The time has come around for yet another birthday celebration, this time for cornetist Dominic James LaRocca, born on April 11, 1889.
Nick LaRocca was born in New Orleans to a poor Sicilian family. He was exposed to the brass bands there while growing up, and was inspired to take up the cornet. Working at first as an electrician, Nick became a full time musician in the early 1910s, playing with Papa Jack Laine. In 1916, he became a member of the Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ (later “Jazz”) Band, of which he assumed leadership, and played on their 1917 recording of “Livery Stable Blues”, often credited as the first jazz record. The famous “Tiger Rag” was credited to LaRocca (who held the copyright for it), though it was a traditional New Orleans tune that existed for many years before the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded it. LaRocca toured around the world with the ODJB, until he had a nervous breakdown in the early 1920s, and returned to New Orleans.
After recovering from his ordeal, the band got back together in the mid-1930s for a successful reunion, at which point they made several more records for Victor, their first electrical recordings. Late in life, he wrote a series of letters claiming to be the sole inventor of jazz (a claim also famously made by Jelly Roll Morton, who actually had for more credibility behind it than LaRocca). LaRocca died in 1961.
Victor 18717 was recorded December 1 and 4, 1920 in New York City. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band consists of Nick LaRocca on cornet, Eddie Edwards on trombone, Larry Shields on clarinet, Benny Krueger on alto saxophone, J. Russel Robinson on piano, and Tony Sbarbaro on drums.
First up, a medley of “Margie”, interpolating “Singin’ the Blues”.
Margie, recorded December 1, 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
On the flip, another solid tune, maybe better than the first, maybe not: (Lena is the Queen of ) “Palesteena”.
Palesteena, recorded December 4, 1920 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
On April 10, we celebrate the birthday of Fess Williams, a mainstay of the jazz scene, both in Harlem and Chicago, for the bulk of the Jazz Age. While Duke Ellington (or maybe Fletcher Henderson) could easily be compared to Paul Whiteman, saxophone player Fess patterned his act more after Ted Lewis, with his “gas pipe” style of playing clarinet.
Fess began life as Stanley R. Williams in Danville, Kentucky in 1894. He was educated at the Tuskegee Institute, and started his first band in 1919. In 1923, Fess went to Chicago, and to New York the next year. His nickname coming from “Professor”, by ’26, he had begun leading his most popular outfit, the Royal Flush Orchestra, with whom he recorded until 1930. Though he continued to lead bands into the 1930s, his style fell out of fashion with the coming of swing, and he began selling real estate, though he remained sporadically involved in music. In 1962, his nephew Charles Mingus set up a reunion of sorts for the Fess and the Royal Flush Orchestra in his Town Hall Concert in New York. Fess Williams died in 1975.
Brunswick 3351 was recorded October 1, 1926 in New York by Fess Williams’ Royal Flush Orchestra under the pseudonym “Bud Jackson’s Swanee Serenaders”. It was also issued on Vocalion 1054. The band features George Temple on trumpet, David “Jelly” James on trombone, Fess Williams on clarinet and alto sax, Perry Smith on clarinet and tenor sax, Hank Duncan on piano, Ollie Blackwell on banjo, and Ralph Bedell on drums. Fess provides the vocals on both sides.
One of the finest sides by Fess Williams’ band (and one of the finest sides in general, if you ask me) is “Messin’ Around”.
Messin’ Around, recorded October 1, 1926 by Bud Jackson’s Swanee Serenaders.
On the reverse, they play that enduring little ditty, “Heebie Jeebies”.
Heebie Jeebies, recorded October 1, 1926 by Bud Jackson’s Swanee Serenaders.
Extenuating circumstances over the past several days unfortunately prevented me from publishing a tribute to Vernon Dalhart on his birthday yesterday, April 6, but here is a belated celebration today.
Vernon Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter, April 6, 1883 in Jefferson, Texas. After his father was murdered behind the Kahn Saloon there, his family relocated to Dallas, where he attended a music conservatory and became an operatic tenor. Assuming the name “Vernon Dalhart” after two Texas towns, he began recording in the 1910s. Having previously learned cowboy songs while working on the range as a teen, in 1924, Dalhart became a pioneering figure in country music, when he recorded “Wreck of the Old 97” and “The Prisoner’s Song” for the Victor Talking Machine Company. That record was met with huge success, and Dalhart, working frequently with guitarist and sometimes singer Carson J. Robison, became one of the most popular artists in the 1920s. Dalhart’s success waned by the end of the decade, and he only recorded sporadically in the 1930s, making his final records in 1939. Vernon Dalhart died of a heart attack in 1948.
Victor 19919 was recorded was recorded December 21, 1925 in New York City. Vernon Dalhart is accompanied by Carson Robison on guitar and Murray Kellner on violin. Dalhart himself plays the harmonica.
Vernon Dalhart is best known for his ballads and tearjerkers (e.g. “The Prisoner’s Song”, “In the Baggage Coach Ahead”), but he recorded quite a number of songs outside that genre, including “Putting on the Style”. This tune was later revived in 1957 by Lonnie Donegan.
Putting on the Style, recorded December 21, 1925 by Vernon Dalhart.
“The Little Black Moustache” is one of those songs written for a singer of the opposite sex, making it into quite a humorous affair. Vernon sings it in good spirits, and does a good job with it if you ask me.
The Little Black Moustache, recorded December 21, 1925 by Vernon Dalhart.
We’ve got yet another birthday to celebrate today, that of the great trumpeter Bubber Miley. Miley was a excellent player noted for his use of the plunger mute.
Duke Ellington’s Washintonians with Bubber Miley (second from right). From Jazzmen, 1939.
