Chief Bey

James Hawthorne

James Hawthorne Bey

AKA CHIEF BEY

(April 17, 1913 – April 8, 2004) Ordained in Nigeria as a Shango Priest. An American jazz percussionist and African folklorist. Drawing Artist. Vocalist, Drum Maker, Wood Carver, Inventor of (No Whole Tension Technique) roping skin onto drums. He Drummed under the name of Chief Bey.

Early life
Born James Hawthorne in Yemassee, South Carolina, Bey moved with his family to Brooklyn and then to Harlem, where he began playing drums and singing in church choirs. He also served in both the Army and Navy and during World War II, believed to have another daughter in Germany, later attended cosmetology school.

Later life and career
In the 1950s, Chief Bey performed in an international tour of Porgy and Bess along with his wife Louise Hawthorne starring Leontyne Price and Cab Calloway. He also began a busy recording career, performing with Herbie Mann's At the Village Gate (1961), Art Blakey's The African Beat (1962), Ahmed Abdul-Malik's Sounds of Africa (New Jazz, 1961), as well as albums by Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba, Miriam Greaves and Pharoah Sanders, among others. He took his stage name after joining the Moorish Science Temple of America, a Muslim sect. Then he taught the Shékéré, a West African gourd percussion instrument, at the Griot Institute at Intermediate School 246 in Brooklyn. Baba Olatunji Albums as


 * Drums [African], Percussion Agbé/large Shékéré, Agogo/Bells
 * Vocals

Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Joffery Holder, Randy Weston, Reggie Workman, Sonny Morgan, Mongo Santa Maria, Eddie Palmeri, John Coltrane.

James Hawthorne died in his Brooklyn home of stomach cancer at the age of 91. His first wife passed 3 years before him, Louise Hawthorne, soprano opera singer traveled the world together, while she sang operas like Aida and Madame Butterfly leaving their 3 children, David, Denise and Carolyn with just their father. His youngest daughter Carolyn who’s on his last CD followed him in death.

His common law wife Barbara Kenyatta (born Barbara Ann Coleman in Harlem on June 9, 1944), was a priestess of  Yémaya in the Yoruba religion. She collapsed and died four days later.

As leader

 * Children of the House of God (Mapleshade, 1997)

As sideman
With Hamiet Bluiett
 * Orchestra, Duo & Septet (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
 * Dangerously Suite (Soul Note, 1981)
 * Nali Kola (Soul Note, 1989)
 * Bearer of the Holy Flame (Black Fire, 1994)
 * Bluiett's Barbeque Band (Mapleshade, 1996)
 * Live at Carlos 1 (Just a Memory, 1997)
 * Live at Carlos 1: Another Night (Just a Memory, 1997)
 * Live at Carlos 1: Last Night (Just a Memory, 1998)

With Babatunde Olatunji
 * Zungo! (Columbia, 1961)
 * High Life! (Columbia, 1963)
 * Drums! Drums! Drums! (Roulette, 1964)

With others
 * Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Sounds of Africa (New Jazz, 1962)
 * Ray Barretto, Mysterious Instinct (Charlie Parker, 1962)
 * Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba (RCA Victor, 1965)
 * Art Blakey, The African Beat (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Solomon Ilori, African High Life (Blue Note, 1963)
 * Herbie Mann, Herbie Mann at the Village Gate (Atlantic, 1962)
 * Herbie Mann, Herbie Mann Returns to the Village Gate (Atlantic, 1963)
 * Miriam Makeba, Makeba Sings! (RCA Victor, 1965)
 * Howard Roberts, Lord Shango (Bryan, 1975)
 * Pharoah Sanders, Thembi (ABC Impulse!, 1971)
 * Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (Strata-East, 1973)
 * Warren Smith, Cats Are Stealing My $hit (Mapleshade, 1998)
 * Guy Warren, Themes for African Drums (RCA Victor, 1959)
 * Randy Weston, Khepera (Verve, 1998)
 * Judd Woldin, Raisin (Columbia, 1973)
 * World Saxophone Quartet, Metamorphosis (Elektra Nonesuch, 1991)
 * World Saxophone Quartet, Selim Sivad. Tribute to Miles Davis with African Drums (Justin Time, 1998)