Johnny Dodds..When Erastus Plays his old Kazoo...1927

One of the giants of 1920s American jazz.Johnny Dodds came from a large family whose parents were deeply religious.Johnny,himself was a pious,serious individual,who was teetotal and dependable.His brother, Baby Dodds, however, was a hard drinking,hard womanising guy,who blew his money and was generally irresponsible.This led to much arguing among the brothers.It seems incredible therefore that they recorded so often together.Baby was called baby,not because he was young looking,but because he shared the same names as his father.So instead of being junior,he was the baby version of his dad.J.Dodds made approx 100 records up to 1930.The depression made work very scarce,even for a prominent musician such as himself.He did not have it as tough as others,as his sensible nature meant he invested in an apartment block in NYC,and also in another brother's taxi business.he even drove one of the cabs.The 1930s saw him struggling with his health.He recorded just once in 1938,before the end came in 1940.Not a master technician, he made up for this with that incredible bluesy soaring tone.He was a heavy influence on a number of white players,particulary Pee Wee Russel and Frank Teschmacher. There was a great sad,emotional quality to his playing.On this commerial record,he is not the main feature,Instead the two,star,trumpet players are at the forefront.(George Mitchell and Natty Diminique) John Thomas on trombone is a much under rated player.The record really gets going after the first 40 secs with a terrific ride out sequence at the end.Johnny Dodds playing was steeped in the 1920s genre.Had he continued playing in the 1930s,he might well have been eclipsed,and fallen into obscurity,due to the tight swinging style of playing that was now popular.It is unlikely he could have adapted from such a soulful type of playing as was his.In fact many great musicians of the 1920s were first victims of the depression,but could not make it back afterwards as music had changed dramatically and their style of playing suddenly seemed dated (including all the musicians on this record) The mists of time has not diminished his reputationTo this day,he would probably feature in anybody's top 5 list of clarinet players.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Johnny
• Dodds/baby
• dodds/1920s
• music/classic
• jazz/nostalgia/Us
• dance
• band
• music

[davidglow3]

Very pleased you enjoyed this fabulous tune

[JazzmanBerlin]

Johnny Dodds was a class himself.

wonderful upload of a great historic record from 1927.

George Mitchell and Natty Dominique on cornets.

John Thomas (tb), Charlie Alexander (p), Bud Scott (bjo)

and Baby Dodds (dr). a really fine band !

only to enjoy ...

[oldtimejazzfan]

Top three: Bechet, Dodds, Noone (in alphabetical order!)

[Tigerman134]

You state that Dodds would feature in anybody`s top five clarinet players.I think he would be in the top two easily along with perhaps Omer Simeon or Bechet.

[Pipinho27]

VERY VERY GOOD :)