Under His Own Name, For the First Time

 With the biographical entries, we've just about reached an important milestone in Willie Humphrey's career, so we'll take a short detour to talk about it. In May, 1974, at the age of 73, Willie finally recorded an album under his own name for the first time. 

The Smoky Mary record label was named after the train that ran from New Orleans to the resort of Milneburg, on the shore of Lake Pontchatrain north of the city. When the talented trombonist and banjoist Frank Demond moved to New Orleans for good in 1973, he used some of the money he had made in the construction business to record the city's veteran jazz musicians and issue the results as LPs on Smoky Mary. Willie Humphrey was one of the first of these veterans he recorded, and the New Orleans Clarinet album was soon issued as Humphrey's debut as leader of a recording session.

It was worth the wait. Humphrey is accompanied by a rhythm section only - Sing Miller on piano, Demond on banjo, and veterans James Prevost on bass and Cie Frazier on drums. The recording captures Willie's unique clarinet sound beautifully, and the absence of any other horns allows the clarinet plenty of room. Most of the tracks have vocals, though, and there is much tasty interaction as the clarinet provides obligatos to the vocals of Joseph "Kid Twat" Butler and Sing Miller. Willie also contributes three vocals himself, all on songs he had become associated with: "Little Liza Jane," "Bourbon Street Parade," and "Bill Bailey." Butler's three vocals deserve special mention; by this date his vocal delivery had evolved to include bizarre, stream-of-consciousness narrations with only questionable relevance to the original lyrics. Butler's "Pennies From Heaven" somehow turns into a dissertation on the agricultural and economic implications of the migration from country to city. (Incidentally, Butler's possibly obscene nickname stems from the appearance of the part in his hair when he was a young man.)

In some ways this is a particularly self-effacing album. Although Willie plays constantly, setting up the melodies and accompanying the vocals, many of the selections don't feature clarinet solos. Humphrey's ensemble playing, though, is excellent throughout; his obligato to Miller's vocal on "Amen" is particularly moving. Of his solos, that on "Bourbon Street Parade" is outstanding in its balance of daring and careful construction. On "Oh, How I Miss You Tonight," Willie's solo is practically a lesson on the creative exposition of a popular melody in jazz. It's almost if he is combining the traditional roles of the clarinet and trumpet in traditional jazz - he plays fairly straight melodic phrases which he answers himself with elegant filigrees. 

The session was later licensed to the Mardi Gras label, which released many of the tracks on CD. You can sample half of the original album below - although I would urge those lucky enough to have a turntable to seek out the original Smoky Mary LP. For one thing, the CD doesn't have the 1973 version of "China Boy." After the tune is finished, Willie is heard to say, "I about did my best on that one." He did, and those words also apply to the entire album.

Little Liza Jane

Bourbon Street Parade

Pennies From Heaven

Oh, How I Miss You Tonight

Amen

Sweet Georgia Brown

Bill Bailey

The 1960s - Preservation Hall and Beyond (Bio part 10: 1960-1969)

As the 1950s turned into the 1960s, Willie Humphrey was playing most frequently with pianist Sweet Emma Barrett's band. The new decade also brought forth a renewed interest in traditional New Orleans jazz. This “Second New Orleans Revival,” as it was sometimes known, manifested itself in numerous ways - recordings, books, magazine articles, tours. In the latter half of the 1950s art dealer Larry Borenstein began holding sessions by New Orleans musicians in his gallery at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter. By 1961, this space had become Preservation Hall, the Mecca of traditional jazz fans throughout the world. The publicity generated by the opening of Preservation Hall had a ripple effect, bringing jazz tourists as well as record companies to the city.

Even before the official opening of the Hall in June, 1961, Riverside Records came to New Orleans to produce a series of recordings under the general heading of New Orleans: The Living Legends. Riverside was a small but highly respected jazz label run by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer in New York. Keepnews, who did most of the producing for the label, was a traditional jazz fan; in fact, many of the label's earliest releases were reissues of classic material from the 1920s. Keepnews later became a convert to the beauties of modern jazz and by the late 1950s was issuing critically acclaimed albums by Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, and other modern masters. He never lost his love of older jazz styles, however, and launched the Living Legends series to document the traditional jazz scene in New Orleans. Working mostly in January, 1961, producers Herb Friedwald and Chris Albertson recorded bands under the leadership of Jim Robinson, Peter Bocage, Kid Thomas Valentine, Jim Robinson, Billie and DeDe Pierce, Louis Cottrell, Percy Humphrey and Sweet Emma Barrett.

The album by Barrett featured an expanded version of the four-piece band she led at the Absinthe House, with Percy and Willie Humphrey and drummer Cie Frazier. For the recording, trombonist Jim Robinson, bassist McNeal Breaux, and Emanuel Sayles on banjo and guitar added. The resulting band is outstanding; these veteran musicians understand each other and the requirements of the music, resulting in such wonderful interplay as the two final choruses of “Just a Little While to Stay Here” and the counterpoint behind the vocal on “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll.” Barrett’s two-fisted piano and engaging singing style are much in evidence, of course. Willie is in excellent form, contributing some fine solos, particularly on “The Bell Gal’s Careless Blues,” in which he is imaginative in his harmonic choices while still maintaining a strong blues feeling. “St. Louis Blues” shows off his technical dexterity in impressive fashion. Another version of “High Society” was recorded at this session. It is a fine reading, featuring Willie’s distinctive articulated approach to the traditional solo, but Richard Allen, who was present at the session, says that a better take was recorded, but not issued. The unissued take was slower and more relaxed, but this didn’t suit producer Chris Albertson, who wanted a performance that was more overtly exciting. Willie’s ensemble playing is, as usual, superb; he drives the band as much as the trumpet or the rhythm section. On many of the pieces from this session he plays almost continually, laying out only for piano, banjo, or bass solos.

