Joe Bushkin

Pianist Joe Bushkin lent his unmistakably light, spirited style to classic swing-era dates headlined by Bunny Berigan and Tommy Dorsey, later moving into pop, cabaret, and even Broadway. The son of a cellist father, he was born in New York City on November 7, 1916 -- although reputedly a student of the great Polish pianist Leopold Godowsky, he in fact began his musical studies at the age of ten with lessons from a neighbor who was, in turn, a student of their landlord's son and the Godowsky pupil in question. The teenaged Bushkin also studied the trumpet after a bicycle accide...