246Danny Barker said … “‘Hold it!’”: Jackson 2005, 72. Hines: Dance 1977, 49.
247“she was very cute”: Dance 1977 48; Harker 2008, 83.
247pushing the limits of speed: Cheatham IJS 1976; Harker 2008.
247The background for kinetic-sonic synergy … movement of the body: Wilson 1978. Brothers 2006, chap. 2.
248It’s not surprising … could be heard: Accessories: Sengstock 2000 39; Russell 1994, 36; Singleton IJS 1975; Altman 2004, 41, 104. Foster 2005, 176. Bojangles Robinson once stopped in the middle of his routine to scold a drummer who was playing too loudly. Dance 1977, 54 and 86.
248Earl Hines said … into every performance: Hines: Dance 1977, 48. Armstrong 1946, 42.
250the miracle of Armstrong improvising melodic gems: Hodeir 1956, 58: “It is not unreasonable to believe that this improvisation of a genius opened a new chapter in the evolution of jazz.”
250“Even back in the old days”: Armstrong 1966, 42.
250the mistakes in rhythmic notation: On the challenges of rhythmic notation for the New Orleanians, see Brothers 2006, 127 and 237; also Brothers 2009.
251a gang of hogs crying for corn: Dominique WRC 1952.
251“their act was nothing without a trumpet”: Dance 1977, 48; Cheatham IJS. The performance of Big Butter and Egg Man for the Sunset revue probably bore little relationship to the Hot Five recording, aside from the vocal and trumpet solos; it is likely that the arrangements were completely different. Cheatham suggests that Brown and McGraw’s act went on for quite a long time, wearing out the trumpet player. Traditionally, their routine would have been accompanied by stop time. Perhaps the most significant difference between my interpretation of Armstrong’s development and Professor Harker’s is that I attribute the special qualities of Big Butter to the fact that it was a special chorus that he worked out over many weeks, if not months, while his emphasis is on the impact of the dancers. It seems likely to me that few other special choruses were recorded in 1926; thus, the uniform appearance of commercial recordings is very misleading. The facts of the recording business make it difficult for us to track his development—and here I would point out, once more, the likelihood that Big Butter and Egg Man would not have been recorded at all unless Venable, the local and unknown composer, made a deal that was favorable to OKeh. Since most repertory pieces performed at the Sunset would have forced OKeh into less favorable royalty arrangements, we simply do not have recordings of what Armstrong regularly played. There is also the matter of tempo, with Big Butter clocking around a comfortable 192; compare that with the frantic Static Strut and Stomp Off from May, both around 240. The relatively relaxed tempo for Big Butter (like those for Oriental Strut at 188 and Muskrat Ramble at 182) favors his dense and varied conception.
252André Hodeir: Hodeir 1956, 57.
253The principle conditions the entire chorus: See Anderson 2007, 128, for additional examples.
256Oliver apparently did the same thing: For an exception, see Salem Tutt Whitney in the Defender, July 10, 1926, p. 6; Shoffner HJA 1959.
256The Plantation’s emphasis … wrote Peyton in October 1926: Shoffner CJA 1973; Shoffner CJA 1958; Howard HJA 1957; Dixon CJA 1990. Variety: Wright 1987, 60; Defender, Oct. 9, 1926, p. 6.
256Shoffner said: Shoffner HJA 1959.
256The two cabarets … solo was finished: “I can play”: Russell 1994, 152. The Light and Heebie Jeebies reported Oliver playing Snag It at the Plantation in the Jan. 8, 1927, issue (p. 17). Shoffner, Bob CJA 1973. Armstrong WRC 1954. Armstrong was given co-composer credit for Wild Man Blues in 1927, but he explicitly denied (Armstrong WRC 1970) having anything to do with the composition of the piece. A good explanation for the mistaken attribution is offered in Dapogny 1982, 231–32.
258An even more magnificent outpouring: Howard CJA n.d.; Down Beat, March 15, 1941, p. 16; Freeman 1974, 15.
