New Orleans Rhythm Kings
Encyclopedia
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (nicknamed NORK) were one of the most influential jazz
bands of the early-to-mid 1920s. The band was a combination of New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago Jazz
and influenced many younger jazz musicians.
-born cornet
ist Paul Mares
travelled to Chicago and played with, among other performers, childhood friend and trombonist
George Brunies
. The pair got a job performing on a Mississippi
riverboat
, the S.S. Capitol. It was there that they were reunited with clarinet
ist Leon Roppolo
, another childhood friend from New Orleans. The trio soon recruited pianist
Elmer Schobel, drummer
Frank Snyder, bassist
Alfred Loyacano, and banjo
ist Lou Black and in 1922, began a 17-month engagement at the Friar's Inn
in Chicago. The group adopted the name of the club for their own name—The Friar's Society Orchestra—but changed it to New Orleans Rhythm Kings, which had been the name of Roppolo's former band when he travelled with vaudeville
artist Bee Palmer
.
While at the Friar's Inn, the group attracted the interest not only of fans, but of other musicians. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke
, who had been sent to school in Chicago by his parents in the hopes of removing any jazz influences, regularly attended New Orleans Rhythm Kings shows. He was often allowed to perform with the band.
The group recorded a series of records for Gennett Records
in 1922 and 1923. On two of these sessions, they were joined by pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton
. (The session with Morton has sometimes been incorrectly called the first mixed-race recording session; actually there were several earlier examples.)
Despite being one of the best-regarded bands in Chicago, their hot New Orleans style was not to everyone's liking. The club management pushed the band heavily to go to the more arranged nationally popular style of dance band "jazz" typified by the Paul Whiteman
Orchestra. Unable to find regular work at a club that would leave them to do what they did best, the band broke up. George Brunies snapped up a lucrative offer from the nationally famous Ted Lewis
Band. Mares and Roppolo headed east together to try their luck in New York City
.
Mares, Roppolo, and Martin reformed the band back in New Orleans, where they made more recordings for Okeh
and Victor
in early 1925.
Various former members of the original New Orleans Rhythm Kings revived the band's name at various times from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Compositions and arrangements by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings continue to be played by "Traditional Jazz" or "Dixieland
" bands all over the world today. Some of their famous compositions and contributions to the jazz repertory include "Bugle Call Rag
", "Milenburg
Joys", "Farewell Blues
", "Angry", "Baby", "Discontented Blues", "She's Crying For Me", "Oriental", "I Never Knew What a Girl Could Do", "Everybody Loves Somebody Blues", and "Tin Roof Blues
".
"Make Love to Me
", a 1954 pop song by Jo Stafford, using the New Orleans Rhythm King's music from the 1923 jazz standard "Tin Roof Blues", became a no.1 hit. Anne Murray and B. B. King also recorded "Make Love to Me
". Jo Stafford
's recording of "Make Love to Me
" was no.1 for three weeks on the Billboard charts and no.2 on Cashbox.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands of the early-to-mid 1920s. The band was a combination of New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago Jazz
Music of Chicago
As the largest non-coastal United States city, Chicago, Illinois is a major center for music in the midwestern United States, especially in the early 1900s, when the "Great Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial cities brought traditional jazz and blues music to...
and influenced many younger jazz musicians.
History of the band
In 1919, New OrleansNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
-born cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
ist Paul Mares
Paul Mares
Paul Mares , was an American early dixieland jazz cornet & trumpet player, and leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.Mares was born in New Orleans. His father, Joseph E...
travelled to Chicago and played with, among other performers, childhood friend and trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
George Brunies
George Brunies
George Brunies, aka Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who came to fame in the 1930s, and was part of the Dixieland revival. He was known as the "King of the Tailgate Trombone"....
. The pair got a job performing on a Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
riverboat
Riverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
, the S.S. Capitol. It was there that they were reunited with clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
ist Leon Roppolo
Leon Roppolo
Leon Roppolo was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Roppolo also played saxophone and guitar. Roppolo married Mabel Alice Branchard on 17 May 1920 in New Orleans...
