A Look At Jazz Tap Dancer Jimmy Slyde - by George A. Borgman

Jimmy Slyde

Jazz tap dancer Jimmy Slyde was born James Titus Godbolt in Atlanta, Georgia and after his family moved to Massachusetts, he took violin lessons at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston.
 



Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

He became interested in tap dancing and studied it at Stanley Brown's tap studio, where he was introduced to tap dancers such as Bill (Bojangles) Robinson.

Slyde teamed up with Jimmy (Sir Slyde) Mitchell, and they were known as the Slyde Brothers.

 

Known for his sharp wit, his smooth dance moves, his timing and his effortless glides across the stage, Slyde, during the big-band era, worked with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and others, and for years with pianist Barry Harris.

 

Slyde danced in Black and Blue, a revue which played on Broadway and in Paris, and in the movies (Tap, The Cotton Club, 'Round Midnight and others).

 

Slyde taught tap, and he and several other tap dance elders produced jam sessions at La Cave, a Manhattan nightclub, which attracted such dancers as Savion Glover, Tamango, Max Pollak, and Roxanne Butterfly.

 

Jimmy Slyde, aged 80, died May 16, 2008 at his home in Hanson, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife, Donna, and a son, Daryl.