Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hank Duncan was born Henry James Duncan on October 26, 1894 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Little is written about his childhood, however he is better known for his work with Fess Williams, King Oliver, Tommy Ladnier, Sidney Bechet, Charles “Fat Man” Turner, and many others.
He toured extensively with Fats Waller. Duncan was sometimes referred to as The Little Man From Memory Lane.
Pianist Hank Duncan transitioned on June 7,1968 in Long Island, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edmond “Doc” Souchon was born October 25, 1897 in New Orleans, Louisiana and received schooling to become a physician in Chicago, Illinois. During this period he was playing regularly in groups such as the Six and Seven Eighths Band in the 1910s.
Souchon was involved early on in the management of the New Orleans Jazz Club, and served as president of the organization early in its existence. He helped oversee a reconstitution of the Six and Seven Eighths Band in 1945 as a four-piece, and made many recordings of early string band tunes through the early 1960s. Alongside this, Souchon recorded with many noted New Orleans jazz mainstays, such as Johnny Wiggs, Sherwood Mangiapane, Papa Jack Laine, Raymond Burke, and Paul Barbarin.
He had his own radio program on WWL, and edited the journal Second Line from 1951 until his death in 1968. Aside from his contributions to jazz journals such as Jazz and Jazz Report, Souchon compiled a photo book with Al Rose entitled New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album, first published in 1967 and subsequently revised in 1978 and 1984.
He helped establish the National Jazz Foundation in 1942, as well as the New Orleans Jazz Museum about a decade later. His record collection, which included some 2,000 recordings of New Orleans jazz, was bequeathed to the New Orleans Public Library, and many other music-related materials he collected are now in the possession of the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.
Guitarist and writer Doc Souchon, who was a pivotal figure in the historical preservation of New Orleans jazz in the middle of the 20th century, transitioned on August 24, 1968.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lawrence Henry Marrero was born on October 24, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 24, 1900. He grew up in a musical family with three brothers who became musicians, bassist Eddie, banjoist John and Simon who played tuba and bass, and their bassist father Billy. He was taught music by his father, and by 1918 he became a professional player.
In 1919 he got his first regular job on banjo with Wooden Joe Nicholas’s Camelia Brass Band and from 1920 he joined on bass drum the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Marrero was one of the musicians who took part in the first recordings made by Bunk Johnson In 1942, and continued playing and recording in the New Orleans jazz revival. He was featured on many recordings and was a regular member of the George Lewis band from the late 1930s until ill health caused him to quit full-time performance in 1954. He occasionally played with his own band after that.
Marrero was considered to be a steady player with a good tone, however, he never recorded as a leader and rarely did he take solos. Banjoist Lawrence Marrero, who altered the spelling of his name to Laurence, transitioned on June 6, 1959.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peck Kelley was born John Dickson Kelley in Houston, Texas on October 22, 1898. During the 1920s, he was a popular bandleader who led his own band, Peck’s Bad Boys. The group included players such as Jack Teagarden, Louis Prima, Terry Shand, Wingy Manone, Leon Roppolo and Pee Wee Russell, several would go on to have successful recording careers of their own. Despite the apparent success of this group, no recordings survive from this period.
Rarely played anywhere outside of Texas, however, early in his career he did perform in Missouri and Louisiana. Throughout his career Kelley repeatedly turned down offers by other musicians of the day to play outside of Texas like Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey and Paul Whiteman. Joining the Dick Shannon Quartet with Glen Boyd on Bass Fiddle, the only studio recordings from this musician to survive were made in Houston in 1957.
He enjoyed playing at the sessions and subsequently listening to the tapes but he refused to allow them to be released. They were eventually released in 1983 by Commodore Records as the Peck Kelley Jam Sessions, Volumes 1 & 2. Some private recordings of this same period have been released on the Arkadia record label.
Throughout his career he wished to remain anonymous, a private man who did not wish fame for himself. Pianist and bandleader Peck Kelley eventually became blind, developed Parkinson’s disease, and transitioned on December 26, 1980, at 82.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alfred “Tubby” Hall was born October 12, 1895 in Sellers, Louisiana and his family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in his childhood. His younger brother Minor “Ram” Hall also became a professional drummer. He played in many marching bands in New Orleans, including with Buddie Petit. His drumming style was forceful and sober, generally maintaining constant tempo on the snare.
By 1917 Hall had moved to Chicago, Illinois where he played with Sugar Johnny Smith. After two years in the United States Army, he returned to playing in Chicago mostly with New Orleans bands, joining Carroll Dickerson’s Orchestra and recording in 1927. He later played with the groups of King Oliver, Jimmie Noone, Tiny Parham, and Johnny Dodds.
He is seen in Armstrong’s Paramount movies of the early 1930s, including the live action and Betty Boop cartoon I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You and A Rhapsody in Black and Blue in 1932. Only Armstrong and Hall got closeups in the two films, and both get their faces transposed with those of racially stereotyped jungle natives in the cartoon. Hall morphs from a jazz drummer to a cannibal stirring a cooking pot with two wooden sticks.
Drummer Tubby Hall, considered one of the three greatest jazz drummers of his generation by jazz critic Hugues Panassié, along with Zutty Singleton and Baby Dodds, transitioned in Chicago, Illinois on May 13, 1945.
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