Crosby, Israel (Clem)
Crosby, Israel (Clem)
Crosby, Israel (Clem) , bassist; b. Chicago, III, Jan. 19, 1919; d. there, Aug. 11, 1962. He played trumpet from the age of five, changed to trombone and tuba, and at 13 was gigging regularly on these instruments. He changed to string bass in 1934, with Johnny Long, Anthony Frambro, then with Albert Ammons in the Club DeLisa in Chicago. After making his record debut with Gene Krupa, he spent two years with Fletcher Henderson (1936–38). He left in 1939 to spend a year working with Three Sharps and a Flat. He joined Horace Henderson in September 1940, but left the following May to spend two years in the Teddy Wilson Band. In the summer of 1944 he joined Raymond Scott at CBS where he spent several years as a freelance studio musician, also with James P. Johnson (1945). From 1951–53 he was with pianist Ahmad Jamal, briefly with Teddy Wilson Trio, then worked with Benny Goodman (late 1956-early 1957 tour of Asia) Crosby returned to work with Ahmad Jamal Trio until the trio disbanded in the spring of 1962, then joined pianist George Shearing; his last recordings were made with Shearing in June 1962. During the following month he returned to Chicago for a medical check-up, and died of a blood clot on the heart.
—John Chilton/Lewis Porter