, another childhood friend from New Orleans. The trio soon recruited pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
Elmer Schobel, drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Frank Snyder, bassist
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
Alfred Loyacano, and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
ist Lou Black and in 1922, began a 17-month engagement at the Friar's Inn
Friar's Inn
Friar's Inn was a nightclub and speakeasy in Chicago, Illinois, a famed jazz music venue in the 1920s.Though some sources refer to it casually as "Friar's Club", it was not related to the Friars Club of New York....
in Chicago. The group adopted the name of the club for their own name—The Friar's Society Orchestra—but changed it to New Orleans Rhythm Kings, which had been the name of Roppolo's former band when he travelled with vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
artist Bee Palmer
Bee Palmer
Bee Palmer , was a United States singer and dancer. She was born Beatrice C. Palmer in Chicago.Palmer first attracted significant attention as one of the first exponents of the "shimmy" dance in the late 1910s...
.
While at the Friar's Inn, the group attracted the interest not only of fans, but of other musicians. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, who had been sent to school in Chicago by his parents in the hopes of removing any jazz influences, regularly attended New Orleans Rhythm Kings shows. He was often allowed to perform with the band.
The group recorded a series of records for Gennett Records
Gennett Records
Gennett was a United States based record label which flourished in the 1920s.-Label history:Gennett records was founded in Richmond, Indiana by the Starr Piano Company, and released its first records in October 1917. The company took its name from its top managers: Harry, Fred and Clarence Gennett....
in 1922 and 1923. On two of these sessions, they were joined by pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
. (The session with Morton has sometimes been incorrectly called the first mixed-race recording session; actually there were several earlier examples.)
Despite being one of the best-regarded bands in Chicago, their hot New Orleans style was not to everyone's liking. The club management pushed the band heavily to go to the more arranged nationally popular style of dance band "jazz" typified by the Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
Orchestra. Unable to find regular work at a club that would leave them to do what they did best, the band broke up. George Brunies snapped up a lucrative offer from the nationally famous Ted Lewis
Ted Lewis (musician)
Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis , was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. He was known by the moniker "Mr...
Band. Mares and Roppolo headed east together to try their luck in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Mares, Roppolo, and Martin reformed the band back in New Orleans, where they made more recordings for Okeh
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
and Victor
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
in early 1925.
Various former members of the original New Orleans Rhythm Kings revived the band's name at various times from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Compositions and arrangements by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings continue to be played by "Traditional Jazz" or "Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
" bands all over the world today. Some of their famous compositions and contributions to the jazz repertory include "Bugle Call Rag
Bugle Call Rag
"Bugle Call Rag" is a jazz standard written by Jack Pettis, Billy Meyers and Elmer Schoebel. It was first recorded by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922 as "Bugle Call Blues", although later renditions as well as the published sheet music and the song's copyright all used the title "Bugle Call Rag"...
", "Milenburg
Milneburg
Milneburg is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Leon C. Simon Drive to the north, People's Avenue to the east, Filmore Avenue to the south and Elysian Fields Avenue to the west...
Joys", "Farewell Blues
Farewell Blues
"Farewell Blues" is a 1922 jazz standard written by Paul Mares, Leon Roppolo and Elmer Schoebel. The song was recorded on August 29, 1922 in Richmond, Indiana and released as Gennett 4966A. It was first released by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and soon was covered by several jazz bands...
", "Angry", "Baby", "Discontented Blues", "She's Crying For Me", "Oriental", "I Never Knew What a Girl Could Do", "Everybody Loves Somebody Blues", and "Tin Roof Blues
Tin Roof Blues
Tin Roof Blues is a jazz composition first recorded by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1923. It was written by band members Paul Mares, Ben Pollack, Mel Stitzel, George Brunies and Leon Roppolo...
".
"Make Love to Me
Make Love to Me
- Mann/Weiss/Gannon song :With music by Paul Mann and Stephan Weiss, and lyrics by Kim Gannon, it was recorded in 1942 by Helen Forrest with the Harry James Orchestra...
", a 1954 pop song by Jo Stafford, using the New Orleans Rhythm King's music from the 1923 jazz standard "Tin Roof Blues", became a no.1 hit. Anne Murray and B. B. King also recorded "Make Love to Me
Make Love to Me
- Mann/Weiss/Gannon song :With music by Paul Mann and Stephan Weiss, and lyrics by Kim Gannon, it was recorded in 1942 by Helen Forrest with the Harry James Orchestra...
". Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
's recording of "Make Love to Me
Make Love to Me
- Mann/Weiss/Gannon song :With music by Paul Mann and Stephan Weiss, and lyrics by Kim Gannon, it was recorded in 1942 by Helen Forrest with the Harry James Orchestra...
" was no.1 for three weeks on the Billboard charts and no.2 on Cashbox.
The New Orleans contingent
- "Chink" Martin AbrahamChink MartinChink Abraham, better known as Chink Martin was an American jazz tubist.Martin played guitar in his youth before settling on tuba. He played with Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band around 1910, and worked in various other brass bands in the city in the 1910s...
, string bass, tuba - Leo AddeLeo AddeLeo Adde was an American jazz drummer.Adde began by playing the cigar box on percussion, and played as a duo with Raymond Burke on the streets of New Orleans in the mid-1910s. Adde joined the Halfway House Orchestra under Abbie Brunies early in the 1920s, and played in Johnny Millinder's New...
, drums - Lester Bouchon, saxophone
- Steve BrownSteve Brown (bass player)Steve Brown was a jazz musician best known for his work on string bass. Like many of his fellow New Orleans, Louisiana bassists, he played both string bass and tuba professionally, as the two instruments fill similar roles in different types of bands.Brown was the younger brother of trombonist...
, string bass - George BruniesGeorge BruniesGeorge Brunies, aka Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who came to fame in the 1930s, and was part of the Dixieland revival. He was known as the "King of the Tailgate Trombone"....
, trombone - Charlie Cordilla, clarinet, saxophone
- Bill Eastwood, banjo
- Emmett HardyEmmett HardyEmmett Louis Hardy was an early jazz cornet player and one of the best regarded New Orleans musicians of his generation....
, cornet - Arthur "Monk" HazelMonk HazelMonk Hazel was a jazz drummer.In addition to being a well regarded drummer, Hazel occasionally took solos on brass instruments, notably cornet and melophone. Monk Hazel was a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for decades. Hazel's father was a drummer as well...
, drums - Glyn Lea "Red" LongRed LongNelson Long was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Boston Beaneaters of the National League in one game on September 11, 1902.-External links:...
, piano - Arnold "Deacon" Loyacano (Loiacono), string bass, piano
- Oscar Marcour, violin
- Paul MaresPaul MaresPaul Mares , was an American early dixieland jazz cornet & trumpet player, and leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.Mares was born in New Orleans. His father, Joseph E...
, trumpet, leader - Santo PecoraSanto PecoraSanto Pecoraro, better known as Santo Pecora was an American jazz trombonist known for his longtime association with the New Orleans jazz scene....
, trombone - Leon RoppoloLeon RoppoloLeon Roppolo was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Roppolo also played saxophone and guitar. Roppolo married Mabel Alice Branchard on 17 May 1920 in New Orleans...
, clarinet
The Chicago contingent
- Louis 'Lou' BlackLouis 'Lou' BlackLouis Thomas 'Lou' Black was one of the foremost banjo players of the Jazz Era.Born in Rock Island, Illinois, he began playing banjo during early childhood and became professional in 1917....
, banjo - Voltaire de Faut, clarinet, saxophone
- Bob Gillette, banjo
- Husk O'Hare, promoter
- Don MurrayDon Murray (clarinetist)Don Murray was an early jazz clarinet and saxophone player.Don Murray was born in Joliet, Illinois, and attended high school in Chicago. In his teens he made a name for himself as one of the best young jazz clarinetists and saxophonists in the city...
, clarinet, saxophone - Bee PalmerBee PalmerBee Palmer , was a United States singer and dancer. She was born Beatrice C. Palmer in Chicago.Palmer first attracted significant attention as one of the first exponents of the "shimmy" dance in the late 1910s...
, vocalist - Jack Pettis, saxophone
- Kyle Pierce, piano
- Ben PollackBen PollackBen Pollack was a drummer and bandleader from the mid 1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to either discover or employ, at one time or another, musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland and Harry James...
, drums - Elmer SchoebelElmer SchoebelElmer Schoebel was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.Schoebel played along to silent films in Champaign, Illinois early in his career. After moving on to vaudeville late in the 1910s, he played with the 20th Century Jazz Band in Chicago in 1920...
, piano, arranger - Glen Scoville, saxophone
- Frank Snyder, drums
- Mel Stizel, piano