Lawrence Dixon

Lawrence Dixon played banjo, guitar, and cello through a career that lasted some four decades. On recording he is best represented on the '30s sides of bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although a later period working with bandleader Franz Jackson also left behind some discographical goodies. Dixon seems to have gotten his early inspiration from his father, who also performed. The young Dixon and was picked up professionally by the roving Sammy Stewart, who may have had a thing for sidemen named Dixon -- he also took the multi-instrumentalist George Dixon under his wing in the '20s. Both players named Dixon wound up leaving Stewart for Hines. The string player was with Stewart from 1923 through 1928, subsequently joining up with the excellent Dave Peyton's theater band. At this point, Dixon was mostly playing cello and was also working with an orchestra under the direction of Paul Jordan. In the late '20s he worked with Clarence Moore, then the pianist Grant Williams. It was Hines time from l931, a stint that stretched out a half-a-dozen years. In the late '30s, Dixon worked mostly around Chicago on a freelance basis. Jackson was his most notable employer in the '50s and early '60s, a context in which his grand rhythmic style on banjo could be quite exciting. After 1963, Dixon had to tie up all his strings due to ill health. ~ Eugene Chadbourne