. 978-0-87930-755-4. 136.
5. Web site: Google Doodle honours 'Queen of Jazz' Ella Fitzgerald on 96th birthday. independent.co.uk. 25 April 2013 .
6. Web site: Bessie Smith. Biography.
7. Web site: Malaysia's Queen of Jazz Sheila Majid & Dr Soo Wincci for Christmas!. artiste.com.my.
8. Web site: Katy De La Cruz: Remembering Mommy Kate. https://web.archive.org/web/20070816123249/http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/sb/sb003517.htm . 16 August 2007 . dead .
9. News: Miles Davis -- Shining a Light on the Prince of Darkness . Jazz Times . The well-tended Prince of Darkness persona is gone this way . 26 October 2017 . Ken Franckling . August 1986 .
10. News: Miles Davis: The Chameleon of Cool; A Jazz Genius In the Guise Of a Hustler. New York Times. 21 December 2008. Robin D. G. Kelley. May 13, 2001.
11. News: Jazz Great Oscar Peterson Dies . CNN . Associated Press . December 25, 2007 . Duke Ellington referred to him as 'Maharajah of the keyboard' . 25 December 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081205103959/http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/24/obit.peterson.ap/index.html . December 5, 2008 .
12. Book: Von Eschen, Penny M. . Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War . 2004 . Harvard University Press . 2004 . 0674015010 . Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England . 86-87.