Harry “The Hipster” Gibson (1915-91) was a unique character in jazz history. In some ways he was the jazz equivalent to rock and roll’s Jerry Lee Lewis although he appeared a decade earlier. The singer-pianist became famous for a short time in the mid-1940s due to his somewhat crazy recordings for Musicraft and the three Soundies that he made in 1944. He largely disappeared from the national jazz scene after the early 1950s although he made a few albums during 1974-89. Relatively little was known about his life, particularly about his last 40 years or his origins until the release of this recent book.
Fortunately, Gibson was extensively interviewed for three hours by Los Angeles-based jazz journalist Kirk Silsbee in 1976 and that definitive discussion along with the transcription of a less thorough but colorful radio interview from 1974 with Dr. Demento serve as the foundation for The Wild and Wiggy Times of Harry the Hipster Gibson. Edited by Don McGlynn (who adds many insightful comments of his own), the book is filled with loads of black and white photos including of the associates who Gibson discussed. In addition, there is an analysis of Gibson’s Soundies and lone film appearance (in 1945’s Junior Prom) by jazz film collector and expert Mark Cantor.
The Kirk Silsbee interview fills in a lot of gaps in Harry the Hipster’s story. He remembers that Gibson was hyperkinetic and did most of the interview while excitedly pacing back and forth. Gibson (who was born as Harry Raab) talks about his childhood which included playing the piano from the age of three, his skills at boxing, working in a dance band when he was 13, playing regularly as a teenager for a nightclub run by Dutch Schultz, beginning a lifelong love of marijuana (which was legal at the time while liquor was against the law), playing at a variety of jazz clubs in the 1930s on 52nd Street (often in a duet with guitarist Billy Bauer), and unknowingly playing Fats Waller songs for Waller who became a good friend.
Gibson relates how out of desperation he became a singing entertainer when he had to fill in for an absent Billie Holiday at the Three Deuces, spontaneously inventing the Harry the Hipster character. Discovered by executives from the small Musicraft label, he recorded eight numbers in 1944 including “Stop That Dancing Up There,” “Handsome Harry the Hipster,” and “4F Ferdinand the Frantic Freak.” A very skilled pianist, Gibson appeared on one of Eddie Condon’s Town Hall broadcasts, playing solo versions of two Bix Beiderbecke tunes: “In A Mist” and “Candlelights.” Although he was not a bebopper (he was a swing pianist who could play quite credible boogie-woogie), Gibson hung out with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
In the fall of 1945 he relocated to Los Angeles where he was a regular at Billy Berg’s club and built up a large local following. In 1947 he had a session for Musicraft that included a potential hit in his “Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy Ovaltine?” Unfortunately the record was largely banned after benzedrine became illegal a month after he made the recording. He also performed shows with Mae West and became good friends with Lord Buckley.
Harry the Hipster discusses his bout with heroin, his periods running a nightclub in Miami and being a part-time pimp, and his 1952 bust for marijuana possession. He humorously talks about his nine months in jail where he supplied music for a jailhouse priest, and organized both male and female choirs comprised of inmates.
Gibson continued performed mostly in obscurity during the remainder of the 1950s and ’60s, bought a ranch where he was a cowboy and trained horses, made his final record in 1979, and a dozen years later, while suffering from congestive heart failure, committed suicide. Considering his wild and funny personality along with the joy that he got out of life, one would imagine that he smiled on the way out.
The Wild and Wiggy Times of Harry the Hipster Gibson, which includes a full discography, is highly recommended and available from www.amazon.com. It makes for a fun read.
The Wild and Wiggy Times of Harry the Hipster Gibson
by Don McGlynn, with Kirk Silsbee, Dr. Demento (Barret Hansen), and Mark Cantor
Independently published (November 19, 2024)
Paperback; 222 pages; $20
Available at Amazon.com
ISBN: 979-8346929727
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
