Joe McQueen

Joe Leandrew McQueen (May 30, 1919 – December 7, 2019), also known as Joe Lee McQueen, was an American jazz saxophonist.

Joe McQueen
Birth nameJoe Leandrew McQueen
Born(1919-05-30)May 30, 1919
Ponder, Texas, U.S.
DiedDecember 7, 2019(2019-12-07) (aged 100)
Ogden, Utah, U.S.
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsSaxophone
Years active1930s–2019

Biography

McQueen was born in Ponder, Texas, and raised in Ardmore, Oklahoma.[1] His father left when he was a young boy and his mother died when he was 14 years old, after which he lived with his grandparents.[2] In his teens he started playing saxophone[1] in part because of his cousin, Herschel Evans, a saxophonist with Count Basie during the 1930s.[3] He developed a relationship with Thelma, whom he met on a dance floor in Ardmore, and they married on June 10, 1944.[2]

McQueen toured with bands throughout the United States. While passing through Ogden, Utah, with his wife Thelma in 1945, the leader of the band McQueen was in at the time took the group's money[4], later losing it while gambling on the way to Las Vegas.[3]

McQueen and wife Thelma decided to remain in Ogden.[1] He performed with jazz musicians when they stopped in Utah, such as Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Paul Gonsalves, Lester Young, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Ray Charles.[2][5]

In 1962 he played in Idaho Falls, Idaho, with Hoagy Carmichael.

As he approached the age of 100, he was still performing.[1]

Awards and honors

McQueen was the subject of the documentary film King of O-Town.[5] In 2002, the governor of Utah established April 18 as Joe McQueen Day.[4] In 2019, the Utah legislature honored his 100th birthday.[1]

Health and death

McQueen was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1969 after years of smoking. He underwent surgery and quit playing for several years.[2]

McQueen died on the morning of December 7, 2019, at the age of 100. He was survived by his wife of seventy-five years, Thelma.[6][2]

gollark: Yep, the "inversionator" IC.
gollark: Floor below the launch bay maybe.
gollark: So I can actually join?
gollark: Can you just go to GSS and remove the logic gate on the floor by the way?
gollark: TIS-3D.

References
  1. Saal, Mark (9 February 2019). "About to turn 100, Joe McQueen gets a new sax — and a state proclamation". Standard-Examiner. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  2. "Jazz legend Joe McQueen, the 'coolest cat in town,' dies at 100 after pioneering Utah's music and civil rights scene". The Salt Lake Tribune. December 7, 2019.
  3. Wintz, Cary D.; Glasrud, Bruce A. (22 May 2012). The Harlem Renaissance in the American West. Routledge. pp. 159–. ISBN 978-1-136-64911-0. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  4. Diamond, Austen (18 April 2013). "Joe McQueen Day". Salt Lake City Weekly. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. "Wayback Machine" (.pdf). web.archive.org. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  6. Scholl, Jacob (December 7, 2019). "Ogden jazz legend Joe McQueen dies at the age of 100". Ogden Standard-Examiner.
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