Alex Pangman salutes Canadian composer/arranger Buster Harding on Swing Set

Pianist Buster Harding – who worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Artie Shaw, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, etc – is feted on Jazz FM's Swing Set tonight at 7 pm. 

Remembering Buster Harding on Canada Day...

Despite writing and arranging music for such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Artie Shaw, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Teddy Wilson, Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge, Earl Hines, and many others, pianist Lavere "Buster" Harding – who played a key roll in the transition from big band swing of the late 30s into the small combo bebop era of the 40s – is a largely forgotten figure today. Born on March 19, 1912 in tiny North Buxton, Ontario – best known as the last stop on the Underground Railroad – Harding moved to Cleveland, Ohio as a youngster where he formed his first band still in his teens. 

In 1939 he hooked up with pianist Teddy Wilson who recorded Harding's raucous "Booly Ja Ja" (listen below) whose percussive pounding and boisterous chanting is unlike anything else in the catalogue of the typically much more reserved technician. Considering the sound of Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters getting played on radio and jukeboxes back in 1939, "Booly Ja Ja" sounds completely unique and decades ahead of it's time. It's not surprising that Harding found a kinship with more rhythmically adventurous bandleaders like Cab Calloway ("The Hi-De-Ho Man") and Lionel Hampton ("Early Session Hop"). 

During the later 40s and early 50s, Harding worked regularly as Billie Holiday's pianist and musical director when not arranging for Dizzy Gillespie and others on a freelance basis. Had he found the time to record some of his songs under his own name, Harding would be better known today but since his passing in New York City on November 14, 1965, very little has been written about the important role he played in the development of modern jazz. Seems like Harding's life and work would be intriguing subject matter for a feature-length documentary film or at least a podcast investigation. In future, it would be nice to see Harding's name appear in more historical studies of how jazz evolved and perhaps even a photograph or two might be circulated. 

The re-examination of Buster Harding's contribution to modern jazz gets a jump start tonight (Saturday, July 1) with Alex Pangman's spotlight on Buster Harding on her Canada Day edition of Swing Set at 7 pm on Jazz FM 91 right here. Listen to some of Buster's impressive handiwork below.