258A hapless Johnny Dunn … slithered away in shame: Bradford 1965, 145; Williams 1979, 83; Drew 1950, 26; Bigard 1986, 30; Defender, Aug. 20, 1924; Stewart 1991, 47; Singleton, Zutty CJA n.d. The story of the contest with Dunn is sometimes placed at the Dreamland, which may have taken place in August 1924, when Dunn was in Chicago and Armstrong was working at that venue. But Hines and Singleton both were specific about it happening at the Sunset. Hines: Dance 1977, 50.
259If Armstrong was … firm job offer: Armstrong: King 1967, 68; Armstrong 1966, 35.
259His growing success … a year later: “Luis”: Light, Jan. 8, 1927. The same issue (p. 16) has a story headlined “Luis Armstrong Scores Heavily with My Baby Knows How at the Vendome.” My Baby Knows How was a popular hit composed by Benny Davis, Harry Akst, and Harry Richman, frequently recorded in 1926. In the Jan. 15, 1927, issue (p. 25), the Light references “Luis Armstrong’s Sunset Recording Orchestra” at the Sunset. Dickerson: Dance 1977, 41–42 and 47; Dominique CJA 1981; Hines, Foster, and Deppe CJA 1961; Jackson 2005, 91. Warwick Hall: Light, Jan. 8, 1927, p. 23.
259a promotion night: Light, Jan. 15, 1927, p. 25. On Feb. 12, the Pittsburgh Courier reported that Armstrong was still featuring Big Butter and Egg Man.
260Chicago Breakdown: Taylor 1993, 142, transcribes parts of the ensemble.
261Alligator Crawl … “Turn the Page!”: Waller was documented at the Metropolitan Theater in the Light, March 12, 1927, p. 20, said to have arrived “last week”; he was placed at the Vendome “permanently” in the Defender, March 19, 1927, p. 6; at the Vendome in the Light, March 26, 1927, p. 20; “detained by the Chicago police” in the Defender, April 30, 1927, p. 6; and back in New York in the Defender, May 7, 1927, p. 7. Waller’s legal difficulties, including the threat of imprisonment, were explained in the New York Amsterdam News, Dec. 7, 1927, p. 1, and in the Defender, Dec. 10, 1927, p. 6. “Man you can’t”: Dance 1977, 52.
262“All we needed was a lead sheet”: Ory quoted in Anderson 2007, 24.
262But Armstrong’s solos … of the swing era: See Garrett 2008, 83–120, for discussion of Gully Low Blues and S.O.L. Blues, with transcription of Armstrong’s solo on p. 101. Eldridge: Shapiro and Hentoff 1979, 301.
263Ralph Ellison considered: Ellison 1995, 329.
264Those who knew this “strictly Negro” tradition: One indication that Armstrong understood the connection of stop time to dancing comes with his use of the term “patter” to describe the stop-time section of Cornet Chop Suey. There is need for more research on usages of “patter” in songs and tunes from this period. There was, of course, the “patter song,” well known from Gilbert and Sullivan, from which a Broadway tradition developed. But Armstrong’s usage here is probably independent of that, coming instead from dance-band arrangements with stop-time chorus called “patter.” Harker 2011, 28; Anderson 2007, 62, n. 36; Howland 2009, 119.
264The first few months … remembered Hines: Defender, May 7, 1927, p. 6; Harker 2008, 84. Courier, Jan. 28 and Feb. 12, 1927. Quotation and ad from the Light, Feb. 19, 1927, pp. 35 and 36. Buck and Bubbles are first placed at the Sunset in 1927 on Feb. 19 (Light and Heebie Jeebies) with references continuing on March 12 (Courier), March 19 (Afro-American), March 26 (Courier). Hines: Dance 1977, 48.
265Armstrong shared … in New York City: Bubbles IJS. Mezzrow 1946, 237.
265Bubbles was good … complexity, and originality: Stearns and Stearns, 1994, 214ff. Bubbles IJS.
266Armstrong manipulates harmony: For more analytical detail, see Brothers 1994.
