Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wrote many tunes still played today, including "Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz". He was the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong. His influence was such that Armstrong claimed, "if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today."
William Manuel "Bill" Johnson, was an American jazz musician who played banjo and double bass; he is considered the father of the "slap" style of double bass playing.
Clarence Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher.
Okeh Records is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Otto K. E. Heinemann but later changed to "OKeh". Since 1926, Okeh has been a subsidiary of Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music. Okeh is a Jazz imprint distributed by Sony Masterworks, a specialty label of Columbia.
"Potato Head Blues" is a Louis Armstrong composition regarded as one of his finest recordings. It was made by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois on May 10, 1927. It was recorded during a remarkably productive week in which Armstrong's usual Hot Five was temporarily expanded to seven players by the addition of tuba and drums. Some scholars have suggested that a key melodic figure in "Potato Head Blues" was picked up by Hoagy Carmichael for "Stardust."
The Hot Five was Louis Armstrong's first jazz recording band led under his own name.
Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven was a jazz studio group organized to make a series of recordings for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, in May 1927. Some of the personnel also recorded with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, including Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Armstrong (piano), and Johnny St. Cyr. These musicians were augmented by Dodds's brother, Baby Dodds (drums), Pete Briggs (tuba), and John Thomas. Briggs and Thomas were at the time working with Armstrong's performing group, the Sunset Stompers.
"West End Blues" is a multi-strain twelve-bar blues composition by Joe "King" Oliver. It is most commonly performed as an instrumental, although it has lyrics added by Clarence Williams.
Milton Mesirow, better known as Mezz Mezzrow, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois. He is remembered for organizing and financing recording sessions with Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet. He recorded with Bechet as well and briefly acted as manager for Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow is equally known as a colorful character, as portrayed in his autobiography, Really the Blues, co-written with Bernard Wolfe and published in 1946.
In tap dancing, jazz, and blues, stop-time is an accompaniment pattern interrupting, or stopping, the normal time and featuring regular accented attacks on the first beat of each or every other measure, alternating with silence or instrumental solos. Stop-time occasionally appears in ragtime music. The characteristics of stop-time are heavy accents, frequent rests, and a stereotyped cadential pattern. Stop-timing may create the impression that the tempo has changed, though it has not, as the soloist continues without accompaniment. Stop-time is common in African-American popular music including R&B, soul music, and led to the development of the break in hip hop.
"Memories of You" is a popular song about nostalgia with lyrics written by Andy Razaf and music composed by Eubie Blake and published in 1930.
The Sunset Cafe, also known as The Grand Terrace Cafe, was a jazz club in Chicago, Illinois operating during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the most important jazz clubs in America, especially during the period between 1917 and 1928 when Chicago became a creative capital of jazz innovation and again during the emergence of bebop in the early 1940s. From its inception, the club was a rarity as a haven from segregation, since the Sunset Cafe was an integrated or "Black and Tan" club where African Americans, along with other ethnicities, could mingle freely with white Americans without much fear of reprisal. Many important musicians developed their careers at the Sunset/Grand Terrace Cafe.
"If I Could Be with You " is a popular song. The music was written by James P. Johnson, the lyrics by Henry Creamer. The song was published in 1926 and first recorded by Clarence Williams' Blue Five with vocalist Eva Taylor in 1927. It was popularized by the 1930 recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, who used it as their theme song and by Louis Armstrong's record for Okeh Records, both of which featured in the charts of 1930. Armstrong's recording of "If I Could Be with You" is defined by his sparse vocal style and ornamental virtuosic trumpet-playing.
Perry Bradford was an American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer. His most notable songs included "Crazy Blues," "That Thing Called Love," and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down." He was nicknamed "Mule" because of his stubbornness, and he is credited with finally persuading Okeh Records to work with Mamie Smith leading to her historic blues recording in 1920.
"Rockin' Chair is a 1929 popular song with lyrics and music composed by Hoagy Carmichael. Musically it is unconventional, as after the B section when most popular songs return to A, this song has an A-B-C-A1 structure. Carmichael recorded the song in 1929, 1930, and 1956. Mildred Bailey made it famous by using it as her theme song. Like other 1920s standards, "Rockin' Chair" relied on the stereotypes of minstrelsy, citing "Aunt Harriet" from the anti-Uncle Tom song "Aunt Harriet Becha Stowe" (1853).
"Dippermouth Blues" is a song first recorded by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band for Gennett Records in April 1923 and for Okeh Records in June of that same year. It is most often attributed to Joe "King" Oliver, though some have argued that Louis Armstrong was in fact the composer. This is partly because "Dippermouth", in the song's title, was a nickname of Armstrong's. Also, the phonograph recordings from 1922 gave credit to Armstrong and Oliver jointly. The song is a strong example of the influence of the blues on early jazz. There is a twelve-bar blues harmonic progression, with frequent bent notes and slides into notes.
Ollie Powers was an American jazz drummer and vocalist.
Hot Chocolates is a musical revue with music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks and book by Andy Razaf. It was originally titled Tan Town Topics in hopes it would be picked up by Broadway. Performed at the Hudson Theater in New York City, it was directed by Leonard Harper and ran for 219 performances from June 20, 1929, to December 14, 1929. It is also referred to as Connie's Hot Chocolates. It was staged, directed and produced by Leonard Harper. While the revue featured music and singing, including the subsequent hit "Aint Misbehavin'," it was praised for the cast's dancing, including its male and female chorus lines.
"Georgia Grind" is a jazz and dirty blues tune, written by Spencer Williams and copyrighted by him in 1926. The lyrics were added by Bud Allen. A recording was released by Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five by Okeh Records on a 78 rpm, mono 10" shellac single record in April 1926. The melody was the same as used in the song, "Shake That Thing", written in 1925 by Papa Charlie Jackson.
"Weather Bird" is a musical composition by Joe Oliver. However Thomas Brothers has suggested that it was composed by Louis Armstrong, because Armstrong sent a lead sheet of "Weather Bird Rag" to Washington, D.C. for copyright in April 1923 and that, despite its 1923 copyright date, it was composed by Armstrong during his time on the Mississippi river boats.
