Harry Gibson
b. Harry Raab, 1914, New York City, New York, USA, d. May 1991. Gibson's first job was playing piano in a band which included future jazz musicians such as Joe ‘Flip’ Phillips and Billy Bauer. At this time he was working under his real name, but later changed it when he formed a double act with singer Ruth Gibson. In the '40s he enjoyed a brief period of fame when he caught to perfection the attitudes, language and mannerisms of a generation of zoot-suited, streetwise hipsters. Much of Gibson's nightclub act was built around his own compositions, which included gems such as Who Put the Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine? and Zoot Gibson Rides Again. Gibson's lyrics, and the patter with which he surrounded his songs, made a marked impression upon a succeeding generation of stand-up comedians; his peers included Lord Buckley and Lenny Bruce. Gibson's troubled lifestyle was akin to that of Bruce and another friend and musical associate, Charlie Parker. Gibson was reputed to be instrumental in persuading Billy Berg to bring Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to Los Angeles for their ground-breaking engagement in 1945. Despite a frenetic life, which included periods of incarceration for drug offences, several marriages, and a great deal of wildly irreverent humour and much engaging music, Gibson managed to avoid the limelight. Indeed, few jazz reference books mention him and perhaps the longest magazine article on him came in the form of Mark Gardner's obituary in Jazz Journal International soon after Gibson's death in May 1991. For all his other-worldliness, Gibson's anarchic humour had much to say that was relevant. His music, especially his piano playing, despite its boppish overtones, was firmly rooted in the older traditions of his early idols such as Fats Waller and Erroll Garner. During his later years Gibson worked sporadically, fronting a band in the '70s that included his sons in its ranks.