Atlantic Records also came to New Orleans to record a series of albums tied in with the opening of Preservation Hall. The overall title of the series of four albums was “Jazz at Preservation Hall.” The sessions were recorded by the legendary Crescent City recording engineer Cosimo Matassa; complete albums were released by George Lewis and the Eureka Brass Band while Jim Robinson, Paul Barbarin, Punch Miller, and the team of Billie and DeDe Pierce had one album side each.

Willie Humphrey appeared on the album by the Eureka Brass Band. After longtime Eureka member Ruben Roddy fell into ill health in 1958, a succession of alto saxophonists took his place until Willie joined as a full-time member of the band. In a film clip from Alphonse Picou’s funeral in 1961, Willie can be heard (and seen, if the viewer is sharp-eyed) playing alto with the Eureka. Although the band had not used a clarinet regularly for many years, Willie managed to switch to clarinet in the Eureka by 1962. He used a standard B flat clarinet, rather than the higher-pitched E flat model often used in brass bands.

The Atlantic Eureka session is one of the finest recordings of a New Orleans street band; it is rivaled only by Atlantic’s 1958 recording of the Young Tuxedo Brass Band and by earlier recordings by the Eureka band. The session is not entirely representative of the magnificent Eureka band; it contains only jazz-style parade numbers and includes none of the dirges and written marches for which the Eureka was famous. However, within that limitation, the resulting album is stunning. The ten musicians of the Eureka improvise a web of music which becomes quite complex at times but which never becomes muddled. Matassa’s keen ears and technical knowledge provide the best recorded sound the band ever enjoyed.

Among its many virtues, this album is one of Willie Humphrey’s finest recorded recitals. Willie keeps an almost continuous upper-register thread running through the musical fabric. His clarinet lead passages (not really solos because all instruments except the trumpets continue to play behind him) are consistently fiery and musically interesting. The first number recorded, “Just a Little While to Stay Here,” has the wonderfully asymmetrical phrasing his best work usually displays. Willie’s lead on “Panama” features some achingly bent blue notes near the end. “Bye and Bye” contains what are probably the most challenging passages (in terms of finger technique) ever recorded by a brass band clarinetist, but the phrases in question still swing. His contributions to the other selections are nearly as good. It is regrettable that an unissued tune from the session, “Lord, Lord, Lord,” was lost in a fire at Atlantic’s warehouse.

The only selection from this session that seems to be legitimately available on the web is the well-known "Joe Avery's Blues," which was issued on a CD anthology 1990. It may not be Willie's best tune from the session, but it's an exciting six minutes of New Orleans brass band music, and Humphrey plays just fine, so here it is.

The Eureka band was invited to perform at the International Jazz Festival in Washington, D. C. in 1963. Prior to their departure, they performed three selections in a New Orleans television studio for a local station. Willie’s contributions, although of high quality, don’t quite match the consistently outstanding level of his work on the Atlantic session. The performance of the band in general at least matches, if not surpasses, that of the album. Two of the delights of this session are the tightly knit work of the trumpet trio (Percy Humphrey, Kid Sheik Colar, and Peter Bocage) and the lively dancing of grand marshal Fats Houston. Here's a clip. The entire New Orleans TV performance was later issued on the American Music video Sing On: A Film of New Orleans Brass Bands.

Meanwhile, back at Preservation Hall, the nightly presentations of New Orleans jazz were successful from the beginning, at least on some levels. Audiences and critics were enthusiastic, and some of the musicians who had not been playing much felt rejuvenated. However, there was infighting and discord behind the scenes. The non-profit group founded to run the hall dissolved and Allan and Sandra Jaffe emerged as the proprietors of the Hall, which was to be run as a commercial enterprise. To make ends meet during the lean early years of Preservation Hall’s operation, Allen Jaffe put “short” bands (a band of less than the standard seven or eight musicians) in the Hall three nights a week. Willie’s experience and versatility made him a natural as the leader of such a band, and by the end of 1962 Willie Humphrey’s Hot Four was appearing regularly at the Hall.

Willie’s association with Preservation Hall would last for the rest of his life and would bring him his greatest fame. In a 1979 interview, he said that through Preservation Hall he “made a nice living.” In the beginning, however, Willie didn’t expect the Hall to last more than ten years. He credited Preservation Hall’s longevity to Jaffe: “Jaffe’s management has been perfect.” Willie also said of Jaffe, “He knows how to make friends and I think he keeps his friends.”

Sweet Emma Barrett's band outside
Preservation Hall, 1964

At the beginning of Preservation Hall’s life, Willie was just one of many clarinet players in the rotation for performances. The best-known clarinetist in New Orleans at the time was George Lewis, who played at the Hall several nights a week and had an international reputation. While Lewis was on tour in Europe, Jaffe hired Humphrey to play with Billie and DeDe Pierce. This husband and wife team cut their teeth in the rough dives of Decatur Street, and they sounded like it. Joesph Delacroix “DeDe” played trumpet and sang, specializing in Creole songs; Billie played piano and sang, specializing in blues. They were good, but rough-hewn musicians. Willie Humphrey was more versatile; he could read well, play several instruments, and perform well in several styles. He later said of the Pierces, “ Their playing was just a little bit different from what I had been used to.”

