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July 14, I960 Says That His Uncle [Devrey ARMAKD HUGT 2 Peel I [of 3] July 14, I960 Hug says that when he was about 9 or 10 years old he chanced upon a masked trio of musicians on ^ardi Gras day--'bass, alto sax anct guitar--who were so good that he follo-wed them all day; he says that they didn't play ragtlme or old style jazz, but ;were playing more of » a swing style. He also saw a wagon which had a good tailgafce toand on it. Including a piano, and he was inspired to decide that he ha^l, to play that kind. of music fron that/ t?n]e on. Until then. Hug had had a little instruction from his mother, who could teach him fche notes and time, as she knew enough about music and the piano to be able to pick out tunes. Then he began studying with Mrs* Asset, the wife of a now" retired de'fcective. Henry Asset; Mrs, Asset gave him good, formal basic -braining. Hug says that after about a year he became quite balky about learning her way, and many times he made Mrs. Asset cry. He didn't want to learn her way, but she did impress upon him the need to get a good. foundation and a need to learn to play the piano correctly. He says that his uncle [Devrey Schmid] wasn't rcuch help In his leaming to play correctly, as he -would sho-w Hu^ how to improvise--Hu^1s mother A would chase Schmid out oil the house for his encouragement. .J Hug.thinks * he began studying with Mrs. Asset when he was about 8 or 9 years old, but he is not sure; he studied with her for a year, perhaps a little more* Then he began practicing chords, listening to the various^sounds, getting pointers frovn various pianists, He says he wishes he could have met Jelly Roll [Morton], but he had already left town; he had heard of him, an/i had also heard of Steve Lewis. He had heard a lot .^ of good pianist, but says that the names didn't register then. In response to RBA.'s question. Hug says fchat he doesn't know whether his grandfa-bhei* [Schmld] played by music or was & taker. His unols, Jasper Hugj played by music; he could also Fake, but Hug does not kno-w ^hsther he was a r.e&l Jazz drummer. liug says tha-t the turning point in his ARMANF/ HTJG 3 Reel I [of 3] July li^., 1960 ja?,z. career came when he was about 11 or 12 yedrs old; his uncle Dewey Schmid brought Buzz^fe Williams to Hugts house. Willi ams was always / ready to show anyone his tricks, so as to help there. Hu^ raent3ons that one of his tricks was that of playing tenth? in his left hand, sort of a walking bass* He says that some people said that Villiams was not a good jazz man, but hug disagrees; he says that perhaps Williams' style would get in the way of some of the horns, and the players would say that he wasn't a good "band pianist, Williams was noted as an acccwpanltf'sttf^^c for singer's; he could play in any key, no mean accomplishment in those days. He could transpose at sight, He showed Hug quite a few tricks on the piano, including the use of tenths in tbe bass. Hug says that he learned tb.afc from Williams in about 1926, and says that "he th-?.riks that Villiams was a pionoer in that technique^ The tenth was broken, or rolled, not played slm-al- taneously. Hug says Williams' style -was funny, very .fast, and fch.at bis nickname was given him because someone said that he made the piano hum-hen.ce, Buzzy [not Huj'nmon--PRC ]. Hug doesn't remember the name of 'Williams' home town^ Williams came here about ^0 years ago [see The Second Line]< Hug doesn't remember the names o.C1 singer's Williams accompanied in the older tiraes, but he says VJilliams was accoiripanlst for all the big-tirne singers through here. He says that recently, in the past 10 years, Williams has accompanied Tommy Lyrcan* Vvilliams played suc'h places as the Club Forrest and the Silver Slipper, the latter being the top-spot on Bourbon Street at the time. Hug remem- bers that. Williams was in a trio including Oscar M&rcour on violi n and Bill Eastwood on banjo; Hu^ tiseri to hear them over crystal radiot/ sets. They played In a very spirited manner* Oscar ^larcour played very fine violin, and Ms brother, Mickey, was