Black History Spotlight: Eubie Banks

EUBIE BLAKE (1887-1983) was one of the most important figures in early-20th-century music, and one whose longevity made him a storehouse of the history of ragtime and early jazz music and culture.

Born to former slaves on February 7, 1887, Blake was the only surviving child of eight who all died in infancy. His musical training began when he was only about four years old. hile out shopping with his mother, he wandered into a music store, climbed on the bench of an organ, and started foolin’ around. When his mother found him, the store manager said to her: “The child is a genius! It would be criminal to deprive him of the chance to make use of such a sublime, God-given talent.”

The Blakes purchased a pump organ for $75.00 making payments of 25 cents a week. When Blake was seven, he received music lessons from a neighbor. At 15, without knowledge of his parents, Blake played piano at Aggie Shelton’s Baltimore bordello. Blake composed the melody to “Sounds of Africa” (later retitled “Charleston Rag”) around the same time.

In July 1910, Blake married Avis Elizabeth Cecelia Lee (1881–1938), proposing to her in a chauffeur-driven car he hired. Blake and Lee had met about 15 years before while attending Primary School No. 2 in Baltimore. Blake brought his wife to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he had already found employment at the Boathouse nightclub.

His career did not really take off until he met NOBLE SISSLE in 1915. Together, Blake and Sissle wrote many hits. Blake also collaborated with ANDY RAZAF (on “Memories of You”), HENRY CREAMER, and other writers, composing more than 350 songs.

Blake and Sissle began work on a musical revue, Shuffle Along, which incorporated many songs they had written, and had a book written by F. E. MILLER and AUBREY LYLES. When it premiered in June 1921, Shuffle Along became the first hit musical onBroadway written by and about African-Americans. The musicals also introduced hitsongs such as “I’M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY” and “Love Will Find a Way.”

In 1938, Avis was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died later that year at 58. Of his loss, Blake is on record saying:

“In my life I never knew what it was to be alone. At first when Avis got sick, I thought she just had a cold, but when time passed and she didn’t get better, I made her go to a doctor and we found out she had TB … I suppose I knew from when we found out she had the TB, I understood that it was just a matter of time.”

Blake continued to play and record into late life. As one of the principle figures of the ragtime and early jazz revival of the 1970s, he gave talks and performances well into his nineties. In 1979, the musical Eubie was created from his work and Blake himself made several cameo appearances in performances. He died in 1983 in Brooklyn just five days after celebrating his claimed 100th birthday, actually his 96th. Every official document issued by the government, records his birthday as February 7, 1887. However, Blake claimed to be born in 1883. He was interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.