Willie may have had more musical training than Billie and DeDe, but he could play with as much drive and passion as they could, as can be heard in recordings made at an October, 1962 concert at Harpur College in Binghamton, New York. The concert was produced by Walter Eysselinck, who wanted George Lewis for the clarinet chair. Lewis, however, fell ill and was not able to make the trip. Eysselinck was not comfortable with the selection of Willie as Lewis’ replacement, feeling that he was too slick to fit in with the rugged style of Billie and DeDe. The Pierces assured Eysselinck that Willie would be fine, and Humphrey made the trip.

Recordings of the concert were issued on CD in 1994. The Pierces, along with Willie, Albert Warner on trombone, and Cie Frazier on drums, produce some driving, exciting New Orleans music. Humphrey once described his improvising method to clarinetist Brian O’Connell: “I play the melody, then I embellish the melody.” This is a perfect description of many of Willie’s solos on the Binghamton recordings. Time after time he begins a solo with a restatement of the melody. As he proceeds through the first chorus, he inserts phrases of his own invention between those of the written melody and deviates more and more from the tune. The second chorus is more purely improvisational, but the melody usually stays in sight. His superb solo on “Hindustan” follows this pattern; the second chorus begins with a devastating bent blue note. Among the other positive attributes Willie brings to this concert are the countermelodies he improvises to Albert Warner’s trombone solos. Warner’s style is that of a brass band trombonist; during his solos he simply continues playing simple bass parts as if the ensemble was still playing. Humphrey’s improvising enlivens the trombone solos considerably.

Bands from Preservation Hall began touring early in the Hall’s history. The first tour by a Preservation Hall band in 1963 featured a concert at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. The performance was such a musical and commercial success that Allan Jaffe regretted that he had not recorded the concert. A little over a year later, in October, 1964, Sweet Emma Barrett and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band were booked into the Guthrie Theater as part of their Midwestern tour. As William Carter wrote,

"This time, Jaffe made sure the Guthrie concert was recorded; and a day or two later, he and Bill Russell stayed up all night editing the tape (the musicians’ union having insisted this be done before they left town). Over the next quarter century the resulting LP would far outsell all other Preservation Hall recordings."

The band was the same group that recorded for Riverside, with the substitution of Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau on bass for McNeal Breaux.

The original LP, with its famous red cover, contained eight selections. In 1995, the entire two and one half hour concert was issued on a two-CD set. The first set was solid and consistent, but not outstanding; perhaps the concert setting had a slightly inhibiting effect on the band. After the intermission, however, the band was warmed up and relaxed. The second set started with a bang; both Humphreys are in excellent form on “Milneberg Joys,” with Willie’s solo showing off his fine articuation. His solo on “St. James Infirmary” is unusual; it is more linear and less chord-oriented than his usual playing. Other highlights include Willie’s genial vocal on “Little Liza Jane” and his lovely obligato to Sweet Emma’s vocal on “Whenever You’re Lonesome.” His solo in “Yellow Dog Blues” is unique in his discography; the second chorus is played in an archaic slap-tongue style.

Many recordings followed in the 1960s, mostly with Sweet Emma and Billie and DeDe.These recordings show that Willie’s tone on the clarinet was at its finest during this period. His low register was warm and full. In the upper register, his sound is bright and clear without being piercing or harsh. In general, Willie used a wider range than most New Orleans clarinetists, playing from the bottom notes of the instrument to its extreme upper range.

Humphrey continued to play with the Eureka Brass Band throughout the decade. One of their most prominent appearances was in the Steve McQueen movie The Cincinnati Kid." Here's a clip with the "jazz funeral" scene. Percy Humphrey can be seen a couple of times, and Willie's most prominent appearance is for about a second or two at the one minute, forty-nine second mark.

At the beginning of 1967, Willie traveled to Europe for the first time on a concert tour with Billie and DeDe Pierce. Trombonist Louis Nelson, bassist Chester Zardis, and drummer Cie Frazier completed the band. Several concerts were recorded, and a February 4 concert in Copenhagen was issued on the Rarites label. Through the low fidelity, it is apparent that the band was in good form; the concert was an exciting one. Among the pleasures of this session is the presence of Louis Nelson on trombone. Many of Willie’s recordings during the 1960s had been made in the company of Jim Robinson on trombone. Robinson had a simple, effective tailgate style, but Nelson’s more complex style and inventive imagination made a nice change. Humphrey himself played well throughout the concert, offering a particularly fine solo on “Down in Honky Tonk Town.” Opening with a couple of colorfully inventive phrases, he settles into embellishing the melody, at one point alternating melody phrases with his own “ensemble” answers, effectively playing a duet with himself. Willie’s second chorus is full of daring phrases; close to the end of the solo there is an unexpected but apt clash between Humphrey’s note choices and the underlying secondary dominant chord that turns out, a few beats later, to have been an anticipation of the following dominant chord.

Willie made a TV appearance in 1968 on “The Best of the Brass,” a program featuring the then-popular Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. In a segment filmed at Preservation Hall, a band led by Cie Frazier was featured in two numbers. Alpert then joined the group for a version of “Bill Bailey.”