266Breaks, snakes, and fillins … Eddie Rector, and John Bubbles: Defender, April 16, 1927, p. 8. Defender, April 16, 1927; Armstrong 1966, 38; Scrapbook 83, LAHM. As Salem Tutt put it in the Defender (Aug. 14, 1926, p. 6): “In show business, when a joedoke can buy a car, he has reached success.” $600: Personal communication from Lawrence Gushee; the contract was dated Feb. 8, 1927.
267Yet this stop-time solo … hearing the line unfold: Jimmy Maxwell IJS 1979. Correlated chorus: Sudhalter and Evans 1974, 100–101. Bud Freeman IJS n.d.
267“stalks majestically across the beat”: Lyttelton 1978
, 120.
268The high value … he ever took on: Defender, June 18, 1927, p. 6. “There never”: Armstrong 1999, 52. Others agreed. Cornetist George Mitchell (Mitchell HJA 1959), who played at the Sunset and the Dreamland during these years, recognized that Armstrong could “handle the instrument better” than Oliver, “but the ideas … If Joe could have handled his instrument like Louis, well that guy … I liked Joe’s ideas.” Being original was part of the New Orleans ethos. Johnny St. Cyr (Russell 1994, 74): “The New Orleans style is based on originality.” Abbey Foster (Russell 1994, 54): “Always make a style of your own.” Jelly Roll Morton (LC ca. 1938) on Fred Keppard: “No end to his ideas, could play one chorus eight or ten different ways.”
268“I’m going out tonight”: Carmichael 1999a, 227; Dance 1977, 49.
269“I’m just an old” … “and my life”: “I’m just”: Photocopy of article in HJA, Armstrong vertical file, from Daily Express, May 4, 1956, n.p. 80 tunes: Chevan 1999, 208. “All them”: quoted in Harker 1999.
270“style of jazz the public has gone wild about”: Defender, Feb. 27, 1926, p. 6.
271“He plays on the beat”: Williams 1979. “[Armstrong] works like a horse”: Smith 1964, 123–26.
273the tremendous explosion of twentieth-century creativity: Brothers 1997.
273further innovations were possible: Brothers 1994.
274Frank Teschemacher: Sudhalter 1999, 456.
275“That’s a broad question”: Pond 2005, 27.
Chapter 7: “Some Kind of a God”
276“A musician in Chicago”: Armstrong 1999, 74.
276Armstrong and his orchestra appeared: Defender, June 4, 1927; Kenney 1993, 31. Calloway: Courier, June 11, 1927; Afro-American, June 11, 1927. Cab Calloway was criticized in the Oct. 22, 1927, issue of the Light and Heebie Jeebies (p. 28), while performing at the Plantation Café: “As master of ceremonies Calloway is a total failure—but this is covered up by a good review.”
277“Oh what a sweet and helpful girl May Ann was”: King 1967, 66.
277Armstrong insisted that all twelve members of his orchestra be hired: Defender, July 30, 1927, p. 8; Kenney 1993, 34.
278“a scream”: Courier, Oct. 29, 1927; Afro-American, March 26, 1927; Scrapbook 83, LAHM.
278In late August . . Chicago Breakdown: Defender, July 23, Aug. 6, Aug. 20, Sept. 24, 1927; Scrapbook 83, LAHM; Miller 2007, 34; Armstrong 1999. “a good blues”: Armstrong 1950, 24.
279In September … musicians in the orchestra: Defender, Sept. 3, Sept. 12, Sept. 17, 1927; Scrapbook 83, LAHM; Courier, Oct. 29, 1927. Defender, April 7, 1928.
279he still performed comedy: Armstrong 1946, 43.
280“one of his freakish, high register breaks”: Defender, Sept. 17, 1927, p. 6. “Nice, sweet arranging”: Scrapbook 83, LAHM.
280In early November … the Sunset Café: Chicago Tribune, Nov. 6, 1927. “You take”: Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 159.
280Beiderbecke stopped by … “on the blues”: Carmichael 1999a, 114; Hines COHP 1971; Dance 1977, 48; McHargue HJA; Carmichael 1999, 53. “We sat”: Levinson 2005, 25. Wettling WRC ca. 1938; Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 159. Manone 1948, 61.
