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The Career Of George Duvivier

Jazz Unlimited for November 3, 2019 presents “The Music of George Duvivier.”  Born in New York in 1920, Duvivier was initially a violinist and became the assistant concertmaster of the Central Manhattan Symphony by the age of 16.  He then studied bass and after service in World War II began his jazz career with Jimmie Lunceford and Cy Oliver.  Duvivier was mainly a studio musician who worked with everybody in and out of jazz until his death in 1985.  From his 849 jazz recordings, we will hear him with Hank Jones, Stan Getz, Tadd Dameron, Etta Jones, Benny Goodman, Buddy Tate, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Shelly Manne, Billie Holiday, Thad Jones, George Russell, Johnny Smith, “Lockjaw Davis, Arnett Cobb, Tubby Hayes, Mark Murphy, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Mark Murphy, Bud Powell, Herbie Nichols, Oliver Nelson, “Cleanhead” Vinson and Eric Dolphy.

The Slide Show contains my photographs of some of the musicians heard on this show.

The video is from 1984 in Mobile, AL with George Duvivier (b), Johnny Smith (g) and Alan Dawson (d) playing "Blues for Harry Carney."

Dennis Owsley has broadcast a weekly jazz show for St. Louis Public Radio since April 1983. He holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and is a retired Monsanto Senior Science Fellow and college teacher. His show, Jazz Unlimited, airs every Sunday from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. The show has the largest jazz audience in St. Louis and was named Best Jazz Radio Show in St. Louis for the years 2005-2007 and 2009 by the Riverfront Times. In celebration of his 25 years on the air, January 24, 2008 was proclaimed Dennis Owsley Day" in the City of St. Louis. He is the 2010 winner of the St. Louis Public Radio Millard S. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award. Dennis is also a noted photographer, and his exhibit, In the Moment: Photographs of Jazz Musicians, ran from September 23, 2005 to January 21, 2006 at the Sheldon Art Gallery. He is a lifetime student of jazz history and teaches short courses on the subject. Dennis is the author of the award-winning book City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in St. Louis 1985-1973, published in 2006.