Cassino Simpson
American musician (1909-1952)
Wendell "Cassino" Simpson (July 22, 1909 – March 27, 1952) was an American jazz pianist, best known for his associations on the Chicago jazz scene.
Simpson may have studied piano under Zinky Cohn. He first recorded in 1923 with Bernie Young, then recorded with the Moulin Rouge Orchestra in 1925. Following this he joined Arthur Sims's orchestra, recording with them in 1926. Sims died soon after, and Bernie Young took over as bandleader; Simpson remained in the ensemble until 1930. Concomitantly, he recorded with Jabbo Smith's Rhythm Aces on his 1929 Brunswick Records releases.
From 1931 to 1933 he played with Erskine Tate, though he never recorded with him. He recorded as a leader under various names, with Jabbo Smith and Milt Hinton as sidemen. In 1933 he cut a few sides with Half Pint Jaxon, a female impersonator.
Soon after his recordings with Jaxon, Simpson apparently became mentally disturbed, and was institutionalized in 1935 in Elgin, Illinois.
The public source identifies “Cassino Simpson” as american musician (1909-1952). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cassino, Simpson and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1048393. VIAF identifies the subject as 74043567. The Library of Congress control number is no93028463. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1909, 1952, 1923 and 1925.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cassino Simpson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.