Early West Coast Jazz

1 Index Early West Coast Jazz & 'Reb' spikes - 2 Bands in Los Angeles - 75 Garland - 19 New Orleans Musician on the West Coast - 77/78 More on 'Reb' - 21 Carey-78, Petit-91, Coycault-94, Garland-95 Jelly Roll - 33 Bios of Famous West coast Musicians - 103 Norskog & first Negro Jazz Record - 38 Clay-103, Howrd-125, Woodman-131, Anderson-134, Hightower-134 Johnny spikes - 59 Los Angeles Bands - 134 Adam 'Slocum" Mitchell - 66 Mosby & The Blueblowers-137, Mitchell-145 Black & Time Line of 'Reb' Spikes - 70 Tan Band-134, Sunnyland Jazz Band-16 Places in Los Angeles - 71 Joe Darrenbourg - 147 Bands in Los Angeles - 75 Photos - 153-185 2 Early West Coast Jazz and The Spike Brothers of Los Angeles And New Orleans Musicians “Any talk of jazz on the West Coast must bring to mind the activities of the famous Spikes Brothers, for indeed they were, for a long period, the hub around which everything revolved.” Thus wrote Ray MacNic in his article on ”Reb Spikes-Music Maker.” Reb Spikes (1888-1982) Reb Spikes was born October 31, 1888 in Dallas, Texas. He was the youngest child in a family with three brothers and two sisters (three other children died in childbirth). His mother’s name was Medora Kirby Spikes. His father’s name was Munroe Spikes. In about 1893 or 1894 there was an awful fire to the family house and the family moved into one of their rental houses. There was a white woman named Miss Augustine that taught music, coming weekly to teach at the Spikes’ house. During that time she taught Reb’s brothers and sisters’ piano and also taught his mother. That was about 1895 or 1896. Reb wasn’t old enough to take music while still in Texas. Johnny, Reb’s brother was quite a pianist, and his sister Viola also became a great pianist. She also played violin. Viola was a graduate from Tuskegee University. Richard was another brother and there was a half brother named Tom who lived in San Francisco. Reb’s other sister was named Annie. Viola traveled all over the world playing piano. She went to Europe with the Tuskegee Jubilee Singers and gave concertized, mostly in churches. She traveled with the Tuskegee Jubilee Singers until she married and settled down. Reb’s father was a barber in Dallas at a barber shop in the Grand 3 Windsor Hotel and Reb’s mother ran a general store. When the family came to Los Angeles Reb’s father had a barber shop at 230 South Main Street. When the family first came to Los Angeles they stayed at West Temple Street for a short while, and then the family moved to 4th and Central – 417 South Central Avenue. This area was a rather well integrated with Whites, Mexicans, Indians and Negroes during this time. A lot of Negroes in those days lived around 1st and San Pedro and First & Central Avenue and around Third. It’s all skid row now. There was a bunch living out in Temple district-called Pitney’s Flat-and that’s where Reb lived when the family first came here, but only for a few weeks. They moved lived to 4th and Central. Next door to them was a colored family, and on the other side, it was Italians and White people all down through there. When asked about when Los Angeles became segregated Reb said: “I don’t know when it ever got that way because I never had any trouble but look at all the other races. Look at the Japanese. They all segregated themselves. And Chinatown, when it was all down where the Union Station was. When I was a child, I used to sell papers all down in there. At the Plaza, I sold papers in 1897 through 1899. I sold papers at the Plaza, and I’d got from the Times Building-then the Record Building-and go up Spring and Broadway, Spring and Main Street till I got to the Plaza and I had two or three customers in there. I sold mostly at 3rd and Main Streets. You look at the Mexicans, they all do that (sic: segregate themselves). Just like when I had the music store, I used to play for a lot of gypsies. They had the big celebrations, and they was all the way out in Boyle Heights, way out by the cemetery, and we’d go out there on Sundays and play and they all be dancing and everything and there with the Negro band. We had a lot of fun. We used to play for all of them. Used to play for nearly all of the Mexican dances. Yeah, we played for them lots of times. We played regularly for the Mexicans, a couple nights a week different places, and they wanted the jazz, that's what they wanted. This was between 1922-1925.” The band Reb used was the American Legion Club Band. The band included: Leon White-trombone, Bill Perkins-guitar/banjo, Russell Masingale-trumpet, Bob Spikes-sax, Max Shaw-tuba, Eugene Wright-piano, Edgar Williams-trombone, Herman Higgs-vocals and a drummer. At times it also included Les Hite on saxophone. Reb mostly used a smaller band from the above mentioned one for some smaller jobs - a piano, trombone, banjo, trumpet and drummer. 4 In the interview at Rutgers by Patricia Willard in May of 1980, Reb recalls his early experiences when moving to Los Angeles when he was about 7 or 8 years old: “I started selling newspapers on the streets and such things as that and going to school. I wasn’t there a week hardly before I started selling newspapers for The Record, The Times, The Herald and The Express. I first started out selling papers at the old Pacific Railroad ‘cause it was right at Fifth and Central there, and we lived at 4th Street, and I sold the papers, catching people coming off the train and going to the train. Made me 50, 60 cents every afternoon after school. That’s pretty good for a kid ten or eleven years old. I sold The Record for a cent, The Express two cents and The Times a nickel. …” Reb’s next job was as a messenger boy. He had a bicycle and delivered packages for a tailor shop. When not delivering he had the job of cutting all the linings for the coats and button-holes. He worked it up to where he was getting three dollars a week. Reb then went to work for the Post Office while still working for the railroad. He worked as a water boy carrying water to the men working on building the railroad line. This was about 1901 or 02. About 1902 or 1903 Reb worked in the Post Office as a messenger for special delivery on his bicycle. The old Post Office then was at 8th and Spring Street. Reb worked there about two years. Reb remarked: “That was the main Post Office in those days. They had all the trucks and things that sent mail out to the other Post Offices around and I worked there about 2 years. I made about 40, 50 dollars a month delivering special delivery letters. You know a special delivery costs you 12 cents in those days. Ten cents for special delivery and two cents for the postage. So they paid the delivery boy eight cents. Sometimes I’d go out with ten or twelve letters at a time and make seventy, eighty cents, come back and make seventy, eighty cents and go out again, and sometimes I’d get two, three letters, and would have to take nearly half a day to deliver them because riding a bicycle, you got a letter that was way out there, way out in the country like Western and Adams, you have to pedal all the way out there, pedal all the way back, and you half a day’s gone, and maybe you only deliver one letter. But you see your next trip out, you mighta get eight or ten letters that you don’t go any further than Second and Spring, business places and things. So they tried to equalize, that they can’t give you all the stuff 5 downtown and send one out all the time. I rode free on the streetcars but you didn’t always get on a car, and if you were trying to make money, the streetcar was too slow. And a lot of us would ride our head off ‘cause we could beat the streetcar, which you wouldn’t be makin’ much on those long trips ’cause generally on the long trips there wasn’t but one letter we had to come way out there. I worked at the Post Office for about two years I think.” Saving his money he and his mother bought some property on 35th street. Reb continued to buy real estate and about 1980 had a very nice house – “a big place of about 2000 square feet,” Reb remarked with pride. Reb spoke of his real ambition of becoming an artist. He remarked: “I had never tried to be a musician. I wanted to be an artist. I used to draw anything with either hand. My mother worked for a guy that worked in the cartoon department of the Examiner. He wanted me to come to work with him. But, my brother came home and bought me a set of drums and took me on the road with him.

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