death_place death_date birth_place ethnicity birth_date article_title name
washington , d.c. 1955 gainesville , georgia african-american 1890 henry crowder
 henry crowder
henry crowder

henry crowder -lrb- 1890 -- 1955 -rrb- was an african-american jazz musician .
he was an important figure in the european jazz culture of his time .
crowder was born in gainesville , georgia , to a poor family and was largely a self-taught musician .
crowder began his career playing piano in the brothels of washington , d.c. and rose to become an important bandleader here before leaving for europe in 1928 .
he was best known for his romantic and professional involvement with avant-garde poet , muse , and shipping heiress nancy cunard .
they met in 1928 in venice , where crowder had an engagement to play a residency at the hotel luna .
cunard 's 1934 anthology `` negro `` is inspired by and dedicated to crowder .
crowder also assisted cunard in creating her hours press publishing house , which published richard aldington , ezra pound , and samuel beckett among others .
crowder 's influence on cunard was profound .
she claimed in one letter that : `` henry made me '' .
cunard and crowder collaborated on a book of music and poetry with contributions from samuel beckett , richard aldington , and pictures by man ray .
by crowder 's own account , musician sidney bechet was deported from france after an argument with a member of crowder 's group turned violent and several bystanders were shot .
crowder died in washington , d.c. having largely given up performing and recording jazz on his return from europe in the 1940s .
