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Chapter 12: Good Times: Jazzing Up Any Dinner Party
New Orleans
Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and King Oliver are names most often
associated with early jazz, which was born in New Orleans, but clarinetist
Jimmie Noone, cornetist Freddie Keppard, and drummers Baby Dodds and
Zutty Singleton were all in the thick of the action.
� Noone was a part of pre-recording-era bands such as Keppard’s and the
Young Olympia Band. His career stretched from New Orleans to 1920s
Chicago, then into the 1930s and early 1940s. Pull selections (and great
bio information) from Jimmie Noone: His Best Recordings (1923–1940)
(Best of Jazz).
� Dodds provided rhythmic juice for Armstrong, Morton, and Oliver. His
drumming is showcased on Baby Dodds (American Music).
� Singleton pioneered the use of brushes instead of drumsticks for a softer
swishing sound. The CD New Orleans Drums has several cuts featuring
Dodds and Singleton, but it’s out of print and tough to find.
Check out Chapter 5 for more about this jazz era.
Chicago
In Chicago there were two scenes: South Side and North Side, black and
white. Players from both sides checked each other out and many of them
played together.
Clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow’s memoir Really the Blues is a fascinating account
of his life inside the Windy City’s jazz scene in the 1920s and 1930s as both
a musician and pot provider to stars like Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow hung
out with black and white musicians, although he idolized the black artists.
His stories be fun to recount at your party. Mezzrow’s book is rich with
accounts of “muggles” (marijuana) and “vipers” (pothead musicians) and
all-night jaunts to South Side clubs and jam sessions.
See Chapter 5 for more details about this period of jazz.
Big bands
Bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman get the lion’s
share of attention, but there were dozens of other worthy bands. Drummer
Chick Webb’s were some of the hottest. Webb was a wonder to watch, a tiny
hunchbacked man who leaned into his drum kit and made magic.
Charlie Barnet, Jimmy Dorsey, Erskine Hawkins, and Andy Kirk led important
thirties big bands, and you can reach back to the 1920s to grab McKinney’s
Cotton Pickers. Barnet was a wealthy ladies’ man who didn’t have to work
but became a killer tenor saxophonist and fronted top-notch bands that
included Lena Horne, Barney Kessel, Dodo Marmarosa, and Clark Terry. His
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