* En anglais uniquement
One of the great unsung trumpeters of the 1920s,
Bobby Stark was a major soloist with
the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra; his improvisations on three recorded versions of "King Porter Stomp" (the first one being in 1928) were arguably more exciting and creative than
Bunny Berigan's famous solo on
Benny Goodman's hit record in 1935.
Stark, who started playing alto horn when he was 15, studied piano and reeds before settling on the trumpet. He had short stints in New York with
June Clark (1925), Edgar Dowell,
Leon Abbey,
Duncan Mayers, Bobby Lee,
Billy Butler, Charles Turner, the early version of
McKinney's Cotton Pickers and
Chick Webb (1926-1927).
Stark was a major asset with
Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra during 1927-1933, soloing on many records and, although showing the influence of
Louis Armstrong, he often sounded quite original. With Henderson,
Stark held his own with such fellow trumpeters as
Cootie Williams,
Rex Stewart, and
Henry "Red" Allen. Ironically, his next association, with
Chick Webb's Orchestra during 1934-1939, found him overshadowed completely by trumpeter
Taft Jordan; the two trumpeters had similar styles during the era and Jordan (who doubled as a vocalist) got nearly all of the publicity. After
Webb's death in 1939,
Stark stayed with the band (under the leadership of
Ella Fitzgerald) for an additional year and then freelanced. He was in the Army for a year (1942-1943), played with
Garvin Bushell (1944) and
Benny Morton's Sextet, and then died prematurely. How he would have handled the innovations of the bop era will never be known.
Bobby Stark, who never led a record date of his own, deserves to be rediscovered for his contributions to
Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. ~ Scott Yanow