On January 3, 1969 Humphrey played a job with the Eureka Brass Band which could be invested with a certain symbolic significance. The Eureka band, along with the Olympia Brass Band, played for the funeral of George Lewis. Lewis was a much-beloved figure and had been, in the eyes of most fans, the premiere clarinetist in New Orleans jazz for a quarter of a century. The mostly self-taught Lewis was a somewhat different type of musician than Willie Humphrey; he would not have had the versatility to play in a reading band such as Dewey Jackson’s or the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. But to many of Lewis’ fans, his limitations were virtues; the simplicity of his style bespoke a directness and honesty of expression that touched the listeners’ hearts.

After Lewis’ death, Albert Burbank was Willie’s only rival as the finest of the New Orleans clarinetists. Burbank was a fine Creole musician who often played with Willie’s brother Percy. Albert Burbank died in 1976 and was in ill health for several years before that, so as the 1960s turned into the 1970s, Willie secured more and more of the high-profile jobs at Preservation Hall and elsewhere. When Burbank died, Willie was without a doubt the king of the New Orleans clarinet.

Sources:

Interview with Richard Allen, New Orleans, May 28, 2001

Carter, William, Preservation Hall, W. W. Norton, 1991

Knowles, Richard, Fallen Heroes, Jazzology Press, 1996

Cahn, James, Interview with Willie Humphrey, November 29, 1979; Hogan Jazz Archive

Eysselinck, Walter, liner notes to DeDe Pierce and His New Orleans Stompers In Binghamton, N.Y. Vol. Four, 1994; American Music Records

Interview with Brian O’Connell, New Orleans, April 4, 2001

The 1950s - Kohlman and Barbarin (Bio part 9: 1950-1959)

Drummer Freddie Kohlman was one of the more popular bandleaders in New Orleans in the 1950s. Born in the Crescent City in 1918, Kohlman had played with A. J. Piron, Joe Robichaux, Papa Celestin, and Sam Morgan before moving north in the 1930s. After working in Chicago and Detroit, he returned to New Orleans in 1941. In the early 1950s he began a long residency at Sid Davilla's Mardi Gras Lounge on Bourbon Street. Willie Humphrey joined the Kohlman band while it was based at Davilla's bar. The other members of the band at the time were Thomas Jefferson on trumpet, Wendell Eugene on trombone, Dave "Fat Man" Williams on piano, and Clement Tervalon, better known as a trombonist, on bass.

Kohlman's band played in an eclectic style, mixing elements of traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, modern jazz, and rhythm-and-blues. The band was popular with tourists, but not with purists. In his 1958 book The Collector's Jazz: Traditional and Swing, New York Times critic John Wilson said of the band:

Kohlman's band plays a strained extension of New Orleans music, strengthened on one had by such a valid veteran as clarinetist Willie Humphrey and as striking a newcomer as Thomas Jefferson, trumpet and vocalist, but diluted and cheapened by some of the more reprehensible hangovers from the swing period - the screaming trumpet, the tedious riff - plus the saloonkeeper who wants to play with the band. Quentin Batiste has some good piano interludes on Jazz in New Orleans, MGM 3493, but although the band frequently hits a swinging groove, it works in an aura of tastelessness.

Despite the critical misgivings, the Kohlman band proved to be quite successful at entertaining the tourists at the Mardi Gras Lounge. As Wilson indicated, clubowner Sid Davilla would sometimes sit in with the band on clarinet. Richard Allen, who met Willie during this period, says that Humphrey could be something of a clown on the bandstand, and at times would "maybe get a little drunk."

Freddie Kohlman band at the Mardi Gras Lounge 

The Jazz in New Orleans album Wilson refers to was one of the two live recordings of the Kohlman band to be made during Humphrey's tenure. After recording only once during the 1920s, a handful of times in the 1930s, and not at all during the 1940s, Willie's recording career exploded during the 1950s. He participated in at least ten recording sessions during this decade, and his recording schedule continued to expand exponentially over the next three decades.

Willie's first recording of the LP era came from a concert at Artisan Hall on December 14, 1952. Artisan Hal (commonly referred to locally as "Artesian Hall") was the site of an important 1945 recording session by trumpeter Wooden Joe Nicholas. The Kohlman group shared the bill with George Lewis and his Ragtime Band. The Decca record label subsequently issued a 10" LP featuring each band on one side. 

The George Lewis side spotlights one of the strongest lineups of the Ragtime Band, with Willie's brother Percy on trumpet. Lewis and his musicians deliver strong, moving performances of traditional New Orleans material. The first of the Kohlman selections on side two comes as something of a shock after the sincere and affecting music of Lewis's band. "Salty Serenade" is a fast, frantic hurtle through "I Got Rhythm" changes. Trumpet Thomas Jefferson plays a brash solo and the leader helps himself to tow loud and frenzied drum solos. Perhaps we should be grateful that Willie is barely audible on this track. 

Willie Humphrey at the Mardi Gras

The rest of the side is somewhat better, although still disappointing in light of what Humphrey was to
later accomplish on records. Willie has a couple of solos, and plays well, for the most part. But he is sometimes repetitive, leaves other ideas unfinished, and at times doesn't swing well. However, his clarinet tone is well recorded for the first time, giving listeners a taste of a clarinet timbre that is somehow piercing and warm at the same time - a tone that would become more individual and distinctive as the years passed. 

Several weeks after the Artisan Hall concert, Willie and the rest of the Kohlman band were featured on national television. On Mardi Gras day, 1953, Kohlman's group played an hour of jazz during the CBS broadcast of the Comus parade. There is a somewhat mysterious, partial video (consisting of two takes of "When the Saints Go Marching In" with lots of cuts, plus a couple of other fragments) which may be derived from the raw tape of session - you can watch it here. In any case, this is probably the earliest video documentation of Willie Humphrey on the bandstand.

