Sammy Benskin
Samuel Benskin (September 27, 1922 – August 26, 1992) was an American pianist and bandleader. He was born in The Bronx, New York City, United States, and made his professional debut around 1940 as piano accompanist to singer and guitarist Bardu Ali. He worked throughout the 1940s with jazz musicians including Stuff Smith, Benny Morton and Don Redman. By the early 1950s he had begun leading his own piano trio, as well as appearing as a soloist and as accompanist to singers including Roy Hamilton and Al Hibbler. In 1954 he also joined a group, The Three Flames, which also featured Tiger Haynes. Later in the 1950s he worked as accompanist to Dinah Washington. In 1959, with a band credited as The Spacemen, he recorded an instrumental, "The Clouds", written and produced by Julius Dixson and issued on Dixson's Alton record label. Other session musicians playing on the record were Panama Francis, Haywood Henry, and Babe Clark. The song originally had vocals, which Dixson removed, releasing the instrumental version. This rose to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and No. 41 on the pop chart. "The Clouds" was the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown's first No. 1 by a year. From the 1960s Benskin worked primarily as a vocal coach, arranger and producer. In 1986, he recorded an album in Paris for Black & Blue Records, These Foolish Songs, which was reissued on CD in 2002. He died in Teaneck, New Jersey, aged 69. |
Birth and Death Data: Born September 27, 1922 (The Bronx), Died August 26, 1992
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1945 - 1951
Roles Represented in DAHR: piano
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Decca | 73006 | 10-in. | 8/14/1945 | Don't explain | Billie Holiday | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Decca | 73007 | 8/14/1945 | Big stuff-1,3 | Billie Holiday | instrumentalist, piano | |||
Decca | 73008 | 10-in. | 8/14/1945 | You better go now-2 | Billie Holiday | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Decca | 73009 | 10-in. | 8/14/1945 | What is this thing called love? | Billie Holiday | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Decca | 81071 | 5/22/1951 | No more cryin' blues | Mabel Scott | instrumentalist, piano | |||
Decca | 81072 | 5/22/1951 | Boogie woogie choo choo train | Mabel Scott | instrumentalist, piano | |||
Decca | 81073 | 5/22/1951 | Somebody goofed | Mabel Scott | instrumentalist, piano | |||
Decca | 81074 | 5/22/1951 | Catch 'em young, treat 'em rough | Mabel Scott | instrumentalist, piano | |||
Signature | SRC 354 | 10-in. | 1946 | Open the door Richard-1 | Walter Brown | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Signature | SRC 355 | 10-in. | 1946 | My second best woman | Walter Brown | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Signature | SRC 356 | 10-in. | 1946 | Let's get some understanding | Walter Brown | instrumentalist, piano | ||
Signature | SRC 357 | 10-in. | 1946 | I'm living for you | Walter Brown | instrumentalist, piano |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Benskin, Sammy," accessed November 6, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/303912.
Benskin, Sammy. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 6, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/303912.
"Benskin, Sammy." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 6 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Benskin, Sammy - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2005024633
Wikidata: Sammy Benskin - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2217477
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/37107746
MusicBrainz: Sammy Benskin - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e0ff9119-fdd6-4dda-bae5-0afaa7773881
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.