Jazz hoofer

Duration: 30

Year Published: 1981

Creator: W. Hancock

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: A portrait of Laurence Donald Jackson, Baby Laurence, Note d singer and tap dancer. Traces his singing debut at age 12 in Baltimore and follows his varied career through well-known New York clubs including the Onyx Club, the Hoofer's Club run by Bill Robinson and his debut as dancer at the fam ed Apollo Theater in 1940. Working with the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman, and small groups led by Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillepsie and Charlie Mingus, Baby Laurence was one of the first to adapt to the bebop style, and one of the last great American tap dancers. Before his death in 1974, Laurence, undeterred by personal and professional problems, performed at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals in 1973 and danced on a bill at the Palace Theater with the legendary Josephine Baker.