In May of the same year the band, now billed as Freddie Kohlman and His Mardi Gras Loungers, played a benefit concert for the Magnolia School for Handicapped Children. The performance took place in the Municipal Auditorium at the site of Congo Square, famous for the African drumming and dancing kept alive by enslaved New Orleanians before the Civil War. The concert was recorded by MGM and issued on 10" and 12" LPs. The 12-incher is the record described by John Wilson in the quote above.

By this time, trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph and pianist Quentin Batiste had replaced Wendell Eugene and Dave Williams. Although the band's eclectic approach is still likely to displease purists, Kohlman's band makes a better impression here. Humphrey, while still sounding uncomfortable at times, plays some very nice solos, particularly on "Milenberg Joys" and on his first recorded crack at "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," which inspires a magnificent solo from the clarinetist. We also get Willie's first recording of the clarinet showpiece "High Society." Humphrey plays the traditional solo well - his articulation is a tribute to his grandfather's training. But he does sound a little breathless in spots, and it's interesting that Willie told Richard Allen that he didn't like to play the "High Society" solo.

There is another recording session (not listed in most discographies) by the Kohlman band that I believe Willie played on. The band, augmented by Sam Butera's tenor sax and vocals by Cousin Joe, made a rhythm-and-blues session for the Jubilee label in late 1953. The session produced a single, "Hole in the Ground" backed with "Easy Rockin'." Two more tunes were not issued until 1995. A clarinet is audible in the ensembles, and it sounds like Willie's distinctive tone, particularly on "Ramblin' Woman," where the clarinet is well-recorded. Unfortunately, there are no clarinet solos. But it is interesting to hear Humphrey contributing to an R & B session, as so many New Orleans jazz musicians have done.

Around that same time Humphrey began his next major musical association as part of Paul Barbarin's band. Barbarin was born in 1901 into a music New Orleans family as distinguished as Willie's own family. Paul's father, Isidore Barbarin, was a highly respected brass player; he played alto horn with the Onward Brass Band for many years, beginning in the late 19th century. All of Isidore's four sons became musicians; Paul and Louis, both drummers, are the most well-known. Guitarist/banjoist Danny Barker was Isidore's grandson, and Isidore's great-grandson Lucien was one of the busiest trombone players in New Orleans until his death in 2020.

Paul Barbarin had a long and fruitful career in music. After leaving New Orleans in 1917 he played with numerous bands, but his most well-known alliances were with King Oliver, Luis Russell, and Louis Armstrong. Barbarin occasionally returned to New Orleans for brief periods, but he came band to stay in August, 1953, and quickly set about forming his own band.

The most well-known version of the Barbarin band included Willie's former student John Brunious on trumpet, Bob Thomas on trombone, Willie on clarinet, pianist Lester Santiago, and Paul's nephew Danny Barker on banjo. This group toured and recorded frequently, giving Willie's reputation a boost. Humphrey participated in five studio recording sessions with Barbarin's band as well as recording live with the group, so record buyers had more chances that ever to take notice of his talents.

In 1954 this lineup of the band traveled to New York for a residency at Child's Restaurant. While in the city the group recorded two LPs, one for the Jazztone label and one for Atlantic. The Jazztone session has a few elements of crowd-pleasing Dixieland, but Humphrey plays very well, offering one well-shaped, exciting solo after another as well as maintaining a high standard in the ensemble passages. His solo on "Careless Love" shows off his lovely and unique low-register sound (although Willie and Danny Barker disagree on the harmony here and there), while his other solos use the full range of the clarinet quite strikingly. To select one of Willie's performances from the album as outstanding would be almost arbitrary, but his solo on "First Choice" is noteworthy. Humphrey never strays too far from the melody, but the solo is interspersed with attractive embellishments, including one particularly felicitous leap from the lower register into the upper.

The Jazztone album also marks Willie's recorded singing debut: his pleasant tenor voice is featuring on "Little Liza Jane." This song would become a regular feature of his performances, and he would record it several more times during his career.

Barbarin's Atlantic album is discussed here in a previous post. That post also has links to all the tracks on that album.

In March, 1956, the Barbarin band also traveled to Oxford, Ohio at the behest of the Miami Folklore Group of the Miami University English Department. Since 1952 this organization had been bringing the George Lewis band up from New Orlens for periodic concerts, which were recorded for documentary purposes. Barbarin's group, now with Ricard Alexis on bass, played two concerts at Wilminton College, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Like the George Lewis appearances, these concerts were recorded and can now be heard on the American Music label.

Back in New Orleans, there were more gigs and recording sessions, often for the Southland label. Willie recorded often with Paul Barbarin, but also with veteran jazz guitarist/banjoist Johnny St. Cyr.

At some point during the 1950s, Humphrey began gigging with the mighty Eureka Brass Band, which was led by his brother Percy. According to Richard Allen, Willie first played alto saxophone with that great street band before switching to clarinet. In the 1960s he would record with the Eureka; more on that later and in this previous post.

I'll end this post with Humphrey's words about Paul Barbarin. He told Charlie DeVore in 1982:

He tried to back me up .He was one of the few drummers I know - not that the others couldn't do it - but he would try to back you up and he'd give me what I wanted. He did the same for Louis (Armstrong). His style coincided with what Louis liked. He had a very simple New Orleans beat that musicians always had down there and that's what I liked.

