In a 2012 interview for Chris Moore’s “Horizons” show on WQED-TV, a soon-to-be 90-year-old George H. “Duke” Spaulding said he planned to play for another dozen years.
“I like to play the piano,” he said. “I’ll play at least another 12 years—try to beat Eubie Blake.”
And he might have, but a little over a month ago his kidneys began to fail. He died, Feb. 22. He was 95.
“He said he was going to leave with his fingers on the piano, and he almost did,” said his granddaughter, Tara Smith.
“Up until a few weeks ago, he was still playing, making jokes, being himself. I’m going to miss his stories—I mean, how many people do you know who met Nat ‘King’ Cole and President Eisenhower, and tuned Liberace’s piano?”
He not only knew Cole, but the man he got his nickname from, Duke Ellington. He also knew Art Tatum, counting him as an early influence. But his interest in jazz piano was first ignited after his father, an AME Zion minister, was transferred to Atlantic City, New Jersey from his birthplace in Ashville, South Carolina.
“Around the corner was this place called the Waltz Dream,” Spaulding said during the “Horizons” show in 2012. “I could see in there from my bedroom window. That’s where I first heard Fats Waller. I was just a kid, but later I got them to let me in, and I met him. Fats—he’s the forerunner of all modern pianists.”
By that time, Spaulding was already an accomplished player, having learned to play the classics and the technically challenging “anthems” the choirs at his father’s church performed every week.
Because of his talent, during World War II, Spaulding was assigned to the Special Services Corps, entertaining troops and dignitaries. While stationed in Algeria, he performed for Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.
After the war, he began a legacy of performing in Pittsburgh. For much of that time, he and other Black musicians were segregated by the union to playing only in the Hill District and East Liberty—but he changed that.
“I think at the time I first met Nat ‘King’ Cole, I was playing with Leroy Brown’s band at the old Hollywood Show Bar,” he said. “We were the first Black band to play Downtown.”
But even then, Spaulding had a fallback gig many others did not—he was a technician for Baldwin Pianos for 32 years. Along the way, he tuned pianos for Liberace, Andre Previn, Andre Watt, the Civic Light Opera, the Mellon family and the Boston Pops.
Despite his love of performing, Spaulding never got too far away from the sacred music that formed the basis of his playing. Over the years, he directed the choirs at Wesley Center AME Zion Church, St. James AME Church, Mt. Ararat Baptist Church and Bethesda Presbyterian Church.
“Pap Pap inspired me to learn the piano, too, and I loved it,” said Smith, in an exclusive interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 26. “And all those videos of him I have on my iPhone, I’ll watch them over and over. I’ll miss his playing, and his jokes, but he will be well remembered this week.”
Spaulding was a 2012 inductee into the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild Jazz Legends of Pittsburgh, and also a 33rd Degree Mason.
Visitation will take place on Thursday, March 1, 4 to 6 p.m. at Bethesda Presbyterian Church, 7220 Bennett St., Homewood, with Masonic Services following from 6 to 8 p.m.
Services for Spaulding are scheduled for Friday, March 2 at Bethesda Presbyterian Church; visitation is 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Home-going service is to follow at noon.
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