The photographs of Emmanuel Chol and Charles Menard on page 12 of Jazz Puzzles vol.1 are from the Archives of the Ellender Memorial Library of the Nicholls State University - Thibodaux Louisiana. The Chol ledgers, indicated as part of the LSU collection, are in fact part of the Chol collection in the Nicholls archives.
From Konrad Nowakowski, regarding Bechet's auditions for James Reese Europe and Will Marion Cook in Chicago and his passport application in New York in 1919 (pp. 224-226):Bechet's passport application, which he signed in New York on 13 May 1919, did not result from his decision to go to England with Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra. It was part of what Howard Rye (Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, p. 160) described as Louis Mitchell's "abortive scheme" to take a large band to Paris. In the application, Bechet declared his intention to leave for France on May 15 on the S.S. Espagne (a ship which, in fact, arrived in New York that day and went back to Le Havre five days later). The passport was to be sent to Louis Mitchell, and the application was accompanied by a letter from Mitchell, not shown in your book, in which he stated that Bechet was engaged for Paris with Mitchell's band. On May 27, however, the Passport Agent crossed out "France" and replaced it by "Br Isles", signing with his initials.
Mitchell had come from France in January, but passport applications for his Paris project were not made before late April, as described by Rye. Bechet, so far, was believed to have auditioned for Cook in Chicago in February, and he was supposed to have become a part of Mitchell's project only after following Cook to New York, when he heard rumours there that Cook's tour to England had been cancelled (Goddard, Jazz Away From Home, p. 52; Chilton, Sidney Bechet: The Wizard of Jazz, p. 33). Those who wrote this were apparently unaware that Bechet auditioned for James Reese Europe, still in Chicago, in late April, and that Cook and his orchestra, who had been in Chicago in February, played another engagement there on April 20. It was their last known concert before they went to England, according to recent writings, but the Chicago Tribune reveals that they played still another concert in Chicago on April 28. Europe's one-week engagement in Chicago began on April 27, so that both his and Cook's orchestras were there that week. There is little doubt that it was then that Bechet auditioned for both Cook and Europe, as described by Franklin Frank in the Philadelphia Tribune of 3 June 1937: "It was in the Windy City [...] that Noble Sissle first saw him and tried to get Jim Europe to sign him. Bechet [...] was also sought by Will Marion Cook who was likewise playing in Chicago. Europe was killed a week later, so Sydney joined Cook's 'Southern Syncopated Orchestra.'"
That, however, would also change Mitchell's role: his letter concerning Bechet's engagement for Paris is dated April 28, which would implicate that he "discovered" Bechet first.
More bits of the Puzzles
According to Alex Bigard, in 1927 Robichaux had Willie Pajeaud, Sam Dutrey Sr. (as), Charles McCurdy (ts), Harrrison Barnes (tb), Mercedes Garman Fileds (p), Willie Bontemps (bjo), Henry Kimball (sbs).
Around 1920 Alex Bigard played with the Maple Leaf Orchestra with Manuel Perez, Alphonse Picou, Willie Santiago (bjo), Vic Gaspard (tb), and Octave Crosby.
Alex Bigard replaced Louis Cottrell in 1927 when he was sick.
Chapter 8
— The third son of Thomas Louis Marcos and Athenais Hazeur, Lorenzo Tio was born on September 28,
1867, and was baptized on the first day of July, 1869 in Tampico. This was not a baptism
certificate, but a civil act.
— NOTE 28. Libro de Entierros 10, 1872-1884, Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Tampico.
(Courtesy Jose Castaneda) should be: * Libro Nacimientos 1869 Archivo del Registro Civil de
Tampico.
— Lorenzo Sr.’s photograph was taken out of the following site :
http://www.pentagrama.com.mx/pentagrama/index.php?Itemid=93&id=88&option=com_content&task=view
Palao is quoted by the International Musician of July 1921 as having been transferred to California with the whole Oliver band. If the photograph has really been taken outside the Pergola Dance Pavilion in the summer of 1921, as indicated by Laurie Wright on page 9 of his "King Oliver," then Palao was fired by Oliver only a few months after their arrival.
