Jimmy Slyde

James Titus Godbolt, known professionally as Jimmy Slyde, was born on October 2, 1927, in Atlanta, Georgia, and died on May 16, 2008, in Hanson, Massachusetts, at the age of 80. An American tap dancer, he built a career around an innovative style that fused rhythm tap with jazz and became widely recognized by the nickname "King of Slides."

Godbolt relocated from Atlanta to Boston at age three. His mother initially steered him toward the violin, and he enrolled at the Boston Conservatory of Music to pursue that instrument. The Conservatory's proximity to Stanley Brown's dance studio proved decisive: Godbolt regularly crossed the street to watch accomplished tap dancers including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, John W. Bubbles, Charles "Honi" Coles, and Derby Wilson. At twelve, with his mother's approval, he abandoned violin and began formal tap training at Brown's studio under Brown himself and a student teacher, Eddie "Schoolboy" Ford, who introduced Godbolt to the slide technique. He subsequently connected with another dancer associated with slides, Jimmy "Sir Slyde" Mitchell, and the two assembled a touring act together.

In the 1940s, Mitchell and Godbolt began performing at local clubs and on the burlesque circuit under the name the Slyde Brothers, a partnership that permanently attached the surname Slyde to Godbolt. Their act incorporated action tricks comparable to those of the Nicholas Brothers, with slides serving as their defining trademark. The duo's success brought invitations to perform alongside prominent big band figures including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Barry Harris, with the dancers and musicians trading off throughout each performance.

The 1950s brought significant professional challenges as rock and roll redirected American audiences away from big band music and tap. Slyde sought work across San Francisco, Chicago, and Hollywood on the burlesque and nightclub circuits and in film, but opportunities in the United States had diminished considerably. He worked briefly as a choreographer for the tap dancers the Crosby Brothers in the 1960s before receiving an invitation in 1966 to perform at the Berlin Jazz Festival alongside Baby Laurence, James Buster Brown, and Chuck Green, where the group was received as "Harlem's All-Star Dancers." Slyde subsequently moved to Paris in the 1970s, where he worked extensively with Sarah Petronio, who drew him out of self-imposed retirement and became his dancing partner in tap and jazz concerts titled "It's About Time," performed with leading European jazz musicians.

Slyde's return to active performance in the 1980s coincided with a broader revival of tap in America. He appeared in the production Black and Blue in 1985, which transferred to Broadway in 1989, the credit verified in his database record. His performance in the Broadway production earned him a Tony Award nomination, and he appeared on the original cast recording, contributing a solo on "Stompin' at the Savoy." During the same period he performed in the films The Cotton Club in 1984, Round Midnight in 1986, and Tap in 1989, the latter alongside Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. He also appeared in the 1985 television special Motown Returns to the Apollo, which received the 1985 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program. In 1992, Slyde was a featured artist in "The Majesty of Tap" concert at Lincoln Center in New York.

Throughout the 1990s, Slyde held weekly jam sessions at a New York jazz nightclub called La Cave, creating an educational environment in which experienced tappers mentored emerging dancers. Among those who developed under his guidance were Savion Glover, Van Porter, Ira Bernstein, and Roxane Butterfly. Glover described Slyde as "the Godfather of tap" and "one of the true masters of the art form."

Slyde accumulated numerous honors across his career. He received Choreographer's Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1984–1986, 1988, and 1993, followed by the organization's National Heritage Fellowship in 1999. Oklahoma City University's Ann Lacy School of American Dance presented him with its Living Treasure in American Dance award in 1998 and an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts in American Dance in 2002. Additional recognitions included the first Charles "Honi" Coles Award in 2001, the Hoofer Award from the American Tap Dance Foundation in 2002, a Fellowship for Creative Arts in Choreography from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 2003, a Dance Magazine award in 2005, and induction into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2008.