Jesse Crawford (December 2, 1895 – May 28, 1962), was a US pianist and organist. He was well-known in the 1920s as a theater organist for silent films and very popular gramophone record recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and became a freelancer. In the 1940s, he authored instruction books on organ and taught organ lessons.
Crawford's father died when he was one year old and his impoverished mother placed the baby in ...
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Jesse Crawford (December 2, 1895 – May 28, 1962), was a US pianist and organist. He was well-known in the 1920s as a theater organist for silent films and very popular gramophone record recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and became a freelancer. In the 1940s, he authored instruction books on organ and taught organ lessons.
Crawford's father died when he was one year old and his impoverished mother placed the baby in an orphanage asylum near Woodland, California. He taught himself music at the orphanage, and by the age of nine he was playing a cornet in the orphanage band. At age 14 he left the orphanage to play piano in a small dance band, and then took a job playing piano in a ten-cent-admission silent film house.
His early theatre organ experience was at Washington's Spokane Gem Theater in 1911 and at the Klemmer theatre (on a seven-rank Estey organ). He next played briefly at theatres in Billings, Montana, Spokane, Washington and Seattle. When he met...
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