James Wesley Miley was born April 3, 1903 in Aiken, South Carolina, and moved to New York City at the age of six. After serving in the Navy, Miley formed a jazz band called the Carolina Five (much in the vein of the Memphis Five or the Indiana Five, except that Miley actually was from Carolina), and played around New York and Chicago. In Chicago, Miley was inspired by the muted trumpet of King Oliver, and developed his own muted style of playing. In 1923, he joined Elmer Snowden’s Washingtonians, of which leadership was soon assumed by the band’s pianist, Duke Ellington, after a monetary dispute. Miley, along with trombone player “Tricky Sam” Nanton, are credited for developing the band’s “jungle sound”. Bubber remained with Ellington’s band until 1929, when his alcohol issues and general unreliability led to his replacement by Cootie Williams. After leaving Ellington, Miley toured Paris in Noble Sissle’s band, and once back home played with Leo Reisman’s dance band, and a number of jazz groups (possibly including King Oliver’s Victor orchestra). In 1930, he fronted a band billed as “Bubber Miley and his Mileage Makers” for three sessions with Victor. Much like his contemporary, Bix Beiderbecke, Miley saw a decline in his health in the early 1930s, and died of tuberculosis at New York’s Welfare Island on May 20, 1932. He was remembered by former band-mates as a joyful and carefree character.
Brunswick 3526 was recorded in two sessions in 1927, the first on April 7 and the second on April 30 in New York. The band’s personnel features Bubber Miley on the first side, June Clark on the second, and Louis Metcalf on trumpet, Joe” Tricky Sam” Nanton on trombone, Edgar Sampson on alto sax, Otto Hardwicke on clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, and bass sax, and another unknown reed man, Duke Ellington on piano, Fred Guy on banjo, Mack Shaw on tuba, and Sonny Greer on drums.
Duke and his band recorded his famous “Black and Tan Fantasy” quite a number of times, this is the first one, and one of only two, I believe, that feature the distinctive muted trumpet of the song’s co-writer, Bubber Miley. I would also recommend a look at Ellington’s 1929 motion picture of the same name.
Black and Tan Fantasy, recorded April 7, 1927 by the Washingtonians.
Bubber doesn’t play on the other side of the record, which contains an excellent rendition of Rube Bloom’s “Soliloquy”.
Soliloquy, recorded April 30, 1927 by the Washingtonians.
On this day, March the twenty-eighth, we remember the the “King of Jazz” himself, the eminent Paul Whiteman, on the 126th anniversary of his birth. To commemorate the occasion, I present one of his finest records, from the height of his fame, a time when his band contained the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, and so many other great figures of roaring twenties jazz.
Paul Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado to a musical family. His father, Wilberforce Whiteman, was a music instructor at the Denver County public schools, and at one point had as a pupil a young Andy Kirk, who later became the leader of the Twelve Clouds of Joy in Kansas City. As a youngster, Paul took up the viola, and played in several symphony orchestras, and led a band in the U.S. Navy during the Great War. After the war’s end, Whiteman started his own dance band, and began recording with Victor as “Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra.” His first record, featuring “Whispering” paired with “The Japanese Sandman”, was a great success, and started him on the path to fame.
Over the next years, Paul Whiteman was a mainstay in the Victor catalog, and his records sold well, but he did not achieve his greatest fame until the last years of the decade. In 1924, Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, which he premiered with his concert orchestra at An Experiment in Modern Music at Aeolian Hall in New York. In 1927, Whiteman was able to hire away some of the top musicians from Jean Goldkette’s band, including Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke, and he also picked up the Rhythm Boys: Al Rinker, Harry Barris, and Bing Crosby. By that time, he was making his name as the “King of Jazz” (the legitimacy of which is hotly debated), and was among the most famous names in music of the 1920s. In 1930, the Whiteman band starred in a grand technicolor motion picture vaudeville revue entitled King of Jazz. Into the Great Depression, Whiteman maintained his status for several years, introducing talent such as the charming Ramona (and her Grand Piano). Eventually, as swing became king, Whiteman’s time in the limelight began to fade. Though he made several generally immemorable swing records, and appeared on the first issue of Johnny Mercer’s Capitol Records in 1942, he never returned to the fame he knew in the 1920s. Whiteman continued to lead bands sporadically into his twilight years, and died of a heart attack in 1967.
Victor 21274 was recorded in two separate sessions in 1928, the first on February 18, and the second ten days later on February 28. The band, featuring some of the top white jazz talent of the day, included Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, Eddie Pinder on trumpet, Bill Rank on trombone, Frankie Trumbauer on C-melody sax, Chester Hazlett on alto sax. Izzy Friedman on clarinet, Charles Strickfaden on tenor sax, Roy Bargy on piano, Min Leibrook on tuba, Mike Pingatore on banjo, Mike Trafficante on string bass, and Hal McDonald on drums.
One of the great classics introduced by Whiteman’s orchestra, and a mainstay of his repertoire was Harry Barris’ “Mississippi Mud”. The outstanding vocals on this side are provided by Miss Irene Taylor, assisted by the Rhythm Boys: Bing Crosby, Harry Barris, and Al Rinker, and a second vocal trio consisting of Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, and Austin Young. This is take “3” of this side, take “2” was later issued on Victor 25366.
Mississippi Mud, recorded February 18, 1928 by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.
On “From Monday On”, another Harry Barris composition, Bing takes the lead vocal, backed up by the same group featured on the first side. This side is take “6”, take “4” was later issued on Victor 25368 and take “3” appeared on Victor 27688.
From Monday On, recorded February 28, 1928 by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.
