ALBERTO SOCCARAS

Alberto Socarrás Estacio, (Manzanillo, 19 September 1908 – New York, 26 August 1987), was a Cuban-American flautist who played both Cuban music and jazz.

Socarras started learning the flute in 1915 with his mother, Dolores Estacio, and later joined the provincial music conservatory at Santiago de Cuba. He completed his studies at the Timothy Music Conservatory in New York, gaining the equivalent title to a doctorate in music. In the middle 1920s he moved to Havana to join the theatre orchestra of Arquimedes Pous, where his sister Estrella was playing the violin. He also played in one or two early Cuban jazz bands (Early Cuban jazz) before moving to the United States in 1927.

In the US he recorded with Clarence Williams in 1927 and began taking jazz flute solos as early as 1929, making him the earliest known jazz flute soloist (earlier even than Wayman Carver). He played with The Blackbirds revue between 1928 and 1933, and plays on Lizzie Miles's 1928 recording "You're Such a Cruel Papa to Me". In 1933 he played with Benny Carter, then led the all-female Cuban band Anacaona on a tour of Europe in 1934. In 1935 he played with Sam Wooding and led his own bands from 1935 into the 1940s; his sidemen included Edgar Sampson and Mongo Santamaria, and Cab Calloway as a singer. He also played with Erskine Hawkins in 1937. He made only one recording session in 1935, with four numbers.

In the 1950s he took part in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone on TV, and offered concerts of cult music at the Carnegie Hall in New York. In the 60s he dedicated himself to teaching, but also made some recordings. In 1983 he was filmed by Gustavo Paredes playing the flute in a TV documentary Música.

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Biography by Scott Yanow

The first jazz flute soloist in history (predating the better-known Wayman Carver by several years), Albert Socarras made records with Clarence Williams starting in 1927 and took occasional flute solos at least as early as 1929. He began his career playing in his native Cuba, moving to the U.S. in 1927. A technically skilled musician, Socarras played all the reeds (particularly alto and clarinet) and worked with the Blackbirds shows of 1928-33. He was with Benny Carter for a short period in 1933, ran an all-girls band that toured Europe in 1934, toured with Sam Wooding the following year and mainly led his own groups other than being briefly with Erskine Hawkins in 1937. A talented classical solo flutist and an educator, Socarras worked outside of jazz after the 1930's. However when one hears his flute solos from the 1920's (including one in which he is followed by some rambunctious Cyrus St. Clair tuba-playing), Albert Socarras (who only led a single record date of his own, four songs with a Cuban-oriented band in 1935) sounds quite futuristic! It is a pity that his flute playing was not utilized more in jazz.

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Born: September 19, 1908  Died: August 26, 1987 

Alberto Socarras - clarinet, flute, alto and soprano sax, bandleader,(1908 - 1987)

Alberto Socarras is credited with recording the first real jazz flute piece in 1927. Socarras was a highly proficient Cuban clarinetist, and bandleader, who after his arrival in New York, performed with Lew Leslie's Blackbirds, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong.

Socarras playing a flute recorded “Shootin' The Pistol” in 1927 with the Clarence Williams Band. His other recordings include “You're Such a Cruel Papa To Me,” with vocalist Lizzie Miles in 1928, and “You Can't Be Mine,”in 1930, with Bennett's Swamplanders. He would also join up with the Blackbirds Revue, and Rhapsody in Black, musical troupes for tours of Europe.

In the thirties Alberto Socarras went on to lead his own bands both in the U.S. and abroad, as the one in ‘34 that was billed as “Alberto Socarrás and his Magic Flute Orchestra.” Other configurations featured first rate sidemen such as Cab Calloway and Mongo Santamaria, both later to achieve international fame as band leaders in their own right. In his heyday he was broadcasting live on WMCA from the Latin Campomar Club in NYC, where he brought in a young Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, who later would say of Socarras, “the Cuban maestro with the magic flute.”

Socarras went on to achieve quite a reputation as an enduring bandleader, and also did scores of studio and sideman stints especially for the Columbia label, who was marketing music specifically for the Latin American audience.

After receiving his degree in music from the Timothy Musical Conservatory in 1944, he went on to record “Rumba Clasica,” for the RCA label in 1947. He went into teaching, as well as keeping his band going well into the ’50’s, surfacing in the ‘60’s on dates with Tito Puente.

Though his place in jazz history may be just a footnote, Alberto Socarras played a vital role in the development and nurturing of Latin jazz in its original stages.

Albverto Socarras passed on Aug. 26, 1987.

Source: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=4485