There is a story about Arnold Métoyer. Louis Armstrong sent him as a replacement when he was
at the Sunset ,and he was so bad they filed a complaint with the union and they fined
Armstrong for sending an unqualified substitute. As if it would be anyone's fault for
not being as good as Louis Armstrong! Paige van Vorst
> From Jim Lodge: Thanks for the mailing with reviews of your book. I heartily concur with all of them, it is a great piece of work and I can't wait for Vol 2
> A few points arising from Vol 1:-
> 1) I have played clarinet (badly!) for 50 years, have owned around two dozen of them over that time, of all sizes, materials, and fingering systems, and have made something of a study of their design, form, and proportions. I am convinced that BOTH clarinets in the Bolden photograph reproduced on page 52 are B flat models.
> I am aware that if they are measured, the instrument held by the seated figure appears smaller than that carried by the standing musician, but the difference between B flat and C models is greater than appears here - 26.4" against 23.5" - and that held by the seated figure is very noticeably sloping back towards his shoulder from the bell rested half way along his thigh. Conversely, the clarinet of the standing figure might appear to be sloping back from the camera by the appearance of what is apparently the "far side" of the metal bell ring, but I feel that that is due to a flaw on the original photo, and that the position and angle of the player's hands and arms demonstrate otherwise.
> I owned a simple system C clarinet for many years, and although they are three inches shorter than a B flat, the outside diameter is more or less the same as the B flat. In addition, the keywork on an instrument in C is just as heavy as a B flat. Together these factors give a C model a distinctive "stubby" appearance (particularly noticeable in the proportions of the bell) that is unmistakeable. The published heights of Bolden and Cornish, if scaled against the lengths of the clarinets, would seem to argue against the seated figure's clarinet being a C model.
> I also note that the standing musician holds a basic "simple " system, whilst the seated player has an instrument provided with the patent C sharp mechanism.
Dan: Dear George, I thank you for your message. How do I regret that I did not know you before I wrote this page about the clarinets. I am not a specialist of this instrument, so I relied on Eberhard Kraut and some other friends. I could have mentioned your opinion. Now the question that is of interest for me is: why have two clarinets in Bb? I have tried to understand this in the text. How did the polyphony start, why do witnesses say that they played in unisson, etc. >
> 2) Has anyone else commented on a resemblance between the seated clarinet player in the Bolden photo and the clarinet player identified as Willie Parker in the photo of the Jimmy Palao Band (about 1900) on page 150 of Rose and Souchon's "New Orleans Jazz, A Family Album"?
This is a very interesting question. Here are the elements for a discussion:
Palao was born in 1879, and he looks like being about 20, that is just before 1900. Willie Parker was born in 1878. René Baptiste about the same period.
The Bolden photo date cannot be more than 1906 and of course not 1896.
There is a certain resemblance between the two Willie Parker, but I cannot understand how a man could look 20 or so in 1899 and look 40 or so seven years later.
The second thing is that the seated clarinet player seems to be Frank Lewis, the oldest man in the band, born in 1872. If the two photos would be 20 years apart, I could follow you. The last thing is that Don Marquis assured us that there was a C clarinet player in the band. So, what to think?
Apparently the W. Warner on the Palao pix holds a metal clarinet? What kind?
The Bolden chapter was a nightmare as there will never be any answer to some of the questions that it arises.
But in finding the right birth dates of all the members of the band I contributed to give a more precise view of the chronology.
In this chapter I mostly tried to sort the questions. I was unable to answer the most difficult ones. This is up to the reader!
> 3) In the picture on page 228 of your "Jazz Puzzles", the instrument held by Henry Rene is a flute, not a clarinet
. Of course you are right! He played clarinet later.