Howard, Paul (Leroy)
Howard, Paul (Leroy)
Howard, Paul (Leroy), jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist; b. Steubenville, Ohio, Sept. 20, 1895; d. L.A., Feb. 18, 1980. His father played cornet, his mother piano and organ. He started on cornet, then began doubling on alto sax (and also learned clarinet, oboe, bassoon, flute, and piano). He moved to L.A. in 1911. His first professional work was in 1916 with Wood Wilson’s Syncopators (on tenor sax), then with Satchel McVea’s Howdy Band. He continued doubling on cornet until 1917, worked for a while in San Diego, then spent a long spell with Harry Southard’s Black and Tan Band, starting in 1918. During the early 1920s he also played with King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton on the West Coast. He was with the Quality Four (Harvey Brooks on piano) from 1923, then led his own Quality Serenaders from 1924, which played long residencies at L.A.-based clubs through the early 1930s. Thereafter, he worked with various other leaders through the decade’s end, until reforming his own band, which played a regular gig for the next 14 years until 1953. He continued to gig thereafter until the end of the 1950s, and then was more or less retired for the remainder of his life.
—John Chilton, Who’ Who of Jazz /Lewis Porter