Stomp Off 1001 - Dickbaker.org

Ondippermouth.blogspot.com/2012/11/85-yearsof-hot-seven-keyhole-blues.html,which looksto be a pretty serious discussion ofArmstrong’s music, we read:"Keyhole Blues" was composed by WesleyWilson, better known as "Kid Wilson" in thelegendary vaudeville blues team of CootGrant and Kid Wilson. Louis met thehusband and wife team in New York duringhis tenure with Fletcher Henderson. InOctober 1925, Louis backed Grant andWilson on four numbers for ParamountRecords. Pianist Wilson was also a giftedsongwriter, the man behind "Prince of Wails"(which Henderson recorded) and Louis'slater Decca recording, "Do You Call That aBuddy," as well as Bessie Smith classics "DoYour Duty," "I'm Down in the Dumps" and"Gimme a Pigfoot." Wilson obviouslyadmired Armstrong, penning the number"Toot It, Brother Armstrong," which, alas,was never recorded by Pops.We're going to leave the chronology a bitand listen to Coot Grant and Kid Wilson dotheir version of "Key Hole Blues" onColumbia, recorded September 27, 1928:Well, the writer then gives links to the Grant-Wilson recording and the Hot Seven, and theysure don’t sound anything alike to me. TheGrant-Wilson record is Columbia 14363-D, rec.9/27/28, and presumably isn’t listed in Rust(although other of the Wilsons’ work is)because there’s no jazz content.This is a hell of a puzzle: OK 8496 label doesNOT have a composer credit, nor doesVocalion 3137. Columbia 20028 is Spanishfrom Argentina, and the credit there is indeedW. Wilson. LC SONIC doesn’t have a copy atall.The Columbia/Legacy 4-CD Hot 5/7 set saysN. Wilson, but where did they get that, sinceit’s not on any of the records. That’s the onlyrecording besides the Stomp Offs that doeshave N. Wilson. I did find two references to aColumbia 39243 45-rpm release that had N.Wilson.AllMusic.com says N. Wilson, as does anonline Hot 5/7 site(michaelminn.net/armstrong/index.php?section2), but the former cites no source and thelatter citesOkeh 8496.Also asked Dave Robinson to compare thetunes:The Grant/Wilson tune is a standard 12-barblues; the Louis tune isn't. No commonground. But the ASCAP site seems to thinkLouis recorded the Wilson tune; seeattached screen shot. I suspect maybeLouis and the boys put a tune together forthe session and called it Keyhole Blues, andthen someone at Okeh, in prepping it forissue, looked up the title for label credits andassumed it was the Wilson tune.Got the same response from Robbie Rhodes:No way: the melody recorded by WesleyWilson and Coot Grant is a simple 12-barblues. The Hot Seven melody is a verse +chorus structure, each section being 16bars.The title, "Keyhole Blues", is too good notto use over and over. So what's happeningon the Armstrong Hot Seven recording ofMay 13, 1927?I hear Louis trying unsuccessfully to get"Wild Man Blues" out of his head as they dothe recording. In the opening theme afterthe 8-bar intro I hear Louis playing avariation on "Wild Man Blues" in G-minorwhile the rest of the band plays Lil Hardin'schords in B-flat-major (the "relative major") --and there is considerable disagreement. Onthe second time around the same thinghappens again (and I imagine Lil is gnashingher teeth).Who wrote Keyhole Blues? My conclusionis "Unknown". Lil Hardin wrote out copyrightdepositions for King Oliver; she surely knewabout the copyright process. If the songrecorded by the Hot Seven wasn'tcopyrighted then I'm confident there's a derngood reason. But Lil isn't talking...And I got this response back from RickyRiccardi, the blogger who claimed they werethe same tune:Hi Dick and thanks for writing with this veryinteresting information on "Keyhole Blues."You're right about Louis's version beingdifferent from Wesley Wilson's version; I didmention that in the blog saying that Wilson'sis a standard blues and Louis's is somethingdifferent. I guess I followed conventionalwisdom that Louis knew Wilson, they were inChicago, they both recorded a "KeyholeBlues" and Louis's was attributed to "Wilson"so that was good enough for me. But clearly,they're different in just about every regard.So where does the "Wilson" come from?Beats me! When was the first time "Wilson"was attributed to Armstrong's recording if itwasn't on the original OKeh 8496 record? Iwonder if someone like George Avakianlooked in the files, saw a "Keyhole Blues"written by Wilson and gave it that creditduring one of his 1940s Columbia reissues?That wouldn't explain the N. vs. W. Wilsonconfusion, except maybe it was a typo?Hmmm, I'm sorry, I'm just providing morespeculation instead of anything definitive,but thanks for broaching the subject. If Icome across anything else pertaining to thesubject, I'll let you know (we have some ofLouis's contracts for OKeh recordings withE.A. Fearn at the Archives and maybe there'ssomething there).Thanks again for writing and thanks foreverything you do at Stomp Off, one of myvery favorite labels!Also heard back from Michael Minn, proprietorof the other site on Hot 5/7, who says to thebest of his recollection, the N. Wilson creditcame from the Columbia/Legacy reissue.7/15/13 provisional summation: WesleyWilson is out for sure. And there seems to beno explanation for N. Wilson except that it’s amistaken reference to Wesley Wilson thatpicked up a typo. Unless I hear somethingnew, I’m taking Robbie’s suggestion to makeit “unknown.”Key-Stone (Willie Anderson)Red Rose Ragtime Band 1399Confirmed by my 1921 sheet music fromStark. “Rag” is clearly a genre-marker.King Bolden’s Tune (see Makin’ Runs)King Chanticleer (Nat D. Ayer–A. Seymour Brown) (see alsoTexas Tommy Dance)Ian Whitcomb & Dick Zimmerman 1049Ian Whitcomb & His Merry Bands 1276King Joe (Bud Scott)Chicago Rhythm 1026Dry Throat Five 1114Jimmy Noone Jr/Davies Rhythmic 5 1121Magnolia Jazz Five/Jimmy Mazzy 1137Paramount JB of Boston 1340Les Red Hot Reedwarmers 1416Rec. Jimmie Noone (w/Scott on bjo), 8/25/28,Vocalion 1229 et al.Copyright doesn’t make sense:King Joe; by A. Scott; 1st violin. © 1 c. Jan.3, 1928; E 679776; Arthur Scott, Chicago.My Decca LP reissue says Arthur Scott. Andthe discogs.com bio profile says Arthur “Bud”Scott, as does a longer jazzbanjo.com biosketch, so I guess it’s the same/right guy. Butwhy a 1st violin part submitted for copyright?King of the Zulus, The (At aChit’lin’ Rag) (Lil Hardin)South Frisco JB 13078/22, Jim Riley sends copy of handwrittensheet, which says "The King of the Zulus," nosubtitle. Riley says, "This a LofC copy of LilHardin’s manuscript for King of the Zulus, withher title. I have never seen a published