Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 4, 1916 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone.
Born Bulee Gaillard, some doubts persist regarding Slim's place, date of birth and parental lineage which are all up for debate. Detroit or Cuba being the two main contenders, but certainly we can assume the date was most likely on January 4, 1916 to a Greek father and an Afro-Cuban mother or a German father and an African-American mother. Gaillard was mostly raised in Detroit, though, where he tried his hand at professional boxing, worked as a mortician, and ran bootleg rum for the Purple Gang during the late 20’s and early '30s.
He developed an act in which he played guitar and tap danced simultaneously, and by 1937 he had found his way to 52nd Street in New York and was working with a variety of top jazzmen including Frankie Newton. Then providence brought him and bassist Slam Stewart together on radio which resulted in the 1938 hit recording of his own composition "Flat Foot Floogie". There quickly followed similar jive talk hits like "Tutti Frutti", "Vol Vist du Gaily Star", "Chicken Rhythm", and "Matzoh Balls".
By 1941 Gaillard and Stewart were a success in Hollywood and appeared in the crazy "Hellzapoppin" film. Like many in the entertainment business at that time they had to put their plans on hold during the war and Gaillard saw service with the U.S. Army Air Force. Following his release in 1944 he settled in Los Angeles and took up residency at Billy Berg's Hollywood Boulevard club, a hot spot for stars of the era. Now in tandem with bassist Bam Brown, Gaillard became a top draw and a hip name to drop; his 1945 hit "Cement Mixer" returned him to national prominence, and he recorded frequently that year, often with a quartet featuring Brown, pianist Dodo Marmarosa, and drummer Zutty Singleton.
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| Slim & Band with Billy Berg 1944 |
Gaillard's jive talk language, known as 'Vout' or 'Vout Oreenie', was so misunderstood that the record "Yep Rock Heresy" was even banned by a radio station for being "degenerate". However the offending lyric was simply Slim's vocal rendition of an Armenian restaurant menu. He also cut a session with bop greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in late 1945, the most notable result of which was "Slim's Jam." The latter half of the '40s saw Gaillard's popularity at its peak; he appeared in several films and recorded for Verve up through 1951.
However, such was Gaillard's personal life and the morality of the times that in the late forties his popularity waned. He had further hits with 1948's "Down by the Station," which became a popular children's nursery rhyme, and 1951's "Yep Roc Heresay," a recitation of the menu from a Middle Eastern restaurant that one radio station banned for its "suggestiveness." He performed in New York frequently from 1951-1953 and regularly appeared at Birdland with big names such as Terry Gibbs and Billy Taylor sometimes with Art Blakey on drums. Some of these performances have also survived on record.
He also participated in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic in 1953, but by the mid '50s that Gaillard's popularity was on the wane. He spent much of the latter part of the decade on the road with Stan Kenton, and also recorded for Dot Records in 1958. He took a hiatus from music in the '60s; he managed a motel in San Diego for a time, and bought an orchard near Tacoma, WA. He also played clubs and spent time in Los Angeles, where he drifted into acting toward the end of the decade, appearing on TV shows like Marcus Welby, M.D., Charlie's Angels, Mission Impossible, Medical Center, and Along Came Bronson.
He reunited with Slam Stewart at the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival, and in 1979 he appeared in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie talked Gaillard into returning to music. He traveled to the U.K. and made his first recordings since 1958 for Hep, which issued them as the album Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere. He also hit the festival circuit and toured Europe extensively, making London his new home base in 1983.
He became an elder statesman to the growing "rap culture" in London, appeared in the cult movie "Absolute Beginners", and made some recordings with local rappers and was the subject of a multipart BBC special called The World of Slim Gaillard in 1989.
Gaillard passed away in London, England, UK., on February 26, 1991, after a bout with cancer.
(Edited mainly from Hepjazz & AllMusic)