Elliot James Carpenter was a pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and song stylist with a career that spanned much of the twentieth century. Born in Philadelphia, he was educated at the Temple School of Music in that city. In the 1920's he furthered his studies in France, where he also performed with the James Reese Europe Orchestra. A band he formed, known as the Red Devils, toured Europe under the management of the Clef Club Singers and Players.
Carpenter's primary musical style was popular, but he also wrote and performed swing music. Although he wrote a substantial amount of original music, only a modest number of pieces were published. He was a prodigious arranger of music authored by both black and white composers, and also wrote lyrics.
Among Carpenter's accomplishments are his 1937 collaboration with Clarence Muse for the film "Spirit of Youth," his arrangement of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "The Mikado" into a swing piece called "Swing Mikado," 1939, and his performance of the sound track for "As Time Goes By" in the film "Casablanca" and as the playing hands of Sam, the character played by Dooley Wilson, 1942.
A collaboration with Langston Hughes produced a song entitled "America's Young Black Joe," which was published. Some of the many collaborators with whom Carpenter worked are Karen Bank, Bill Boyd, Everett F. Briggs, Dove See, Frank Lowry, Flournoy Miller, and Kahl Ra-Faun.
From the guide to the Elliot Carpenter papers, 1922-1979, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.)
