Remembering Canadian composer/pianist/arranger Buster Harding on his birthday

Remembering Ontario-born Buster Harding who's songs and arrangements cut during the swing to bop era should be better known.

Canadian Ambassadors

Born in North Buxton (near Windsor), Ontario in 1912, Lavere "Buster" Harding grew up in Cleveland, Ohio took up piano early on and formed his first band as a teenager. Sometime after his return to Canada in 1932, he joined Myron "Mynie" Sutton's Canadian Ambassadors, considered to be the first all-black dance orchestra in Canada. 

Incidentally, the Canadian Ambassadors briefly included Harding's fellow North Buxtonite, pianist Lou Hooper who had similarly been raised outside of Canada in Ypsilanti, Michigan, studied at the Detroit Conservatory and had performed/recorded through the 20s with banjo player Elmer Snowden and clarinetist Bob Fuller under various handles like The Three Jolly Miners and The Three Monkey Chasers in Harlem before becoming the in-house pianist for Ajax Records and accompanying blues singers Lizzie Miles, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith and others. As a music teacher in Montreal, Hooper taught the young Oscar Peterson – but back to Buster. 

In 1939, Harding took a job as a writer/arranger for popular bandleader Teddy Wilson where he created the blaring percussion-heavy whumper "Booly Ja Ja" very atypical of the sedate swing of the urbane pianist. Listen to "Booly Ja Ja" below. It's hard to believe something this crazy was recorded and released in 1939...  I can't think of any of any other jazz recording from that time that's nearly as explosive. The only orchestra that could come close to matching that intensity was Cab Calloway's band. And after Harding did a bit of writing and arranging for Coleman Hawkins, that's exactly where he went. In the flamboyant Calloway, Harding found a like-minded musical conspirator with a blasting horn section being driven by a suitably propulsive rhythm engine. Watch a Cab Calloway soundie for Harding's "Virginia, Georgia and Caroline" from 1942 temporarily available right here. After a productive few years (1944-46) with the hugely popular Calloway orchestra – co-writing  "We The Cats Shall Hep Ya," "I Want To Rock," "Tappin' Off," "The Hi De Ho Man (That's Me)" and many more – Harding began taking on freelance writing/arranging work for Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw ("Little Jazz," "Bedford Drive"), Jonah Jones ("B.H. Boogie," "Lust For Licks"), Count Basie ("The Mad Boogie," "Rails," "Hob-Nail Boogie") and Roy Eldridge ("Yard Dog," "Poor John," "Little Jazz Boogie"). 

In 1949, Harding was hired by Billie Holiday as her musical director for a Decca session which resulted in the recordings "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" and "Baby, Get Lost"  as well as some compositional collaborations with Holiday on a few songs – including "Please Don't Do It In Here" and "You'd Do It Anyway." He continued working as Holiday's pianist on live dates through the early 50s although he soon took up with Dizzy Gillespie and the two worked closely together for the next few years before Harding connected with keybordist/bandleader Bill Doggett through the later 50s and early 60s, penning "Hometown Shout," "Birdie," "Blues For Handy." "High and Wide," "Bill Dogs It" during his stint. Among the last credited recording appearance of Harding is a 1963 budget-line Bossa Nova cash-in set for Pickwick involving drummer Osie Johnson, flautist/saxophonist Sam Most, bassist Jimmy Jones and trumpeter Louis Metcalf. Two years later, Harding passed away in New York at the age of 53. 

Perhaps due in part to the fact that Harding never released a recording under his own name and rarely had his photo taken with his more famous collaborators (other than the Jet Magazine snapshot with Dizzy Gillespie at Dizzy's home in Corona, Long Island from 1955), he is largely a forgotten figure today. 

Sadly, Harding's important writing and arranging contributions to jazz music during the transition from swing to bop have been largely overlooked, rarely even rating a mention in most attempts to document the era. Many self-styled jazz authorities remain blissfully unaware of Harding's accomplishments today. A much deeper study of Harding's life and work, along with a retrospective collection of his songs and arrangements recorded by more popular figures, is long overdue. For the moment, here's just a small sampling of Buster Harding's musical legacy.