Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph Robichaux, born March 8, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana and played piano from a young age and went on to study at New Orleans University. After working in the O.J. Beatty Carnival, he played with Tig Chambers briefly in 1918 before returning to New Orleans and played with Oscar Celestin, Earl Humphrey, Lee Collins, and The Black Eagles in 1922 and 1923.
He arranged music for and recorded with the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight in 1929 and accompanied Christina Gray on a recording session that same year. In 1931 he formed his own ensemble, featuring Eugene Ware on trumpet, Alfred Guichard on clarinet and alto saxophone, Gene Porter on tenor sax, and Ward Crosby on drums.
They journeyed to New York City to record for Vocalion in August 1933, laying down 22 mostly stomping, uptempo sides and two alternate takes in a marathon 5-day recording schedule. Vocalion issued 10 records over the next year and 2 tracks with vocalist Chick Bullock were issued under his name on Banner, Domino, Oriole, Perfect, and Romeo record labels.
Unfortunately for the musicians and potential audiences problems with the musicians’ union in New York prevented them from being able to play live there, so they returned to New Orleans not long after recording. Robichaux expanded the size of his ensemble over the course of the 1930s and Earl Bostic was among those who joined its ranks.
The band toured Cuba in the mid-1930s and recorded for Decca Records in 1936, recording 4 sides in New Orleans, however, they were all rejected. By 1939 Robichaux’s ensemble disbanded, and he found work performing solo, mostly in New Orleans. He recorded as an accompanist on R&B recordings in the Fifties and played with Lizzie Miles.
Late in his life, he played with George Lewis from 1957 to 1964, Peter Bocage in 1962, and performed at Preservation Hall. Bandleader and pianist Joe Robichaux passed away from a heart attack at the age of 64 in 1965 in his hometown of New Orleans.
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