Eddie South: Tzigane in Rhythm

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 racia