thumb|right|350px|The New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922: (left to right) Leon Roppolo, Jack Pettis, Elmer Schoebel, Arnold Loyacano, Paul Mares, Frank Snyder, George Brunies

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK) were one of the most influential jazz bands of the early to mid-1920s. The band included New Orleans and Chicago musicians who helped shape Chicago jazz and influenced many younger jazz musicians.

They composed and recorded several jazz standards such as "Bugle Call Rag", "Milenburg Joys", "Farewell Blues", and "Tin Roof Blues". The 1954 pop song "Make Love to Me" was based on their music for "Tin Roof Blues".

History

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings in its earliest stages was the creation of the drummer Mike "Ragbaby" Stevens, solely in that he sent the first telegram to Albert Brunies about going to Chicago to form a band and find better gigs than New Orleans had to offer. Albert "Abbie" Brunies and his younger brother, the trombonist George Brunies, were initially hesitant but suggested the idea to a friend, the trumpet player Paul Mares, who immediately took the opportunity.

"So I says Paul, I says, Abbie don't want to go to Chicago and I'm kind of leery, I'm afraid", George recalled. "Paul says, 'man, give me that wire. I'll go.' So Paul went up [to Chicago] and introduced himself to Ragbaby Stevens and Ragbaby liked him… and Paul got the railroad fare from his father and sent me $60".

George Brunies packed his trombone and set off to join Mares in Chicago, playing gigs and going to after-hours clubs with Mares. At one such club the pair met some of their future bandmates, the drummer Frank Snyder, the pianist Elmer Schoebel, and the saxophonist Jack Pettis.

The name "New Orleans Rhythm Kings" did not initially refer to this group but rather was the name of a group under the direction of Bee Palmer, a vaudeville performer. Palmer's group did not last, but within several months of the breakup of the band, a member of the group, the clarinetist Leon Roppolo, was playing on riverboats in Chicago with Elmer Schoebel, Jack Pettis, Frank Snyder, George Brunies, the banjoist Louis Black and (possibly) Paul Mares. During this time the group performed as the Friar's Society Orchestra.

While at the Friar's Inn, the group attracted the interest not only of fans but of other musicians. The cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, who had been sent to school in Chicago by his parents in the hopes of removing him from jazz influences, regularly attended their shows and was often allowed to perform with the band.

The group recorded a series of records for Gennett Records in 1922 and 1923. On July 17 and 18 1923, they were joined by the pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton. These sessions with Morton have sometimes been incorrectly called the first mixed-race recording session; while they are noteworthy, early examples, there were earlier instances such as the 1919 Gennett and Okeh recording of Creole clarinetists Achille Bauquet in Jimmy Durante's New Orleans Jazz Band.

After their engagement at the Friar's Inn ended, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings were largely scattered and disorganized. They re-formed periodically to make recordings, with significant member turnover (Roppolo and Mares were more or less the leaders and constants of the group), but the group never played all together again. In the first session at Gennett, the Friars Society Orchestra (the name under which the recording was released) recorded eight songs: "Panama", "Tiger Rag", and "Livery Stable Blues", representing the New Orleans jazz standbys;

The New Orleans Rhythm Kings represents a contingent of white jazz bands that emerged from 1915 to the early 1920s.

Members

New Orleans contingent

  • "Chink" Martin Abraham, string bass, tuba
  • Leo Adde, drums
  • Lester Bouchon, saxophone
  • Steve Brown, string bass
  • George Brunies, trombone
  • Charlie Cordilla, clarinet, saxophone
  • Bill Eastwood, banjo
  • Emmett Hardy, cornet
  • Arthur "Monk" Hazel, drums
  • Glyn Lea "Red" Long, piano
  • Arnold "Deacon" Loyacano (Loiacono), string bass, piano
  • Oscar Marcour, violin
  • Paul Mares, trumpet, leader
  • Santo Pecora, trombone
  • Leon Roppolo, clarinet

Chicago contingent

  • Louis 'Lou' Black, banjo
  • Voltaire de Faut, clarinet, saxophone
  • Bob Gillette, banjo
  • Husk O'Hare, promoter
  • Don Murray, clarinet, saxophone
  • Bee Palmer, vocalist
  • Jack Pettis, saxophone
  • Kyle Pierce, piano
  • Ben Pollack, drums
  • Elmer Schoebel, piano, arranger
  • Glen Scoville, saxophone
  • Frank Snyder, drums
  • Mel Stizel, piano

References

  • New Orleans Rhythm Kings recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.