St. Louis Blues

Joe Haymes

Joseph Lawrence Haymes (10 February 1907 – 10 July 1964) was an American jazz bandleader and arranger. Born in Marshfield, Missouri, Haymes relocated with his family to Springfield, Missouri, after his railroader father was killed in an accident. Joe attended Greenwood Laboratory School in Springfield and was a drummer in the local Boy Scout Band; as a youth he also learned the piano. Entering Drury College in 1926, he played locally with his own dance band before being hired as arranger by Ted Weems in 1928 and leaving school. Haymes arranged the hit "Piccolo Pete", among many others, for Weems, setting a new, highly jazz-informed style for the orchestra. Haymes struck out on his own again in 1930, leading a band in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Billed as "a Ted Weems un… more »