Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Leon Joseph Roppolo was born on March 16, 1902 in Lutcher, Louisiana but by age ten was living in New Orleans. Young Leon’s first instrument was the violin, but being a fan of the New Orleans marching bands he wanted to play clarinet. Soon excelling on clarinet, he played youthful jobs for parades, parties and at Milneburg on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. By his teens he left home with Bee Palmer’s group that evolved into the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, that become one of the hot jazz bands in 1920s Chicago along with King Oliver’s band. Leon’s style influenced many younger Chicago musicians, most famously Benny Goodman.
Following the breakup of the Rhythm Kings he went to New York City jazz scene and recorded with the Original Memphis Five and the California Ramblers. Returning to New Orleans he briefly reformed the Rhythm Kings, made a few recordings but primarily worked with other bands like the Halfway House Orchestra, with whom he recorded on saxophone.
Roppolo soon began exhibiting more eccentric behavior and violent temper outbursts. Too much for his family to take, Leon was committed to the state mental hospital. Aging and feeble far beyond his years in his later life, he would come home for periods when a relative or friend could look after him, and he would sit in with local bands on saxophone or clarinet.
Leon Roppolo, nicknamed “Rap” and who played clarinet, saxophone and guitar, passed away in New Orleans at the age of 41 on October 5, 1943. He left for posterity such compositions as Farewell Blues, Gold Leaf Strut and Make Love To Me, the latter recorded by Jo Stafford in 1954 and that hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts and #2 on Cashbox.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wilbur C. Sweatman was born in Brunswick, Missouri on February 7, 1882 and started playing violin but took up clarinet. He toured with circus bands in the late 1890s, briefly played with the bands of W.C. Handy and Mahara’s Minstrels before organizing his own dance band in Minneapolis, Minnesota by late 1902.
It was there that Sweatman made his first recordings on phonograph cylinders in 1903 for a local music store. These included what is reputed to have been the first recorded version of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag”; however, no copies of these are known to exist today. By 1908, Sweatman was in Chicago as bandleader at the Grand Theater where he attracted notice and in a 1910 article was referred to his nickname, “Sensational Swet.”
By 1911, he had moved to the vaudeville circuit full-time, developing a successful act of playing three clarinets at once, went on to write a number of rags including his most famous “Down Home Rag”. He would move back to New York, tour major vaudeville circuits, befriend Scott Joplin and become his executor, record for Emerson Records, and the first Black to make recordings as Jazz or “Jass” as it was known then and one of the first to join ASCAP, and several notable musicians passed through his band, including Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins and Cozy Cole.
Wilbur Sweatman, ragtime and Dixieland jazz composer, bandleader and clarinetist who continue to record for Gennett, Edison, Grey Gull and Victor record labels, passed away in New York City on March 9, 1961.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Easley was born in Orlean, New York on January 13, 1964 and began playing saxophone professionally with his parents at the age of thirteen. He moved to New York City in 1964 and was a part time student at the Julliard School of Music while getting his feet wet in the uptown Jazz Scene. The U.S. Draft Board had other plans and Bill did his military service with the 9th Army Band in Fairbanks Alaska.
He worked with George Benson in the late 60s closing out the decade playing such legendary jazz spots as Minton’s Playhouse, the Plugged Nickel, The jazz Workshop and The Hurricane. He would move to Memphis working and recording with Isaac Hayes in the 70s, and performing other studio work at Stax and Hi Records, big bands, show bands and jazz clubs during which he continued his formal education at Memphis State University.
It was in the mid 1970s that Easley first toured with the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington. By 1980 he was back in New York City with the promise of a job on Broadway. His Broadway credits include; Sophisticated Ladies, The Wiz, Black and Blue, Jelly’s Last Jam, Swingin’ On A Star, Play On, Fosse, and most recently, The Wild Party.
The move to return to New York City provided recording sessions for Sunnyside and Milestone playing with the likes of Sir Roland Hanna, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith, Ruth Brown, James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Grady Tate and Billy Higgins among others. Saxophonist, Flautist and clarinetist Bill Easley continues his legacy of recording and performing.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Haywood Henry was born Frank Haywood Henry on January 10, 1913 in Birmingham, Alabama. He began on clarinet before choosing baritone saxophone as his primary instrument, but continued to play clarinet on occasion throughout his career. In 1930 he was a member of the Bama State Collegians, then returned to play with them again from 1934 under Erskine Hawkins, playing with him with Hawkins into the 1950s.
Following Hawkins, Haywood worked with Tiny Grimes, Julian Dash, the Fletcher Henderson Reunion Band, and occasionally stood in for Harry Carney in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In the 1960s he played with Wilbur DeParis, Max Kaminsky, Snub Mosley, Louis Metcalf, Earl Hines, Sy Oliver and the New York Jazz Repertory Company.
During the 1950s and ‘60s he played, mostly anonymously, on over 1000 rock and roll records. He also worked in the orchestras of Broadway shows in the 1970s. He participated in an Erskine Hawkins reunion ensemble in 1971, and performed well into the 1980s.
Henry recorded three albums as a leader: one for Davis Records in 1957, one for Strand early in the 1960s, and the last for Uptown in 1983. Baritone saxophonist Haywood Henry was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1978 and passed away on September 15, 1994.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Marsala was born on January 4, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois and learned to play the clarinet as a youth. He became professionally active during the big band era but he was far more adventurous than his fellow “dixielanders” owing much of his rich and graceful playing to Jimmy Noone.
Marsala led his groups “His Chosen Seven” and “His Delta Four” and was one of the first leaders to employ drummer Buddy Rich. Over the course of his career he played with a host of musicians such as Joe Buskin, Jack Lemaire, Carmen Mastren and Etta James among others.
Marsala also was at the forefront of helping to break down race segregation in jazz working with Dizzy Gillespie and others in the 1940s. However, as the bebop era came into full swing, Joe experienced difficult times finding work playing or recording, as clarinetists were less in demand.
Adjusting to this phenomenon Marsala began composing and writing songs for what is now referred to as classic pop. We wrote primarily for Frank Sinatra and Patti Page with songs like “Don’t Cry, Joe” and “And So To Sleep Again”.
Joe Marsala suffered from chronic colitis and he died on March 4, 1978 in Santa Barbara, California.
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