281“His intervals were so orderly”: Deffaa 1990, 77. See the analysis of Singin’ the Blues in Brooks 2000, chap. 5, including an interesting comparison with Armstrong.
281Beiderbecke owed something … at age twenty-eight, in 1931: Dance 1977, 48. Mezzrow 1946, 157; Carmichael 1999a, 91; Dance 1977, 48. Gabbard 2008, 161.
282slapped together at the last minute: Armstrong 1999, 133–34.
283Cornet Chop Suey … who had moved north: Manone 1948, 61; Hodes CJA n.d.; Armstrong 1999, 131. Major 1994, 22; advertisement reproduced in Anderson 2007, 156. Cakewalk: Cheatham IJS 1976. “Struttin’ time”: Hunter IJS 1976–77.
284“Lonnie was the only guy”: Foster 2005, 106.
284Armstrong said: Armstrong 1999, 136. Perhaps OKeh was encouraged to do this by the success of the Trumbauer, Beiderbecke, and Lang recording of Wringin’ and Twistin’, from September 1927.
284Armstrong immediately … widely known Tiger Rag: Ory 1950a, 17; Anderson 2007, 181–87. Armstrong 1999, 136. Anderson 2007, 175.
285often talked about in the press: Scrapbook 83, LAHM.
285many listeners have heard: James Lincoln Collier (1983, 187), for example, wrote that he was “as certain as one can be about these things that the growing mood of sadness [first heard in Savoy Blues], leading up to the classic ‘West End Blues,’ sprang from the death of his mother.” See also Black, Charles L., Jr. 1979, 66–73.
286Compton wrote a letter: Defender, Dec. 24, 1927, p. 6.
286By December 3, 1927 … sessions with OKeh: Defender, Dec. 3, 1927, p. 6. Armstrong 1946, 43. Dance 1977, 54.
286Singleton was working: Singleton WRC ca. 1938. “Highbrow district”: Defender, Dec. 10, 1927, p. 7.
286“little corporation”: Singleton WRC ca. 1938; Defender, Dec. 31, 1927, p. 6; Dance 1977, 55; Armstrong 1946, 43; Smith 1942, 46; Armstrong 1999, 99; Courier, Dec. 17, 1927, p. A4.
287“Man we didn’t” … Singleton admitted: Singleton WRC ca. 1938; Singleton IJS Reels 4, 5, and 6. Defender, Dec. 31, 1927, p. 6.
288Armstrong reasoned … “all three of us”: Dance 1977, 53. “Things gotten”: Armstrong 1999, 99. Hines, Foster, and Deppe CJA 1961.
288Finally, a decent offer … he grumbled: Defender, Feb. 18, 1928, p. 6. Defender, March 10, 17, and 24, 1928, p. 6. Kenney 1993, 162; Light, Jan. 14, 1928, p. 22.
289Carroll Dickerson … “really took over”: Singleton WRC ca. 1938; Hines, Foster, and Deppe CJA 1961. Dance 1977, 54 and 145. Saunders COHP 1971.
289The heavily funded Savoy … with eccentric dancing: On the Savoy, see Kenney 1993, 162; Travis 1981, 79–94; Light and Heebie Jeebies, Nov. 19, 1927, p. 2, Nov. 26, 1927, p. 21, Dec. 3, 1927, p. 28. Ethel Waters: Defender, Dec. 3, 1927; Light and Heebie Jeebies, Nov. 26, 1927, p. 21; Dec. 3, 1927, p. 28.
290Like many large … black: Light and Heebie Jeebies, April 7, 1928, pp. 4 and 14; April 14, 1928, p. 4. Scrapbook 83, LAHM. Defender, April 14, 1928, p. 7; April 28, 1928, p. 6; May 12, 1928, p. A2. Scrapbook 83, LAHM, clipping dated April 21, 1928; Afro-American, Dec. 1, 1928.
