Red McKenzie's Mound City Blue Blowers play "Red Hot!" on Brunswick 2602, recorded on March 14, 1924.
I think of this ensemble as an early Dixieland revival group (the very earliest?).
It was formed as a novelty trio by Red McKenzie and D**k Slevin.
The ensemble evolved--new musicians were added. Or the name was used in new ways.
Between 1929 and 1936 McKenzie used the name for various grops of up to ten players, including at different times Eddie Lang, Eddie Condon, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Krupa, Pee Wee Russell, Muggsy Spanier, and Jack Teagarden.
Other names used for the musicians: McKenzie's Candy Kids, Red McKenzie and The Celestial Beings, The Dancing Stevedores.
It started in 1923 when Red was in his home town, St. Louis--that city is called the Mound City (the first part of the name).
In the late 1930s, Red McKenzie said the following:
“I was a bellhop in the Claridge, and across the street was a place called Butler Brothers Soda Shop. D**k Slevin worked there and there was a little colored shoe-shine boy who used to beat it out on the shoes. Had a phonograph going. I passed with my comb and played along. Slevin would have liked to play a comb but he had a ticklish mouth, so he used a kazoo. He got fired across the street and got a job in a big soda store. He ran into Jack Bland, who owned a banjo (now known for his guitar), and one night after work they went to his room. He and Slevin started playing. They got me."
More:
“Gene Rodemich’s was a famous band at that time. His musicians used to drop in at the restaurant where we hung out. They were impressed and told their boss. He took us to Chicago to record with his band, as a novelty. When we got to Chicago we went down Arkansaw Blues Mound City Blue Blowers to the Friars’ Inn. About 1924 it was. Volly de Faut and Elmer Schoebel were there. Isham Jones was at the place and he asked us what instruments we were playing. He had us come to his office next day, and set the date for Brunswick."
More:
“...We made 'Arkansas Blues' and 'Blue Blues.' They say it sold over a million copies. Brunswick put us in a cafe in Atlantic City called the Beaux Arts. I met Eddie Lang in Atlantic City. In New York, The Mound City Blue Blowers played the Palace in August, 1924.”
Arkansas Blues and Blue Blues (Brunswick 2581) were recorded at Brunswick’s Chicago studios on February 23, 1924.
The novelty format led to several other groups emulating their style.
One example is the Goofus Five, featuring the multi-talented Adrian Rollini on goofus (later on bass sax), drummer Stan King doubling on kazoo, Tommy Fellini on banjo, and cornetist Bill Moore.
Vernon Dalhart and Ed Smalle were other performers who took up the kazoo and jumped aboard the novelty bandwagon started by the Mound City Blue Blowers.
Another to follow the trend was Boyd Senter, better known as a saxophonist and clarinettist.
Red’s band traveled overseas. The musicians played at the Stork Club in London.
Returning to America, McKenzie joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra but kept the his own small band going on the side, with personnel changes.
In 1935 he revived the Mound City Blue Blowers for a series of recording sessions.
In the early 1940s, Jack Bland said the following to Art Hodes:
“I was working in a soda fountain in St. Louis and one day a
fellow came in and asked for a job. He got the job but wasn’t
so good as a soda clerk. That night he went out with me to the
place where I was staying. I had a banjo; he saw it and enquired
if I could play it. I said yes, a little, so he pulled a ‘kazoo’ out of
his pocket and we stomped off. It sounded pretty good, so that
night we went to the Arcadia Dance Hall....banjo, kazoo and
all. After the dance we took a couple of girls home; they lived in
North St Louis. After leaving the girls we stopped at the WaterTower Restaurant and we ran into Red McKenzie. We sat there and played until the owner ran us out of the place; then we got
onto the Grand Avenue street car with the whole gang and a donkey conductor who liked music. We played for two roundtrips until D**k Slivin [sic], the kazoo playing soda clerk, got
into an argument with the conductor.”
Sound transfer was done by Tim Ecker.
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