Wooden Joe Nicholas

Joseph " Joe Wooden " N. Nicholas ( born September 23, 1883 in New Orleans, † November 17, 1957 ) was an American jazz musician (trumpet, cornet, clarinet), who was active in the early years of New Orleans jazz.

Life and work

Nicholas first began to play the clarinet, which he used as a second instrument in later years. Before 1912 he played with the Four Hot Hounds by Richard M. Jones. He knew Buddy Bolden and said of him that he was his most important role model on the cornet been; Another influence was Bunk Johnson. It was not until 1915 he began to play the instrument when he was a clarinetist with King Oliver and played with Oliver's own cornet when he gave it up. He spent most of his life in New Orleans and played several decades in numerous brass bands and street musicians of the city; next to it in 1918 founded the Camelia Brass Band. During the Depression, he taught and performed only occasionally. Nicholas was famous for the volume and persistence of his game, even if it is not heard on many of his recordings, apart from "Shake It and Break It ". His first LP recordings were made only from 1945 with the original Creole Stompers ( " Eh La Bas ", " Up Jumped the Devil" ), when he was already 62 years old. Again he took under his own name in 1949 with "Big Eye" Louis Nelson, further, with clarinetist Raymond Burke and gospel singer Ann Cook.

Nicholas was the uncle of the clarinettist Albert Nicholas.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Wooden Joe Nicholas ( American Music, 1945-49) with Jim Robinson, Joe Petit, Louis Nelson, Johnny St. Cyr, Alcide Pavageau, Baby Dodds

Swell

• Carlo Bohländer and Others, Loeb Classical Jazz guide. Stuttgart 1970
• Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006 ISBN 0-141-02327-9
• John Jorgensen, Erik Wiedemann: Jazz Encyclopedia. Munich, 1967