290One promotional article … the crowd’s shoulders: Promotional article: a clipping from the house publication Savoyager, Scrapbook 83, LAHM, with information that WMAQ picked up nightly broadcasts from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.; see also Jackson 1994, 76: “All they had to do was play Savoy Blues, Some of These Days, and the St. Louis Blues and the fight was over.” Liebestraum: Freeman 1970, 17. Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra recorded their own version in December 1928. Defender May 5, 1928, p. 6. Hodes 1977, 74; Hodes CJA n.d.
290sudden death of Ollie Powers: Defender, April 21, 1928, p. 3.
291In early May … “a serious matter?”: Defender, May 12, 1928, p. 6; Travis 1981, 240. Defender, June 23, 1928, p. 6; June 30, 1928, p. 6; quotation from July 14, 1928, p. 6; Aug. 4, 1928, p. 6. Mencken in New York Tribune, July 17, 1927; quoted in Howland 2009, 4. Lyricist Andy Razaf responded directly (Amsterdam News, Aug. 10, 1927, p. 11), holding up Will Marion Cook and especially James P. Johnson as strong African-American composers. See also Heebie Jeebies, July 23, 1927, p. 26; July 30, 1927, p. 21; Aug. 6, 1927, p. 6. See also Moore 1985, 94–98.
291“slaughtered all of the ofay jazz demons”: Defender, July 14, 1928, p. 6.
292Armstrong’s display of individual power: Gabbard 2008.
293“brassy, broad and aggressively dramatic”: Baraka [Jones] 1963, 154.
294Oliver was in Chicago: Wright 1987, 264; Hodes, Art CJA n.d.
295“When Louis started blowing”: Wettling in Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 118.
296Armstrong “had to stand back” … until June 1928: “had to stand”: Travis 1981, 385. “There was”: Shapiro and Hentoff 1955, 245.
297A Monday Date: Hines told a different story about the origins of the title; Dance 1977, 53.
297In late December … during his youth: Tattle
r, Dec. 27, 1929, p. 16. Afro-American, June 13, 1925, p. 4.
298“For a picture of some pretensions”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 19, 1928, p. C11.
298West End Blues … Armstrong’s performance: Holiday 2006, 9–10. Recording studio: Albertson 1982, 189.
299After the vocal-clarinet … remembered Wilson: Scrapbook 83, LAHM. Melody Maker, November 1929. Wilson, Teddy 2001, 102; Dance 1977, 183.
300“It was sort of a special deal”: Singleton IJS 1975. With Dickerson, Armstrong, and Singleton involved, this could only have been while all three were working at the Savoy Ballroom.
301“the meaning used to change”: Holiday 2006, 10.
301“West End Blues was his real beginning”: Carmichael 1999a, 204.
301Quite a few musicians … “as nothing had before”: Jackson FDC 1973; Smith, Jabbo HJA 1961; Laplace 1988; Travis 1981, 240; Elgar CJA n.d. “he had”: trumpeter Fred Gerard in Laplace 1988, 18. On other trumpeters copying Armstrong’s West End Blues, see Quentin Jackson IJS 1976. Stuff Smith: Barnett 2002, 12 and 19. Feather: Kenney 1999, 20.
302When he first arrived … treasures of jazz history: Dance 1977, 18–34; Gleason 1961, 107–10. Armstrong LAHM 1967.
302Hines convinced Armstrong … notebound playing: The September date for Hines at the Vendome is my inference, based on a clipping in Scrapbook 83, LAHM, which mentions Chick Johnson (who was in Chicago Aug. 14, 1926), St. Cyr and Cook’s song Messin’ Around (composed in 1926), Tate’s vacation, and Hines’s participation at the Vendome. See also Armstrong 1936, 84; Dance 1977, 140.
302“He was always a trouper”: Dance 1977, 49.
303Hines sat down and started playing: Manone 1948, 63.
303When Singleton arrived … “paid the bills”: Gleason 1961, 108. Dance 1977, 54. Armstrong 1966, 35.
303The three friends rented an apartment: Armstrong 1999, 100; Jackson 2005, 87; Hodes 1977, 13; Herndon 1964, 72.
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