Willie told William Carter that Barbarin's showmanship contributed to the success of the band:

Paul would sell. I been knowin' him since way back in 1918. And after he was doin' his solos - that's what Louis Armstrong used to like about him - Louis would get up there, singin' "Dat, dat, dee-dee, dah," and Paul be right there with him. He's try to push him with them drums. And he'd be smilin' and the people out there be eatin' it up.

Sources:

Kernfield, Berry (ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz; St. Martins Press, 1988

Wilson, John S.: The Collector's Jazz: Traditional and Swing; J. B. Lippincott Co., 1958

Interviews with Richard Allen, New Orleans, April 3 & May 28, 2001

Delaney, Joe: liner notes to New Orleans Jazz Concert, Decca DL 5483, 1953

Chilton, John: Who's Who of Jazz, Time-Life, 1978

DeVore, Charlie: "Talking with Willie," Mississippi Rag, June, 1982

Carter, William, Preservation Hall, W. W. Norton, 1991

Hoefer, George: liner notes to Paul Barbarin and His New Orleans Jazz, Atlantic 1215, 1955

Lee, Raymond: New Orleans Clarinet: A Discography of Willie Humphrey, Gerard Bielderman, 1996

The Depression and the 1940s (Bio part 8: 1936-1950)

 Upon leaving the Blue Rhythm Band, Willie Humphrey returned to New Orleans. Back in his home town, Willie gigged with "short" bands (small bands with less than the standard number of instruments) and filled in with some well-known bands, such as A. J. Piron's dance band, Louis Dumaine's band and Oscar Celestin's Original Tuxedo Orchestra.

Depression life continued to be tough for the Humphreys, as well as for most black New Orleanians. Willie took a number of extra-musical jobs in order to make ends meet. His wife Ora remembered:

He had a truck. He'd put on his clothes to sell wood and coal. He'd say, "Well, I'm goin' out now. I'm the coal man." Come back around one o'clock and put his other clothes on: now he was a teacher, a musician. He'd put a dollar on the mantel at night; that was his food for the next day. We used to call it "My Blue Heaven," a very small house. We stayed there until we had three children. I never complained about it. I had one dress I could put on when I'd go out. We weren't hungry, that's one thing."

Willie elaborated on the struggle to make a living during that period: 

You had to be a hustler. I used to sell wood and coal and everything. I was a grocer and a butcher. I wasn't much of a butcher but I learned.

We all had money in a store... my sisters' husbands and all, we set it up. When I got out of the service, they saved the butcher part for me. So I was the butcher and I sold vegetables, shrimp and crabs and all that stuff. I never made no money. I ate out of the store, and that was about all. And you see, I had my wife working for me, and I'm the boss on my side. Course, I'd help on the grocery side, too, and my sister was in there. She would help me, too.

Then I worked in a barroom. My brother-in-law had one - they wanted to give me the barroom, but I didn't want it. I didn't like the set-up. This Italian owned it, you know, and he was in, what you call it, wholesale wine - the had wine all lined up in there. And see, I don't like that kind of business. my brother-in-law, he accepted it. He took the place, building and all and I was working there for him. So my children used to bring me my lunch and ride a bicycle. We was about 12-15 blocks and they'd bring my food there in the barroom. And finally, my brother-in-law, he fired me because I like to go play music and I wouldn't be there and he had to get somebody else in there. I got fired in a funny way. I was getting a little salary now and then. It wasn't much, I think $10 or $15. At any rate, I've done a little of everything to make ends meet and I've done a little wrong, too. But not too much.

Willie's granddaughter, Renee Lapeyrolerie, says that the family-owned store was on Louisiana Avenue.

The "service" Humphrey referred to was service in the United States Navy. When World War II broke out, Willie joined the Navy and played in the Lakefront Naval Air Station band. Alex Albright has a very interesting account of the band here. As he describes it: "Formed with 23 New Orleans musicians who enlisted at the Custom House, it was also one of the first African-American bands recruited en masse and with a promise of service in their home territory for the war’s duration."

Lakefront Naval Air Station Band
Willie Humphrey is at the back right corner.

At some point during the 1940s, Willie spent some time in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. (This has been the most difficult episode of Humphrey's life to find information on, so this account is sketchy.) His granddaughter Renee thought his Watts residency was during his Navy days. There is a story I read (or was told) that Kid Ory wanted Willie to join his band after Jimmie Noone died. I can no longer remember the source of that, but if it's true, then Willie's California stay probably included the spring of 1944, since Noone died in April of that year.

In any case, prospects in Los Angeles were not encouraging enough to keep Humphrey there, and he was soon back in New Orleans. Out of the navy, he began teaching at Grunewald's School of Music. Grunewald's was the biggest music store in New Orleans, and their music school was located on Camp Street. Many famous names in New Orleans jazz taught there. One of Willie's more famous pupils at Grunewald's was drummer Earl Palmer, who played on many hit recordings by Fats Domino and Little Richard. Palmer, considered one of the fathers of rock and roll drumming, tells of his time at Grunewald's:

It was two schools actually - white downstairs, black upstairs - in an old warehouse building on Camp Street. Around the corner was a little grocery where you could get po'boy sandwiches, drink a beer.

Willie Humphrey was my best teacher. He took special pains with me and taught me all about my favorite subject, harmony. Willie always said that he was surprised that I'd come to Grunewald when I already played so good and knew all the New Orleans styles. He had known me as a kid, and I think he was proud that here I was, a dancer and a musician that wanted to formally learn what I had been doing. Willie was a nice man.

