David Louis Bartholomew (1918-2019)

August 22, 2019 
/ Contributed By: Robert Mikell

Dave Bartholomew Album Cover

Dave Bartholomew’s New Orleans Jazz Band (Broadmoor BR 1201

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David Louis Bartholomew was best known for his collaborations with Fats Domino, writing or co-writing a string of hits including “Ain’t That A Shame” and “I’m Walking.” He was one of the most influential promoters of 20th Century New Orleans-style music, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s.

David Louis “Dave” Bartholomew was born on December 24, 1918, in Edgard, Louisiana, the first child of four and the only son born to Mary Roussell and Louis Bartholomew. He grew up on a plantation near Edgard, forty miles northwest of New Orleans where he cut sugar cane. His father played bass horn and tuba in local bands. Dave followed in his father’s footsteps first learning to play the tuba, but switched to the trumpet when he heard Louis Armstrong playing on the radio.

In his early teens, Bartholomew met legendary musician Peter Davis, who was a customer at Bartholomew’s father’s barbershop. Soon afterward, he started taking trumpet lessons from Davis. Bartholomew began his professional career in 1939 with Fats Pichon’s brass band and other bands in New Orleans. He even played the first trumpet with the legendary Jimmie Lunceford’s band in 1942.

Bartholomew enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. While there, he developed skills in writing and arranging music with the 196th Army Ground Forces Band. After his release from the service and return to New Orleans in 1945, Bartholomew formed “Dave Bartholomew and the Dew Droppers,” named after the famed Dew Drop Inn, which was a hot spot for African American entertainment in New Orleans. Bartholomew became the resident bandleader and, over the years, performed with Ray Charles, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, and Otis Redding, all of whom performed at the Dew Drop Inn.

Dave Bartholomew’s career, however, was mostly associated with the music of Antoine “Fats” Domino. Bartholomew met Domino in 1949, and soon afterward, he wrote “The Fat Man” which was Domino’s first hit, reaching number 2 on the R&B chart and selling over one million copies. Bartholomew next co-wrote and produced with Domino a string of hits, including “Ain’t it A Shame;” (1955) “Blue Monday;” (1956), I’m Walking” (1957); and “I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Someday” (1959). He also co-wrote and produced Domino’s hits “Blueberry Hill” (1956) and “Walking To New Orleans (1960).

Bartholomew also wrote, arranged, and produced recordings with other artists including T-Bone Walker and influenced the career of Little Richard. Several of Bartholomew’s songs including “I Hear you Knocking,” and “Let the Good Times Roll” which were covered by Pat Boone, Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson.

Bartholomew remained active through the 1990s, performing on international tours with Fats Domino and releasing more albums. In 1981, he released the album Dave Bartholomew’s New Orleans Jazz Band. In the 1990s, he released two more albums: Dave Bartholomew and the Maryland Jazz Band (1995) and New Orleans Big Beat (1998).

Bartholomew was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1991), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1998), and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (2009.) This legendary musician, bandleader, composer, arranger and record producer died on June 23, 2019 in Metairie, Louisiana at the age of 100.

About the Author

Author Profile

Dr. Robert S. Mikell is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he graduated from the Booker T. Washington High School. He holds an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration from Fresno City College, a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno, and the Doctor of Education degree from the University of Southern California. Dr. Mikell served as a member of the faculty at California State University, Fresno from 1972 until he retired in 2007 as a Full Professor, during which time he taught courses in Ethnic Studies (African American Studies) and in the School of Business (Management and Marketing). He served twelve years (1978-90) as the Chairperson of the Ethnic Studies Program. In 2007, the university bestowed on him the honor of Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies.

Dr. Mikell was the founder of the Africana Studies Research Center and served as the Director. His teaching emphasis was in the area of socio-cultural dynamics which included courses in race relations, cultural diversity, and cultural music, as well as economic and business development. He developed and taught courses on African American Music and “The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,Principles of Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and other courses. He served as co-chair of the MLK, Jr Monument Committee, which commissioned the life-size statue of Dr. King located in the University’s Peace Garden. Currently, he is serving on the President’s Nelson Mandela Project Monument Committee at Fresno State.

Dr. Mikell’s research interest and consultation works are in the fields of minority business development, migration patterns, early New Orleans Jazz, innovative teaching through distance learning for which he received a FIFSE grant in the amount of $243,000, and the history of the Black town Allensworth (a published work). He received funding for several of research projects that involved introducing students to research methodology. Dr. Mikell wrote numerous grant proposals that received funding which were designed to enhance the well-being of all students. Other projects funded were, The Evolution of African American Music which included weekend courses and lectures/demonstrations with live music performed by local musicians.

Dr. Mikell has written a manuscript titled, “Peter Davis: The First Music Master of the Great Louis Armstrong.” his most recent article is The Legacy of Louis Armstrong’s Music Teacher Peter Davis, The Syncopated Times, July 27, 2019. Several of his other publications can be found on the academic website, blackpast.org. His recent speaking engagements include: “The Meaning of Juneteenth”, Allensworth State Historic Park, June 18, 2022; “African American History: the Antebellum South and Reconstruction Era”, Allensworth State Historic Park, Oct. 8, 2022; and “Peter Davis, the Music Master of Louis Armstrong”, Satchmo SummerFest, New Orleans, Aug 7, 2022.

Dr. Mikell has distinguished himself through numerous community and University awards. He devoted himself to serving on a variety of committees at the Department, School, and University levels. He is a co-founder and former board member of Valley Small Business Development Corporation and was an elected official (seven years) for the Educational Employees Credit Union, where he served as the Chairperson of the Supervisory Committee. Dr. Mikell presently volunteers as a Jazz Host at KFSR 90.7, FM streaming at kfsr.org, Red Beans and Jazz, Fridays, 9:00am to 12:00pm. His program theme song is “Hello Dolly” song by Louis Armstrong.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Mikell, R. (2019, August 22). David Louis Bartholomew (1918-2019). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/david-louis-bartholomew-1918-2019/

Source of the Author's Information:

John Swenson, “I Did Every God Damned Thing Myself: The Dave Bartholomew Century,” Offbeat, November 28, 2018, https://www.offbeat.com/articles/dave-bartholomew-century/; “He Introduced the World to the New Orleans Sound: Dave Bartholomew,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/dave-bartholomew; “David Louis “Dave” Bartholomew, 1918-2019,” Obituaries: New Orleans, Louisiana, https://obits.nola.com/obituaries/nola/obituary.aspx?n=david-louis-bartholomew-dave&pid=193309598; Robert Mikell, Interview with Dave Bartholomew, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 31-September 1, 1995; John Broven, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans (New Orleans: Pelican Publications, 1988).

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