Red Camp

Red Camp was born in the town of Laredo, Texas, 1909. At the age when his friends were trying out for the football team Red was on the road, playing with any jazz outfit that would have him. He played boom towns and tent shows, border towns and riverboats, wherever the jazz trail led, from New Orleans' saloons to New York's raucous 52nd Street. Although Red worked with and for such greats as Jack Teagarden, Paul Whiteman, Mugsy Spanier, Miff Mole and Pee Wee Russell, it remained for Bob Crosby to discover that Red couldn't read a note of sheet music. This discovery led to a parting of the ways - a parting, ultimately beneficial to the devotees of the jazz piano. Red decided to start from scratch. After ten years on the road, he enrolled in the University of Texas as a freshman piano student. Four years later, with his BA in his pocket, Red did a three years stint with Uncle Sam's Army bands. He achieved a Master's Degree working his way through Columbia University where he studied under Dr. Harold Morris, the eminent American composer, and after additional work at Juilliard, Red returned to his home State to head the Laredo Junio College's Music Department. In 1951 Red opened his own studio in Corpus Christi. Red's forays from his studio headquarters frequently lead to recording sessions and concerts all over the United States as well as to such out-of-the-way places as Trinidad, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Red Camp died in 1987.