The record changer (Mar-Dec 1947)

minor I was born March 2, 1897, in a little town called Sellies, Louisiana, and lived there until I was three, when we moved to New Orleans. My first school was MacDowell No. 6. I stayed there about five years and got expelled for fighting with somebody. At the age of fifteen, I went to school again and stayed there until I was seventeen. After that, I entered New Orleans University, but didn't stay long; I had decided to become a musician. My brother Tubby was playing drums and he gave me a pair of sticks. I used to sit on the steps and beat these sticks. After beating sticks for a while, I played on Tubby's drums. My first chance to play was at St. Bernard's Parish, about eighteen miles below New Orleans. Tubby had a job there and when he couldn't get off to go, they asked me if I could play in his place. I was still in short pants, and my mother fixed up a pair of long pants for me, and I went down to play this job. I was seventeen when this happened. They said I did fine, so brother kept letting me go in his place. When I was nineteen, I played my first job with Kid Ory. I played one job in Henry Martin's place — Ory told me how to play the same rhythm that Henry Martin played, so whenever Martin couldn't play, I would substitute for him. I went to Chicago soon after, but got cold feet. My brother sent me a ticket and I returned to New Orleans. Then Tubby went to Chicago with Sugar Johnny and Bechet. After that, my mother, father and I all went up to Chicago. I played some onenighters around Chicago. When the war came they grabbed Tubby. I took his place at the De Luxe Cafe with Lawrence Duhe. Others in the band were Sugar Johnny, Lil Hardin, Sidney Bechet, Ed Garland. I worked at the De Luxe for a while and then went to the Dreamland. Mutt came through with a show and, in the meantime, Sugar Johnny got sick and died. Mutt was offered the job but couldn't leave the show. He took a trip with them, but came back to Chicago as soon as he could and took the job. Later, when Mutt asked to go to New Orleans, Joe Oliver took his place. Duhe then put Oliver in charge of the band. Others in the band when King Oliver took charge were Jimmy Palao, Johnny Dobbs, and David Jones, who played Mellophone. The band got an offer to go to San Francisco, so we went there in 1921, and playe I at a dance hall on Market Street. After we were there a while, Joe and I had a falling out about Jimmy Palao. Joe wanted to let Jimmy go, so I told him that if he let him go, I would leave too. I left and he sent for Baby Dodds. I went back to Chicago then and got a job with Jimmy Noone's band at The Nest (this was before it was called the Apex). Earl Hines, Joe Poston, and Johnny St. Cyr were also in the band. At that time, my brother Tubby was working across the street with Carroll Dickerson. When Mutt, who had formed a band in Los Angeles, wanted me to come and play with him, I left Jimmy and came to California again. hall is* in his own words; from stenographic notes by Alice Fin They had a fellow by the name of Everett Walsh playing drums at the time. Some of the men in the band wanted to keep Walsh, after I had made the trip out there, so they decided to vote on it. I didn't get the job, but decided to stay on in California. Papa Mutt made up a small band later and we went to work at Culver City (Les Hite and Elzie Cooper were in the band, too). After that I cot a job in a taxi dance hall with Papa Mutt and stayed there about six months. Then we left and played several jobs in and out of Los Angeles. When I left Papa Mutt, I went to work with Winslow Allen (Buster Wilson was in the band). I played with Winslow until I was drafted. He used to kid me all the time and say I was too old to go in the Army, but when they started pulling numbers out of the fish bowl, mine was the 110th to be pulled. We were working at the BoogieWoogie at Pico and Western for a lady named Mildred at the time. I left in September for basic training at Fresno, Calif. I was supposed to stay there for only a few weeks, but the top Sergeant fdund out that I played drums. They had a drummer, but his eyes were bad. I stayed there and played in their seventeen-piece band for about six months. When they began giving discharges because of age limit, I got out and went to work for Douglas Aircraft Company, and stayed there for two years. Ory then called me about a job in the Jade. That's when I started working with Ory. I've been with him ever since. King Oliver was a good fellow to work for, a very good fellow — it was just that he and I had a misunderstanding about Jimmy Palao. He was a big eater — he liked his rice, milk and sugar, and his red beans — he really was a big eater. The best treatment I ever got from a leader was Ory. Ory gave me a lot of pointers about how to play rhythm. I changed my style and played like he said — just good rhythm. Papa Mutt was pretty nice to me. He taught me a lot, too. But Ory gave me the best break of all. We've gotten along good — just like brothers. My brother Tubby, who is two years older than I, didn't show me.how to play at all. The well known,vdrummefS in New Orleans were Henry Martin, Henry Zeni, and Cantrell. Cantrell was good, but he wasn't exactly a jazz drummer.'*' To my way of thinking, those fellows were the best. I learned a lot about reading through Jimmy Bertrand. We made a proposition — I taught him my style of rhythm, and he showed me how to read — I couldn't read a (Continued on Page 13) 1 i AUGUST, 1947 5