Rube Bloom began his career as a pianist accompanying vaudeville performers. He then began freelancing in New York, playing and recording on hundreds of sessions with groups such as the Cotton Pickers, the orchestras of Ray Miller and Sam Lanin, and accompanying vocalists such as Annette Hanshaw and Ethel Waters. In 1927 he wrote his first hit composition, “Soliloquy,” which was recorded by Duke Ellington. In 1930 he recorded with his own group, Rube Bloom and His Bayou Boys, which included Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. He also performed and recorded with artists such as Red Nichols, Joe Venuti, Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke and recorded piano rolls for the Duo-Art Company. Bloom composed and recorded over 30 novelty piano solos, worked as an arranger for major publishing companies, and wrote several piano method books.

In 1928 Bloom won a Victor Records song contest for the “Song of the Bayou” and in 1930 Ted Weems and His Orchestra had a hit with “The Man from the South,” co-written with Harry Woods. His 1935 composition “Truckin’” with lyrics by Ted Koehler was recorded by a number of bands including Fats Waller and Duke Ellington.

He collaborated again with Koehler on “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me,” which was performed in the 1939 Cotton Club Revue, and on “Good for Nothin’ Joe” (1940). Harry Ruby wrote the sophisticated lyric for “Give Me the Simple Life” in 1945, and Sammy Gallop’s lyric turned “Maybe You’ll Be There” into a popular torch song. Bloom created three memorable jazz standards with the great lyricist Johnny Mercer: “Day In Day Out” (1939), “Fools Rush In” (1940), and “Here’s to My Lady” (1952).

- Sandra Burlingame