[Dixielandjazz] King Oliver & Fred Keppard (was Keppard's output)

[jazzchops at isp.com]

Phil O'Roarke wrote:

"Joe Oliver did not get the king appendage until he went to New York
and then it was from publicists, not the musicians."

Sorry Phil, but your information is incorrect. Oliver's 1923 recordings
are as King Oliver (King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, to be exact), as are
all of his later recordings. Publicists did not give him that name. This
is the story from Jazzmen, as related by pianist Richard M. Jones:
"...something got into Joe one night as he sat quietly in the corner and
listened to the musicians who were praising Keppard and Perez. He was
infuriated by their tiresome adulation; didn't they know that Joe Oliver
could play a cornet, too? So he came forth from his silence, strode to the
piano and said 'Jones, beat it out in B Flat.'" ...Joe walked straight
through the hall, out onto the sidewalk. There was no mistaking what he
meant when he pointed his cornet, first towards Pete Lala's, where Keppard
played, then directly acrss the street, to where Perez was playing. A few
hot blasts brought crowds out of both joints; they saw Joe Oliver on the
sidewalk, playing as if he would blow down every house on the
street...After that night, they never called him anything but "King"
Oliver.

This was sometime prior to 1916 when Keppard left town to play in Los
Angeles with Bill Johnson.

As to Keppard's recordings in Chicago, he is definetely NOT on the Jimmy
Blythe Messin' Around/Adams Apple session. Dave Nelson has been suggested
to be the horn on that session. Tom Lord's discography reads "unknown" on
cornet.

There is no question he in on the Doc Cook/Cookie's Gingersnaps sides up
through July 10, 1926. I personally think he's on their recording of
Sidewalk Blues from Dec. 1926.

He's also on the Erskine Tate Cutie Blues/Chinaman Blues recordings.

As to Dodds' participation on Keppard's Stock Yards Strut, I don't believe
that's him. I question a number of Paramount sides that are generally
attributed to him, including the Junie Cobb recording of East Coast
Trot/Chicago Buzz. I've been planning on writing an article about this for
some time, regarding the "mystery" Chicago clarinetist would sounds like
Dodds.

Cheers,
Chris Tyle
tyleman.com




-----------------------------------------
Join ISP.COM today - $9.95 internet , less than 1/2 the cost of AOL
Try us out, http://www.isp.com/