Fw: [Dixielandjazz] Re: CLYDE McCOY Plunger Mute

[Fred Spencer]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Spencer" <drjz at bealenet.com>
To: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: CLYDE McCOY Plunger Mute


Dear Bill,
Thank you for your, as usual, meticulous note on Clyde McCoy. One version of
"Sugar Blues" that may not be well known was made by Johnny Mercer with the
Pied Pipers, Paul Weston's Orchestra, and obviously updated words such as
"beboppin' " (Capitol, 1947). It has the famous wah wah solo scored for the
trumpet section.
Clyde is reported to have been  descended from the McCoys who feuded with
the Hatfields for many years in the Kentucky mountains. Cheers.
Fred
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au>
> To: <DWSI at aol.com>; "dixieland jazz mail list"
> <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 3:42 AM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: CLYDE McCOY Plunger Mute
>
>
> > Dear Dan (and others who replied to your query to trumpet players.)
> > I am not a trumpet player, but will reply anyway.
> > "Sugar Blues" (1919. Lucy Fletcher-Clarence Williams) was recorded well
> > before Clyde McCoy & His Orch made the popular version on Columbia 2389
on
> > 22 Jan 1931, as follows:
> > 1922. Leona Williams, Sara Martin, Monette Moore, Lillian Harris.
> > 1923. Ladd's Black Aces, Johnny Dunn, Clarence Williams (QRS piano
roll).
> > The King Oliver version (with a wah-wah trumpet solo) was recorded in
New
> > York on 18 Feb 1931, 3 weeks after the McCoy, which in all probability
had
> > not yet been released. As trumpet-playing bandleader Clyde McCoy
> (1903-1990)
> > was already a Chicago radio personality by the late 1920s Oliver would
> more
> > than likely have heard his "Sugar Blues" theme tune on air.
> > There are claims that McCoy's 1931 "Sugar Blues" (with its distinctive
> > 'wah-wah' trumpet gimmick) was a $million plus hit for Columbia.
> > He recorded it again in Chicago on 31 Jan 1935 for Decca and this
version
> > certainly was a $million seller by 1946.
> > McCoy reprised it for Capitol on 10 Dec 1951.
> > I recall growing up during the war years when McCoy's "Sugar Blues" was
on
> > every radio station. Probably the Decca which was available here on an
> > English Brunswick 78. Local dance bands were obliged to include it in
> their
> > repertoire along with "Golden Wedding". Another reason we got sick of
it.
> In
> > the mid 1940s, when we became young, impressionable jazz record
> collectors,
> > Clyde McCoy's "Sugar Blues" was dismissed as corny.
> > As Spike Jones' aficionados we had also noted the McCoy style, for the
> > brilliant trumpet player George Rock trotted it out (tongue-in-cheek) on
> > many an occasion on Spike's 1940s records. Which probably encouraged us
> not
> > to take it all too seriously. Then we heard King Oliver's Brunswick 1931
> > version (his last recording) and were confused.
> > I have a feeling that King Oliver (himself an acknowledged master of the
> > wah-wah mute) must have heard McCoy do his popular "Sugar Blues" feature
> in
> > Chicago, and decided to mimic it. Unfortunately, not as successfully as
> > McCoy on this occasion.
> > I have all the 1922-23 recorded versions and a CD copy of the piano roll
> > mentioned above, plus the 1931 McCoy and King Oliver records, but have
> never
> > owned the McCoy' Decca/Brunswick or Capitol 78s.
> > So where do I and Mr McCoy's "Sugar Blues" stand nearly 60 years later?
> > Perhaps I should try and locate the 1935 and 1956 recordings before I go
> too
> > far.......
> > There is no doubt that Clyde McCoy was a respected and talented musician
> and
> > bandleader throughout the 20s and 30s. He was the first to take his
whole
> > band, intact, into the US Navy in 1942. McCoy disbanded his orchestra in
> the
> > 1950s to play 'dixieland' and lead a small band. Unfortunately, I have
> never
> > heard his 'jazz' records, if any exist.
> > For a young musician to now imitate and feature Clyde McCoy's dated
> trumpet
> > 'effects' is probably unwise - and too late.
> > Better to spend valuable time listening to, and absorbing Mutt Carey,
King
> > Oliver, Bubber Miley and Muggsy Spanier.
> > Very kind regards,
> > Bill.
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>