Haughton, Chauncey
Haughton, Chauncey
Haughton, Chauncey, jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, pianist; b. Chestertown, Md., Feb. 26, 1909; d. July 1, 1989. He was the brother of trombonist John E. “Shorty” Haughton (b. 1904) and trumpeter Clifton Haughton. Their father was also a musician. He began on piano at eight, and took up clarinet while at high school in Baltimore. He later played clarinet and sax in the Morgan Coll. Band. His first professional work in 1927 was with Ike Dixon’s Band. He then worked with Elmer Calloway (brother of Cab) and the White Brothers’ Band. He came to N.Y (1932) with Gene Kennedy’s Band, worked with Blanche Calloway until 1935, then with Claude Hopkins, Noble Sissle, and Fletcher Henderson before joining Chick Webb. He left Webb in November 1937 to join Cab Calloway, but left him in January 1940 to join a band led by Ella Fitzgerald. He remained with her until 1942 (apart from a brief period with Benny Carter’s big band in 1940). He was with Duke Ellington from the summer of 1942 until being drafted in April 1943. After leaving the Army, he did a long U.S.O. tour (winter 1945 to summer 1946) with vocalist Frances Brock, then went to Europe in Don Redman’s Band (September 1946). After that unit disbanded in Europe, he played briefly in Scandinavia during 1947, then returned to the U.S. Besides brief work with Cab Calloway in the late 1940s (and a recording session in 1958), he left full-time music making after that.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter