CLASSIC JAZZ This page intentionally left blank CLASSIC JAZZ A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians FLOYD LEVIN Foreword by BENNY CARTER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London Title page illustration: The author and his wife, Lucille—Emperor and Empress of the 1985 Jazz Jubilee, Sacramento, California. Unless otherwise credited, all illustrations are by the author or are from his collection. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2000 by the Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Levin, Floyd. Classic jazz : a personal view of the music and the musicians / Floyd Levin. p. cm. Includes index. isbn 0-520-21360-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Jazz—History and criticism. 2. Jazz musi- cians—United States. I. Title. ml3508.l48 2000 781.65—dc21 00-022554 Manufactured in the United States of America 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 10987654321 The paper used in this publication meets the mini- mum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper). To Lucille, my loving wife and perceptive editor, who shared these wonderful experiences with me. Her sincere praises buoyed my efforts, and her unerring criticisms deftly improved my narration. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS FOREWORD BY BENNY CARTER xv PREFACE xvii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxiii INTRODUCTION 1 1 KID ORY AND THE REVIVAL ERA 9 Kid Ory / 11 Kid Ory’s Legendary 1921 Nordskog/Sunshine Recordings / 14 Papa Mutt Carey / 24 Buster Wilson / 28 Andrew Blakeney / 31 Ram Hall / 34 Dink Johnson / 37 Bud Scott / 39 Joe Darensbourg / 42 Ed “Montudie” Garland / 46 Teddy Buckner / 61 viii Contents 2 A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE MUSIC 64 Lieutenant Jim Europe’s Hellfighters— The 369th Infantry Jazz Band / 65 “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”— The First Recorded Hit of the Jazz Age / 68 The World Premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue” / 73 “Relaxin’ at the Touro”— Memories of Muggsy Spanier / 78 Spud Murphy / 82 A Memorable Jack Teagarden Record Date / 85 The Duke Ellington Sacred Music Concert— New Orleans, 1970 / 89 Dick Hyman’s Historic Direct-to-CD Recording Session / 92 3 A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE MUSICIANS 97 Benny Carter / 97 James P. Johnson / 99 Brun Campbell and Scott Joplin / 104 Rex Stewart’s Memories of Jelly Roll Morton / 109 Anita Gonzales and the Untold Story of Jelly Roll Morton’s Last Years / 114 Johnny Guarnieri / 124 I’m Just Wild about Eubie— Memories of Eubie Blake / 128 Jess Stacy / 135 Milt Hinton / 139 Spiegle Willcox / 142 Eddie Miller / 145 Morty Corb / 148 Barney Bigard / 151 Wild Bill Davison / 156 Rosy McHargue / 159 Artie Shaw / 163 Andy Razaf / 165 Contents ix Coot Grant and Sox Wilson / 169 The World’s Greatest Jazz Band / 172 4 THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS ON CLASSIC JAZZ 177 The Jazz Journey—From Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall to Carnegie Hall / 177 Papa Celestin and the Voodoo Queen / 181 Danny Barker—The Jazz Troubadour / 190 Lorenzo Tio, Jr., and the Clarinetists of the Crescent City / 195 Willie James Humphrey, Jr. / 202 George Lewis / 206 Alton Purnell / 209 Bill Russell / 212 5 THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG 218 Louis Armstrong’s Underrated Recordings during the Big-Band Era / 219 “Ambassador Satch” on the World Stage / 222 A Sentimental Journey—Louis’ Funeral / 225 6 JAZZ ON THE WEST COAST 230 Los Angeles in the Swing Era / 230 The Palomar Ballroom Fire / 233 The Firehouse Five and the Good Time Jazz Record Company / 240 The Yerba Buena Jazz Band and the Jazz Man Label / 246 Benny Strickler / 248 Turk Murphy’s Final Triumph / 251 I Remember Bob Scobey / 254 Dave Dexter, Jr. / 259 The Poor Angel Hot Jazz Society / 262 Dick Cary’s Tuesday Night Band / 263 x Contents 7 UNSUNG HEROES 268 Pete Daily / 268 Stew Pletcher / 272 Sammy Lee / 275 Pud Brown / 278 Bob McCracken / 280 Pat Gogerty / 282 Rick Fay / 283 8 THE SEVEN-YEAR CHALLENGE TO COMPLETE THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG STATUE 287 A Fund Is Created in Old New Orleans / 287 “For the Love of Louis,” by Ned Brundage / 290 Bing Crosby to the Rescue / 301 July 4, 1976 / 308 EPILOGUE 313 INDEX 315 ILLUSTRATIONS The author and his wife, Lucille—Emperor and Empress of the 1985 Jazz Jubilee iii Floyd Levin’s first article 10 Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band 13 The 1921 Kid Ory recordings with the imprint of two competing record companies 15 Nordskog’s recording system 18 Nordskog, the first record-pressing plant on the West Coast 18 The Nordskog Recording Company production facility in Santa Monica, California 23 Mutt Carey’s New Orleans Stompers 27 Buster Wilson 29 Minor “Ram” Hall 35 Kid Ory with Bud Scott and Mutt Carey 40 Joe Darensbourg doing his famous rendition of “The Sheik of Araby” 44 Ed “Montudie” Garland 47 A 1919 advertisement for Jim Europe’s 369th Infantry Jazz Band 65 xii Illustrations Original sheet music for “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” 70 Program for the 1924 world premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue” 75 Paul Whiteman listening to his concertmaster, Kurt Dieterle, playing his newly discovered instrument, the “Violiphone” 77 Muggsy Spanier with the author 79 Jack Teagarden 86 Benny Carter flanked by fellow Esquire Jazz Award winners Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Barney Bigard, and radio personality Al Jarvis 98 James P. Johnson with Louis Gonzales, Leonard Bibbs, and Albert Nicholas 100 Brun Campbell at age 16, 1900 105 Jelly Roll Morton in 1921 at the Cadillac Cafe, Los Angeles 121 Jelly Roll Morton with his vaudeville partner, Rosa 122 Jelly Roll Morton’s grave 124 Johnny Guarnieri 126 Eubie Blake with the author 130 Spiegle Willcox receiving the 1995 American Federation of Jazz Societies’ Benny Carter Award 143 Rosy McHargue with the author 160 Coot Grant and Sox Wilson in an early vaudeville publicity photo 169 The 1968 lineup of the World’s Greatest Jazz Band 173 Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall 178 Oscar “Papa” Celestin 182 Danny Barker 191 Willie Humphrey 204 George Lewis 207 Bill Russell 213 Bill Russell’s archives 216 Fire at Los Angeles’s famous Palomar Ballroom in 1939 234 Illustrations xiii Bandleader Charlie Barnet and his orchestra on the bandstand of the Palomar Ballroom 236 The Firehouse Five Plus Two 241 Les Koenig’s Good Time Jazz label 244 The Yerba Buena Jazz Band 247 Turk Murphy, Dick Lammi, Bob Helm, Bob Short, Wally Rose, and Claire Austin 251 Bob Scobey’s Frisco Jazz Band 255 Dick Cary 265 Pete Daily 269 Sammy Lee 276 Advertisement for “Hello Louis!” 298 Trummy Young, Louis Armstrong, and Bob McCracken 299 Louis Armstrong and his 70th birthday cake 300 Louis Armstrong with the author after the “Hello Louis!” concert 301 Los Angeles Times cartoon three days after Louis Armstrong’s death 303 Sculptor Elizabeth Catlett with the Louis Armstrong statue 307 The Louis Armstrong statue after its 1980 dedication 309 Donald Marquis’ account of the dedication of Louis Armstrong Park 310 This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD The music called jazz is blessed to have so many devoted friends and fans, none more faithful than Lucille and Floyd Levin. Throughout the years this dynamic duo, a familiar sight at musical events in Los Ange- les and elsewhere, have always given their support and encouragement to the performers and promoters. Somehow, during the years running his own business, Floyd found time to write articles about what he saw and heard. Since his retire- ment, he has devoted full time to his special interest and increased even further his activities on behalf of our music. The result is this book, a varied compilation of Floyd’s articles over the last forty years. They attest to his wide knowledge, devotion, and intuitive sensitivity to our art form. No one is better qualified to cover this vast material and long span of time. His musical interests are all-encompassing and eclectic, running from the earliest jazz to the present day. Floyd and Lucille have intimately been involved with the music and the musicians covered in this volume. Their organizational achieve- ments are also multiple. Elsewhere you will read about their work in the founding of jazz societies, the production of jazz events, and the creation of honors to musicians. I am personally indebted to Floyd for creating the Benny Carter Award, presented annually by the American Federation of Jazz Societies. I first met Floyd and Lucille some fifty years ago and count them among my dearest friends. I am therefore extremely pleased that the xvi Foreword University of California Press is publishing Floyd’s Classic Jazz: A Per- sonal View of the Music and the Musicians. This book will join the many other fine volumes covering the devel- opment and history of classic jazz and will help to illuminate our gen- uinely American art form. Benny Carter June 1998 PREFACE For years, when asked, “When are you going to write a book?” my re- ply has always been, “Never!” Aware that a book project would require months or perhaps years of preparation, I feared the task would disrupt my ongoing daily ac- tivities. They include conducting jazz history interviews; writing album notes; reviewing concerts, festivals, records, and books; corresponding with fans and musicians around the world; and conducting extensive research into the darkened recesses of jazz’s origin. Over the years, my hundreds of essays delineated a personal relation- ship with the most respected artists in jazz. Several of my articles were highly praised, but they all appeared in publications with limited distri- bution.