Huey Long 1904-2009

Former Ink Spot guitarist Huey Long dies at 105

By MONICA RHOR Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
June 12, 2009, 12:32PM

HOUSTON — Huey Long, a jazz guitarist whose sprawling career included stints with musical giants Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and as part of the famed Ink Spots vocal group, has died. He was 105.

Long was first drawn to music as a teenager when a group of minstrels visited his hometown of Sealy, a small Texas town about 20 miles west of Houston. He began playing the banjo and joined the Frank Davis Louisiana Jazz Band in the mid-20s.

In the 1930s, Long — by then a guitarist — went to Chicago where he recorded with pianist Lil Armstrong and joined with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, who brought him to New York in 1943.

There, Long joined Earl "Fatha" Hines, whose big band included Gillespie, Parker and Sarah Vaughn. In 1945, Long was leading his own trio when vocalist Bill Kenny invited him to join the Ink Spots, whose velvet harmonies and flashy performing style had helped them become one of the first black groups to gain acceptance among white listeners.

The Ink Spots, whose recordings included "My Prayer," "I Cover the Waterfront" and "Java Jive" and others later reinvented for newer generations, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

They are often credited with having a direct influence on the evolution of doo wop groups and rhythm and blues.After his stint with the Ink Spots, Long went on to form his own combo and studied music in California. He also lead a version of the Ink Spots in the 1960s.