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."
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| 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 the standard jazz discographies don'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 Laparolerie, New Orleans, April, 2001.
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