William J. Tennyson, Jr.

William "Bill" J. Tennyson, Jr (1923 - 1959) was a notable American jazz musician.^[1]

A Louisiana Creole, Tennyson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and his father was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. After his mother died when Tennyson was aged three, he and his two younger siblings moved to live with their grandmother, Mathilda, who had formerly owned a sugar cane plantation near the Bayous of Louisiana.

"Bill" was a major part of Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance period. He attended a university in Louisiana at age 13, was a self-taught musician and, aged 16, was one of the first of color to attend the world-renowned Juilliard School of Music. He was an ASCAP member from 1950.

During the latter part of his career, he partnered with Fay Tishman to found what would have been one of the few black music publishing companies (Tishman went on to become president of ASCAP's New York branch).

Tennyson died, aged 36, in a car crash in New York soon after completing a hit record Centerpiece with John Coltrane. In addition he wrote and composed for artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis and The Orioles, Cab Calloway, and wrote and composed soundtracks for several Louis Jordan films, one of history’s first breaking black moviemakers.^[2]

• Centerpiece - 04:52 (Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jon Hendricks, Bill Tennyson)

TENNYSON, BILL song w/LOUIS JORDAN 1923 NEW ORLEANS, LA "LOUIS JORDAN AND HIS Tympany Five" Circle 53 A:4 2:20 SALT PORK, WEST VIRGINIA [72979-A] (Fleecie Moore, Bill Tennyson)

• Rough Ridin' (3:15) Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Jones, William Tennyson

"SARAH VAUGHAN: SARAH FOR LOVERS" Verve 440065330 (CD) A:12 4:35 WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE (Bill Tennyson) 2/14/1957 NYC, SARAH VAUGHAN: Sarah Vaughan (v), Jimmy Jones (p), Richard Davis (b), Roy Haynes (dr)

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