Willie Humphrey continued teaching, gigging, and scuffling into the 1950s. In that decade he then began a series of musical associations that would bring him more recognition and financial security.

Sources:

William Russell and Ralph Collins: interview with Willie Eli Humphrey and Willie James Humphrey, New Orleans, March 15, 1959; Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University.

William Carter: Preservation Hall; Norton, 1991

Conversation with Renee Lapeyrolerie, New Orleans, April 9, 2003.

Charlie DeVore: "Talking With Willie," Mississippi Rag, June 1982

Tony Scherman: Backbeat: The Earl Palmer Story; Da Capo, 2003

Recordings with Mills Blue Rhythm Band and Red Allen

The question of whether Willie Humphrey recorded with Mills Blue Rhythm Band is still unsettled, but common sense suggests that he did. While we don't know the exact dates of his tenure with the band, he has said that he was with the band for about six months, beginning in December, 1935. As I said in my last post, the band recorded three times during that period, on December 20, 1935, January 21, 1936, and May 20, 1936. 

The standard discography of early jazz, Brian Rust's Jazz Records 1897 - 1942, does not list Humphrey in the band at all. Tom Lord's discography has Humphrey joining for the December 20, 1935 session, but at least in my edition (Version 17) it's unclear if Lord meant to list Humphrey for the next two sessions. In any case, I've listened to all the relevant recordings, and here are the Mills Blue Rhythm Band recordings on which I think the clarinet work is likely by Willie.

From December 20, 1935:

Blue Mood  - This tune features a long low-register melody statement by the clarinet after the introduction. The clarinetist has a liquid, but slightly reedy tone. It sounds like Willie to me.

Yes! Yes! - There is an eight-bar clarinet solo at 2:23. The final cascading final phase in particular makes me think that it's Humphrey.

From May 20, 1936:

St. Louis Wiggle Rhythm - Another eight-bar clarinet solo, at 2:01. The articulation, especially in the last two measures, sounds very "Humphrey-esque."

There is also a short, four-bar alto sax solo on "Midnight Ramble" (from January 21, 1936) that could possibly be played by Willie, who of course doubled on alto with the Mills band. There really isn't enough recorded evidence in terms of Humphrey's saxophone playing to make a determination. The alto solos from May 20 are surely by Tab Smith. 

There is one confirmed recorded glimpse of Humphrey's clarinet from the Mills days. In 1935, Red Allen began a series of small-band recordings for the Vocalion label, and on April 1, 1936, he included his Mills bandmate Willie Humphrey in the personnel. Willie mostly plays background notes on alto saxophone, but he gets one two-bar break in "Every Minute of the Hour," presumably to give Allen time to take down his trumpet and prepare for his vocal chorus. But wow - what a break! Willie soars from the top to the bottom of the clarinet's range, using extremely fast note values. The break comes at the 34-second mark.

The Depression and Mills Blue Rhythm Band (Bio part 7: 1932-1936)

 Willie Humphrey returned to New Orleans at the height of the Great Depression. He later said of the Depression, "I didn't feel it right away." After all, he had a secure job playing on the riverboats. Upon returning to New Orleans, the picture was very different: "When I came home from St. Louis, there was no work." Musical jobs were few and far between, since what money people had went toward the basics of life, not frills like entertainment. "Fortunately, I had a few dollars," Humphrey said; he had managed to save some money from his salary while working on the river.

Willie did manage to find a little musical work - gigs with Herbert Leary's band - but his main musical employment during the Depression was as a teacher. Beginning in 1933, Willie began teaching in the Black schools of New Orleans. On various occasions, he credited his father, well-known bandleader and music "professor" Pinchback Touro, and music store owner Morris Karnofsky with facilitating his teaching career. In any case, Willie and his father traveled to several different schools, teaching instrumental music from three until five o'clock in the afternoon. For each lesson they were paid 25 or 35 cents, part of which went to the school to establish a fund to buy instruments. Among Willie's students was trumpeter John Brunious, who would later be Humphrey's bandmate in the Paul Barbarin band. The Barbarin band was interviewed collectively in the spring of 1956 for the Miami University Archive of Folklore in Oxford, Ohio. On that occasion Brunious said, "Well, I learnt music when I  was goin' to grammar school. And Willie Humphrey, our clarinet player, was my first teacher. He start me off when I was 'bout, oh, in the third, fourth grade."

WPA Band, New Orleans, 1936

Willie also taught lessons in students' homes; for these, he was paid 50 cents per lesson. He said of these small payments, "It didn't look like much, but do you know you pile those nickels and dimes up they sort of amount to something."

Humphrey also found some work with the WPA band. The Works Projects Administration was one of the the New Deal agencies initiated by the federal government to help alleviate the effects of the Depression. The WPA tried to provide employment for the out-of-work musicians of New Orleans by forming a large concert band under the direction of Pinchback Touro. Many well-known New Orleans musicians turned to the WPA band to provide themselves with a small income. Humphrey was not able to get into the band at first; he said, "Looked like they tried to keep me out." In any case, the WPA did not pay much, and when a better opportunity presented itself, Willie quickly took it.

That opportunity was a spot in Mills Blue Rhythm Band, a New York-based big band. The Blue Rhythm band was formed in 1930 by drummer Willie Lynch. Music publisher and promoter Irving Mills took over management of the band in 1931 - hence the addition to the band's name. In 1934 singer Lucky Millinder took over as front man of the band, and the great New Orleans trumpeter Henry "Red" Allen joined the group that year, quickly becoming the band's major soloist.

