Eddie South (1904-1962) was one of the premiere jazz violinists of his generation. A child prodigy from Missouri, South graduated from the Chicago Music College. At the time, classical positions were not open to Black violinists in the 1920s, so South learned to play jazz (helped out by Darnell Howard). In the early to mid-1920s, he worked in Chicago with Jimmy Wade’s Syncopators, Charles Elgar and Erskine Tate. In 1928, a visit to Europe (where he studied at the Paris Conservatoire) made a deep impression on the violinist, particularly Budapest; later on, he would often utilize gypsy melodies as a basis for jazz improvising.

In 1931, South returned to Chicago, where his regular band included bassist Milt Hinton. In 1937, while in Paris he recorded with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. South never had a major breakthrough commercially in his American career. Classically trained, fluent in several styles including swing, gypsy and Latin; he favored a warm, lyrical sound; popular in Europe, where racial discrimination did not hinder his style.

He did work on radio and television but spent most of his life in relative obscurity, playing in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. In later years he recorded for Chess and Mercury, and also made a final set released by Trip. South’s other early recordings (covering 1927-41) have been reissued on a pair of Classics CDs. One of the top violinists of the pre-bop era South was a brilliant technician who, were it not for the universal racism of the time, would probably have been a top classical violinist.

To hear South’s recordings with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli see: Intégrale Django Reinhardt Vol.6 (1937)

Eddie South’s playing is featured on the following CDs: Solo, Trio & Ochestra – Broadcasts, Film & Fugitive, Americans in Sweden, and I Like Be I Like Bop.

A complete bio-discography of Eddie South can be found here: Black Gypsy: The Recordings of Eddie South.

From the collection of Scot Wise.