Stomp Off 1001 - Dickbaker.org

Orleanians and issued on LP (ParamountCJS 107) which I do not have. My matesPhil O'Rourke or Geoff Holden may have itsomewhere.I then found that it was recorded by TheSwedish Jazz Kings in California in Dec1987 on their first US tour and issued on LP(Stomp Off SOS 1188). Which I do have![This can be heard athttp://dickbaker.org/stompoff/sos1188--mammasbabyboy.mp3]It is indeed the same tune. My dearfriends, the SJKs, are dedicated jazz people,with a great love and knowledge of theclassic jazz era and would have, almostcertainly, taken their version (complete withverse) from the original sheet music. PianistRay Smith implies this in his notes to the LP.Then I thought about the big box of sheetmusic copies DJML angel, Audrey VanDyke, sent to me last year. Didn't this onecontain some early Piron-Williams stuff?And did I recall, or dream, that it includeda St Cyr sheet music item? I rang my matecltist David Ridyard, who is helping mecatalogue this addition to Audrey's earlier'goldmine of music', so that it can be madeavailable to others.Sure enough, it is there! "Mama's BabyBoy". Dave confirmed that he had alreadychecked, and that it is the "Do What OrySay" tune.Of course, it may go back further than1917 and it could be that Johnny St Cyrlearnt it in New Orleans days as a kid, andsimply rearranged it and wrote it down.But it goes back farther yet. In CreoleTrombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz,John McCusker describes a band formed byOry and Joe Oliver:Ory’s band was known for its originalmaterial. Ed Garland said that, when hejoined the band in 1910, they were playingmade-up songs from the country. StellaOliver had similar memories. “Ory wouldsing songs he had made up and the restwould then work them out. They wouldwhistle and say songs they made up to eachother” “Ory had a pretty good ear. Tht’swhy Joe liked him so much, Manuel Manettarecalled.While playing a gig in an advertisingwagon, Ory began toying with the riff thatwould become his song “Do What Ory Say.”Oliver’s ears pricked up at the catchy dittyand he began to play along.We were in a big furniture wagon, driftingalong and when we came to a dull section,we weren’t playing every corner, just thehot spots, the hot corners so he said,“Keep playing it, play it again for me,please.” So, he said, “I think I have it.”So, we got on a corner and he said,“Let’s try it. Let’s go.” I stomped off and(King) Oliver kept the melody and thatquick I picked up harmony. Oliver waspretty fast himself, as everyone knows, butthat was a fast hand on the climax, myideas. So we started playing it. We played itonce or twice before we hit Toledano &Franklin where all the crowd was and therewe met Jack Carey’s band.We started to play it and everyone wantedto know what number was it. It was so new,we didn’t know it ourselves. WE didn’t haveno title more than “Do What Ory Say.” Ididn’t have no idea of no title so someonehollered and said, “What’s the number youplayed, Kid?”I said, “Oh, we’re just playing.” KingOliver said, “Do What Ory Say,” and theword started spreading around. . . .[paragraph about song’s dirty lyrics]The melody took on different names overthe years. In 1917 Clarence Williams andArmand Piron published it with the title“Mama’s Baby Boy.” The writing credit wentto Johnny St. Cyr, a former Ory bandmember, and Piron. Ory said Williams stoleit: “Clarence Williams appeared at EconomyHall were we played [Do What Ory Say] andhe wrote it down and he was in thepublishing business and stole an idea andhe changed the title. He came to EconomyHall and had me play it a couple of times anight. I didn’t know what they were up to.They were writing it down and got an ideafor a title.Historian William Russell recorded bandsin the forties that played the same melodywith the title “Pork Chop.” Whatever thename of the song or its origin, its popularityhelped raise the band’s profile.Louis Armstrong remembered “Do WhatOry Say,” though not by name.Kid Ory and Joe Oliver got together andmade one of the hottest jazz bands thatever hit New Orleans. They often played ina tailgate wagon to advertise a ball or otherentertainments. When they foundthemselves on a street corner next toanother band in another wagon, Joe andKid Ory would shoot the works. Theywould give with all that good, mad musicthey had under thjeir belts and the crowdwould go wild. When the other banddecided it was best to cut the competitionand start out for another corner, Kid Oryplayed a littlr tune on his trombone thatmade the crowd go wild again. But thistime they were wildl with laughter. It was acute little tune to celebrate the defeat of theenemy. I thought it screamingly funny and Ithink you would too.Well, where does this all get us? Unless wereject the story in the McCusker bookcompletely, which I see no reason to do, Ory“created” (if not wrote) the tune before 1917,but had it stolen, copyrighted, and publishedby Clarence Williams. Why Williams put St.Cyr & Piron on the copyright and music ascomposers is subject to speculation: perhapsto cover his tracks; perhaps because theyadded the introduction on their version thatwasn’t on the Ory version.It’s troubling, and odd, that when Oryhimself finally recorded it under his originaltitle in 1945, he put Clarence Williams on thelabel as composer, but there’s a possibleperverse logic: Ory felt that it had been stolenby Williams (not Piron & St. Cyr), and as muchas it must have galled him, he may have feltthat he could be in for legal trouble if he didn’tcredit Williams (who was still alive andpublishing in 1945).But wait, there’s more: According to a veryserious historical analysis of Hot Fiverecordings athttp://dippermouth.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/85-years-of-hot-seven-sol-bluesgully.html,talking specifically about “S.O.L. Blues,” wereadI mentioned that the Hot Seven just couldn'tplay a blues all the way through from start tofinish. Case in point: the entire openingsection, which is based on a song that someNew Orleans jazz fans might know as "DoWhat Ory Say" or "South" but really had itsorigins in the Crescent City during cuttingcontests, where it got its original title of "KissMy Fuckin' Ass" (sorry this has been such abawdy post!).But never mind that, it’s here for titillation.So we’ll credit Ory as the composer of “DoWhat Ory Say” on the basis of the above.But now what do we do about “Gate Mouth”and “Get It Right,” also thought to be copiesof/steals from Ory’s tune? To keep all this lineof speculation in one place, I’ll reproduce theentries and notes for those tunes below.First,Gate Mouth (Louis Armstrong)Black Eagle JB 1054New Yankee Rhythm Kings 1067Abi Hübner’s Low Down Wizards 1093Jean-François Bonnel & Friends 1104Lyttelton–Fawkes Troglodytes 1238