Lee Blair

Who was Lee Blair?

Lee Blair was an American jazz banjoist and guitarist.

Blair was an autodidact on banjo, aside from a few lessons taken from Mike Pingitore, the banjoist for Paul Whiteman. He played with Charlie Skeete in 1926-28, then with Jelly Roll Morton in 1928-30, also recording with Morton. He played with Billy Kato in 1930-31, then with Luis Russell and Louis Armstrong. He worked part-time in music through the 1940s, then joined Wilbur De Paris's New Orleans Jazz Band in the 1950s. In the 1960s he played less, concentrating on raising chickens on a farm, but appeared at the 1964 World's Fair with Danny Barker and Eddie Gibbs. He never recorded as a leader, but appears on record with Morton, Russell, Armstrong, and De Paris, as well as with Dick Cary, Pee Wee Erwin, and Leonard Gaskin among others.