Klarinet Archive - Posting 001266.txt from 1999/01

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] HELP!
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 09:53:14 -0500

On Mon, 25 Jan 1999 DHmorgan@-----.com wrote:

> I heard it on NPR--they were talking about a famous trumpet player in
> New Orleans--early in his career he was so bad everywhere he played
> everyone told him to give it up--he was loud, he was off key, he
> stank. But he loved playing and he kept it up--years later he became
> the best player in the country and inspired the young Louis Armstrong
> in his playing. Hopefully someone will be able to supply the name of
> the trumpet player!

I teach jazz history, but have never heard this story told in exactly this
way before. The player who is most often thought of as being a direct
influence on Louis Armstrong was Joe "King" Oliver, so called because he
was thought of as the "king" of the jazz trumpet players. It was Oliver
who brought Armstrong from New Orleans to Chicago to become a member of
his band. That was about 1922 or 23 (no reference materials at hand right
now.)

Another possibility, because of the time frame, would be Buddy Bolden,
supposedly the first trumpet player who can be identified as playing in a
style which can be identified as purely jazz. He was playing in the
mid-1890's. (Louis Armstrong always claimed to have been born in 1900, but
his birth certificate has recently been found, and it seems that he
actually was born in 1901.) Unfortunately, there are no recordings of
Buddy Bolden. Armstrong probably heard Bolden, but he would have been
quite young, and it may not have made much of an impression on him.
According to all accounts, Bolden was indeed one of the loudest trumpet
players ever.

There are other more remote possibilities - Freddie Keppard or Bunk
Johnson, for example.

Could one of these be the mystery trumpet player mentioned on NPR?

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

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