a very good pianist. Hug compares Oscar's violin style as similar to J'oe Venuti1s. rtHi^iMD .1U^ 4 Reel I [of 31 July 1k, I960 Hu used to play at sUent movis houses -with & trio; they made .A,l each per niffht. In additjon to Hu^ on piano were Grashoff on violin and Serpas on drums. They played 9. suburban Tnovie houses, among them belnp: the St. Kaurice Avenue Theater. He says the movies / got a bad deafc [from them] in those days, and explains fchat the trio might be playing UTiger Rcig" when a love sce.rxe was being shown, or something on that order, but that nobody ever said anything about it, Hug went from the movie houses to the Fern T^nce hall, and he says that was a good deal for him* Harry Shields was the clarinetist; Buzzle Willoz, banjo (and very good, according to Kug); Von aajnmon, drums, and Bill Crillen [sp?], tri.unpet. The year was 19^6. The band played for five hours straight, no break, eating sandwiches and drink- ing cokes when they could. The sets consisted of four -buneSj the slow drag being the feature of each set. Also in the set were a slow tune and a fast tune. During the waltz in each set, the nianist kept play- ing, but the borns woul<^ be able to take a little break of about 2 or 3 nlnutes. Then the next set vioul.d begin. All the musicians would al-ways be looking for so-.-ne mus?.c-?an to corns by the place to sit in, because then they could take a break. Hug s^ys fcha-b some of the fineet musicians of the city came by at one time or another, and he montions Shar-key [Bonano], [Irving] :?la2ola and Eddie Miller, Hug says that some pianists of those days were Von Hech-b [sp? ] and Ernest BarToet [sp? ] and Bill Voorhies; fche latter two preceeded Hu^ at the Fern. ite, does not knou what became of Van Hecht, -who he says was good. Hug says he stayed at the Fern for about 6 months, and he says u he 30! a good ro-undation there; when he came on the job he had a f evj tunes rolled uu [the music] with him; Von Garomon told him he wasn't going to use any music on the job, one reason bsinp^ th.9tI.J it was too AnriAiy L/ nui-r ;? Keel I [of 3] July 14, I960 dark to read it. Hug says they told him they would show him ho-w to 1 play * AS an aside, Ku^ says that this is an interesting point about hovj jazz got started? he says t^e old-timers oonsidsred having piusic on the sfcand as bein,^ square. Tie {Toes on to SQ.J that Karry Shields, who wss s3.tt5.nf; next to him on the Fern job, told him that he -would le^arn the chords of the time they were to play, although Hxio; had never heard of \t. Hu^ s^rs he had a bard t^rrje of it at firs-bj and Shields was giving him dirty looks because of the mistakes he made, but Shields would tell him what chords to play, and aftsr a -while he had -T- nuit..' learned most of the old. tunes. L.) says that in the old days the pianist didntt have to be a gryat soloist to be conBldered good; if he played the correct chords and had a good beat he was considered all ri^hfc; if he did happen to play good solos too, he could be featured on some tunes, but he didn't have to play solos. Plu^ says that the piano rhythra emphasized t'ne second and fourth beats ol* the measure; irhii'thi^h^k he -was tatight to play two-beat ^rftthm, and was cautioned to play the baas notes (on the first beat) lightly, and t.l'^e right-hand chord (on the second beat) stronger. Later after a few years, -when the pianists began playing four-beat, they would still accent the second beatj so that the feeling was st-?.ll -fcwo-beat. Tn response to R'3A's quesfclon about the role nt the leFt hand in tvo-beat. Hug digrssReg a bit and mentions thyt Freddie Neumann was a .f^.ne band pianist. Noumann play- ed with the remnants of the [New Orleans] nhythm Kings at the Hingslde"- Sharkey, Chink Martin and Joe Capraro. Hug and 2dcUe Killer used to go to listen to th<At band, and Hug adnired -Neumann1 s orchestral play- t/ -1 h+<in^.0 TM'oumann used sin^ls notes in the bass Lleft hand] soLietimes, because dhink used sousaphone sometimesj and the piano didn't need to be strong in the baas.
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