Mills Blue Rhythm Band was a second-tier band during those days - the heyday of the big band - not on the musical or commercial level of the Ellington or Henderson bands. As Albert McCarthy has said, "Musically, Mills Blue Rhythm Band was a highly efficient unit with a number of good soloists. It failed to rise from the ranks of the secondary units of its day mainly because it never really established an identity."

I had long suspected that Willie owed the Rhythm Band job offer to fellow New Orleanian Red Allen. This was confirmed by a telegram now owned by Renee Lapeyrolerie, Humphrey's granddaughter:

1935 Dec. 8

Washington, DC

Willie J. Humphrey - 1004 Valett St. Care Pete Bocage NRLNS

RECEIVED YOUR WIRE JOB HERE IS OKAY LUCKY WILL SEE YOU THRU AFTER YOU ARRIVE AS FOR ADVANCEMENTS I DON'T KNOW BUT SO FAR AS A GOOD JOB IS CONCERNED ITS HERE FOR YOU IF YOU DONT WAIT TOO LONG BORROW MONEY FROM SOMEONE AND PAY BACK LATER WIRE LUCKY

HENRY ALLEN JR.

Humphrey joined the band in December, 1935, shortly after receiving the telegram, and stayed for about six months, playing mostly alto saxophone. As was usual for a big band at the time, The Blue Rhythm Band toured extensively. Willie recalled playing in Washington, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Antonio, among other places. Although he enjoyed the steady income a touring band provided, Willie found that playing with Millinder's orchestra was not as lucrative as he expected. Touring created expenses, such as lodging, that didn't exist for a band playing in its hometown. Some expenses were unexpected - for example, the valet's tips. The band traveled with a valet who took care of having the musicians' suits and uniforms cleaned and their shoes shined. Although the valet was a salaried employee of the band, he still expected to be tipped for his services.

Touring on the big band circuit provided Humphrey with the opportunity to hear and appreciate other bands. During this period he heard and admired the orchestras of Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington. Like many other musicians, he greatly admired a band that never made it big: that of Alphonso Trent. Willie described Trent's group as "a hell of a band."

The question of whether or not Humphrey recorded with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band is surprisingly unsettled. Although for many years the standard jazz discographies didn't list Willie among the personnel, the band recorded on December 20, 1935 and both January 21 and May 20, 1936. It seems logical that he must have participated in at least a couple of these recording sessions. And he is confirmed on a Red Allen session from the period. I'll discuss these sessions and weigh the evidence in a future post.

Sources:

James Cahn: interview with Willie Humphrey, New Orleans, November 29, 1979; Hogan Jazz Archive.

William Russell and Ralph Collins: interview with Willie Eli Humphrey and Willie James Humphrey, New Orleans, March 15, 1959; Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University.

Al Kershaw and John Ball: interview with Paul Barbarin band, Oxford, Ohio, March 3, 1956. Reprinted in liner notes to Paul Barbarin's Jazz Band of New Orleans - The Oxford Series Vol. 16 (American Music).

Conversation with Renee Lapeyrolerie, New Orleans, April 9, 2003.

Al Rose & Edmond Souchon:  New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album; Louisiana State University Press, 1984.

First Recordings with Dewey Jackson

 At age 25, Willie Humphrey made his first verified visit to a recording studio - the first of dozens of such visits he would make over the next seven decades. Dewey Jackson's Peacock Orchestra made three sides for Vocalion in St. Louis on June 21, 1926. A fourth side featured the band's drummer, Floyd Campbell, as a blues vocalist, accompanied by piano and Jackson's trumpet. Two 78s were issued: Vocalion 1039, which paired "Go 'won to Town" (as the original label reads) and the Campbell vocal, "What do You Want Poor Me to Do." Vocalion 1040 had "She's Crying for Me" and "Capitol Blues."

Dewey Jackson's Peacock Orchestra, c. 1926
Willie Humphrey: kneeling, third from left

Jackson's band followed the usual instrumentation for a large dance orchestra of the time: three brass, three saxophones (doubling clarinet), and a four-piece rhythm section. Willie was the third saxophone, playing tenor sax and clarinet. He was probably overshadowed by William Thornton Blue, a St. Louis clarinetist who was a more famous musician than Humphrey at the time. It's Blue who plays the clarinet solo in "Capitol Blues," which (by the way) features a cut-down version of the band, with only three of the horns playing. Blue is an accomplished, technically adept clarinetist, but his improvising leans toward the "gaspipe," novelty style of clarinet playing that was all too common in the 1920s. 

"She's Cryin' for Me" is the only fully-scored piece recorded at the session; "Capitol Blues" and "Go 'won to Town" sound like head arrangements. "Cryin'" was written by New Orleanian Santo Pecora; it was a popular tune at the time - there are several other recorded versions of the piece from the same period. The Peacock Orchestra's version is well-rehearsed, although the clarinet trio is kind of sloppy, and the tempo drops as the performance progresses. 

Willie makes his real mark on the session with his clarinet solo on "Go 'won to Town." It's a searing statement, displaying the fine technique, rhythmic freedom, and deep blues feeling that would characterize his music in later years. This well-constructed solo shows Humphrey's attitude toward blues improvisation to be totally committed and serious. Unfortunately, it would be ten years before he would have another chance to record. 

Listen to "Go 'won to Town" here.