Boyd Atkins

Boyd Atkins ( * 1900 in New Orleans, † after 1953 ) was an American jazz and blues musician (clarinet, saxophone, violin), composer and arranger.

Boyd Atkins began his musical career in the late 1910s, when he appeared in the band of Fate Marable on Mississippi River steamers. In the early 1920s he was part of the jazz scene from St. Louis, where he played in the band of Dewey Jackson. Atkins then moved to Chicago and led his own formation, in which also played Kid Ory; He also worked with Earl Hines and Carroll Dickerson. In 1927 he became a member of Louis Armstrong's orchestra, which occurred in Chicago at the Sunset Cafe; Atkins was playing clarinet, soprano and alto saxophone. Armstrong's band also played Atkins ' best-known titles Heebie Jeebies, which he had co-written with Connee Boswell. Later in the 1920s he had then formed his own band called The Firecrackers.

Between 1931 and 1934 he played with Eli Rice and entered the middle of the decade as a bandleader in Minneapolis; there he also played with Rook Ganz. In 1940, he belongs to the formation Society Swingsters that occurred in Peoria ( Illinois). After returning to Chicago in 1951, he worked primarily as an arranger and often played with blues musicians such as Elmore James, with whom he recorded in 1953 a plate, and then with Magic Sam. In the late 1950s he retired from the music business.

At later known jazz musicians who played at the beginning of her career at Atkins, Milt Hinton and included Lester Young.

Discography

• Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven, Vol 2 (JSP, 1927)
• Elmore James and His Broomdusters: The Resurrection of Elmore James ( Anthology of the Blues, 1955 /56)
• Magic Sam: Charly Blues Masterworks Vol 29: West Side Soul ( Charly, 1957-1960 )

Swell

• " New Orleans Jazz, a Family Album " by Al Rose and Edmond Souchon
• Interview with Kid Ory in LIFE magazine from April 20, 1957