Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes (
July 7
1916 -
March 4 1989) was an American
jazz and
R&B guitarist. He was a member of the
Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing
musician on recording sessions by
Charlie
Parker and others, and later led his own bands. He is notable
for playing the
tenor guitar, a
four-stringed electric instrument.
Grimes was
born in Newport News,
Virginia
and began his musical career playing drums and
one-fingered piano. In 1938 he took up the electric 4-string
tenor guitar. In 1940 he joined the
Cats and a Fiddle as guitarist and singer.
In 1943 he joined the Art Tatum Trio as guitarist and made a number
of recordings with Tatum. The early Tatum Trio recordings some of
the more interesting early examples of Tiny Grimes’ guitar
work.
After leaving Tatum, Grimes recorded with his own groups in New
York and he recorded with a long list of leading musicians,
including vocalist
Billie Holiday. He
made four recordings with Charlie Parker that are considered
excellent examples of early bebop jazz: "Tiny’s Tempo", "Red
Cross", "Romance Without Finance", and "I’ll Always Love You". He
was one of the
52d street regulars.
In the late 1940s, he had a hit on a jazzed up version of "Loch
Lomond". His band was billed as
Tiny "Mac" Grimes and the
Rocking Highlanders and appeared in
kilts. This groups included top tenor saxman
Red Prysock and big-voiced baritone singer
Screaming Jay Hawkins. Grimes
continued to lead his own groups into the later 1970’s and he
recorded on
Prestige Records in a
series of strong blues-based performances with
Coleman Hawkins,
Illinois Jacquet,
Pepper Adams,
Roy
Eldridge and other noted players including, in 1977,
Earl Hines.
With
Paul Williams, he
co-headlined the first "Moondog Coronation Ball",
promoted by Alan Freed in Cleveland
on March 21, 1952, often claimed as the first rock and roll concert. In 1953 he may
have played on
The Crows one-hit wonder, "
Gee", that has been called the first original
rock and roll record by an
R&B
group.
References
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