Jimmy Slyde

Jimmy Slyde (October 2, 1927 – May 16, 2008), born James Titus Godbolt, and known as the King of Slides, was a world-renowned tap dancer, especially famous for his innovative tap style mixed with jazz.

Jimmy Slyde was a popular rhythm tapper in America in the mid-20th century when he performed on the nightclub and burlesque circuits. He was also popular in Europe because he lived in Paris for a brief period of his life. Slyde appeared in several musicals and shows in the 1980s, and he received numerous awards for his talent. Slyde died in 2008, but many will remember him for his musicality and his signature move: slides.

Jimmy Slyde was born James Titus Godbolt in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 27, 1927. When he was three years old his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended the Boston Conservatory of Music in order to advance as a violinist, which his mother encouraged. However, the Conservatory was across the street from Stanley Brown’s dance studio where Godbolt would visit to watch great tap hoofers of the time, including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, John W. Bubbles, Honi Coles, and Derby Wilson. At the age of twelve, he quit playing the violin at the Conservatory, which he was less interested in and because he could not stay still. He then started lessons at Stanley Brown’s studio with his mother’s blessing, who wanted him to do something other than play sports to help contain his energy. At the studio, he studied under Stanley Brown himself and a student teacher, Eddie “Schoolboy” Ford, who taught him how to slide. He connected with another dancer who was known for slides, Jimmy “Sir Slyde” Mitchell, and they put together an act to take on the road.

In the 1940s Mitchell and Godbolt started performing at local clubs and on the burlesque circuit calling themselves the Slyde Brothers. This in turn caused Godbolt to be renamed forevermore, Jimmy “Slyde.” Their acts included action tricks similar to those the Nicholas Brothers performed; however, they used slides as their trademark move. One dance critic, Sally Sommer, explained his slides as such, “He’s upstage left and sliding downstage right as fast and smooth as a skier, arms held out to the side, head tilted. He stops the cascade by banking backward, slips into a fast flurry of taps, working quick and low to the floor and ends the phrase by pulling up high and flashing off a triple turn.” The act was such a hit, they received invitations to go on the road to perform with big band names of the time, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Barry Harris. Their tapping was part of the bands’ songs where they would create the music for many measures and then the band would come back in, and they would trade off back and forth like that the entire act.

Unfortunately, the time period in which Jimmy Slyde’s talent emerged was disagreeable, as he became popular in the 1950s when rock and roll was taking the stage and stealing American interest away from big band music with tap acts. He attempted to find work in other cities including San Francisco, Chicago, and Hollywood on the burlesque and nightclub circuits as well as in movies, but work had dried up in America. He found a temporary job working as a choreographer for the tap dancers the Crosby Brothers in the 1960s, but in 1966 Slyde was invited to perform at the Berlin Jazz Festival in Europe. He attended with Baby Laurence, James Buster Brown, and Chuck Green, and the crowd received them with excitement and positive praise including regarding them as “Harlem's All-Star Dancers.” This left a lasting impression on Slyde and he felt valued again, which led him to move to Paris in the 1970s. With the aid of Sarah Petronio, he helped introduce rhythm tap to Paris.

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