[Dixielandjazz] "Bad Boy" by Lil Armstrong

[Bill Haesler]

Harry Callaghan replied [in part]:
> I don't know what year Lil Hardin wrote "Bad Boy" (her name is on  
> the Jivebombers label) but I seem to recall that was not the  
> original title, which had somewhat of a racial connotation.

Dear Harry,
As usual one thing leads to another.
The Jive Bomber's Savoy version is on YouTube, with a pic of the label  
clearly confirming Lil Armstrong as the author:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utgqjAbpR58
The lyrics contain the phrase "naturally lazy", which rings a faint  
bell in my old head.
I'll will pursue this a little further.
I don't immediately recognise the tune, but still believe that it  
would be from the 1950s.
It is listed by ASCAP as a Lil Armstrong composition so there may be a  
way, that I haven't learnt yet, of dating it through them.

Regarding:
> Someone had told me that Velma Middleton had also been a Mrs.  
> Satchmo but this later proved to be erroneous.
I had never heard that rumour, but they were certainly very good  
friends musically from 1942 until 1961 (she died while on a tour of  
Africa with Louis & The All Stars).
Louis was certainly very loyal to her over the years.
You may remember the story of the 'big scene' Louis put on at the July  
1957 Newport Jazz Festival, when they were going to drop Velma in  
favour of Ella?

> I have a live recording on Decca of her and Louis doing "That's My  
> Desire" that'll knock your socks off.

So have I and assume it is the same one, from a Boston Symphony Hall  
concert on 30 Nov 1947.
Very kind regards,
Bill.