People, Locations, Episodes

Sammy Price, Jazz Pianist born

Sammy Price album

In 1908, Black jazz pianist, Sammy Price, was born on this date.

Born in Honey Grove, TX, Samuel Blythe Price grew up in Waco, where he learned to play the alto saxophone.  Portia Pittman, the daughter of Booker T. Washington, was his piano teacher in Dallas.  His career began in 1925 when he joined the Alphone Trent Orchestra as a Charleston dancer. Soon after, he was leading his own big band in Dallas. In the 1920s, he performed with Benny Long, Lem Johnson, and Leonard Chadwick, and in 1927, he toured with the Let’s Go Show.

Price lived in Kansas City, Chicago, and Detroit before settling in New York, where he began a long relationship with Decca Records. As a recording supervisor and arranger, he worked with many top artists of the time, including Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Blue Lu Baker. Price also led his own group, the Texas Blusicians. In the 1940s, Price recorded for Mezz Mezzrow’s King Label as both a solo and boogie-woogie pianist; he also sided with Sidney Bechet and organized an early Black-run jazz festival in Philadelphia.

In 1957, Price’s charm and playing brought him to Europe, and he acquired two nightclubs in the Dallas area.  He then moved back to New York and recorded several albums, including "Blues and Boogie" (1955) and "The Price is Right" (1956). During the 1960s, he left the music business briefly to work in community affairs and run his Down Home Meat Products Company.  Upon returning to the stage and studio, Price played with a group called Two-Tenor Boogie, recording "Midnight Boogie" (1969), "Fire" (1975), "Black Beauty" (1979), and "Play It Again Sam" (1983).

His best major appearance was at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of the 1991 JVC Jazz Festival. Sammy Price died in April 1992.

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