February, 2020

February 5, 2020- Today's BHM topic is: The Spikes Brothers and Kid Ory

One of the most important figures in early Los Angeles music history was Benjamin Reb Spikes. Early in his career Spikes was
billed as the world’s greatest saxophonist while working in San Francisco with the So-Different Orchestra. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1919 where he and his brother
opened a music store at 12th and Central Ave. Spikes also formed the Major and Minors Orchestra and opened the Dreamland Cafe at 4th and Central.

The Spikes Brothers store became the central location for the African American music scene in L.A. at that time. They also started a publishing company as well as a booking agency that operated out of the store. His Dreamland Cafe became an important venue for early jazz on the west coast. A little later they teamed up with Jelly Roll Morton to open Wayside Amusement Park at Leake’s Lake in Watts.

Around the same time Spikes landed in Los Angeles, the great New Orleans jazz pioneer Kid Ory moved to Los Angeles as well. He brought cornetist Mutt Carey with him. Before long Ory sent back to New Orleans for more musicians and began playing at the Dreamland Cafe.

The Spikes Brothers store was the only place in Los Angeles where recordings by black artists could be purchased. Business was so big that they decided to form their own label: Sunshine Records.

In 1921 they ask Ory to make records for their new label by backing two local blues singers. Ory agreed as long as he could do some of his own music as well.
The recordings were made at the experimental Nordskog studios in Santa Monica. There were no pressing plants on the west coast at the time so the records were actually pressed in Orange, New Jersey.

When the records came back from the plant the label read Nordskog Records featuring Kid Ory and his Seven Pods of Pepper. Spikes had to paste his own Sunshine label over the Nordskog label. There were less than 5,000 pressed and they were all sold at the Spikes Brothers store. Today, the original 78s are very rare especially with the pasted on Sunshine label intact.

Even though the Original Dixieland Jazz Band had made the first jazz records in 1917, the Kid Ory recordings are the first by a group of the true New Orleans jazz pioneers.

February 4, 2020- Today's BHM topic is: Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton on the West Coast 1917-1922. After Bill Johnson established himself in Los Angeles several other New Orleans musicians
travelled to the west coast. Most notably was Jelly Roll Morton who arrived in Los Angeles sometime in 1917.
Jelly Roll was one of the earliest New Orleans pioneers to leave the crescent city and take the
music on the road.

His companion was Anita Gonzales who happened to be Bill and Dink Johnson’s sister.
Once in Los Angeles he began running shows at the Cadillac Cafe which was located at 553
Central Ave. His shows featured a number of other entertainers including Florence Mills and
Ada “Bricktop” Smith. He wasn’t happy with the local musicians ability to play his music and sent back to New
Orleans for Buddy Petit, Frankie Dusen and Wade Whaley. He also added Anita’s brother Dink
Johnson to the ensemble.

In 1918 he and Anita set up shop in San Francisco by opening a club called The Jupiter which
was at Columbus and Pacific. After San Francisco he formed a “ Creole Orchestra” in San Diego for a short time with side
trips to Tijuana. During 1919 and 1920 he worked mostly in San Franciso and also ventured further north into
the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Throughout 1921 he spent time in Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana.

In Los Angeles he worked at the Paradise Gardens which drew many celebrities. His “Tango”
and “The Crave” were big hits in Hollywood. At this time he also teamed up with The Spikes Brothers and opened the Wayside Amusement
Park at Leake’s Lake in Watts. In November he played an extended engagement in San Diego at the US Grant Hotel. He also
played regularly in Tijuana at the Kansas City Bar. One of his most famous compositions: Kansas City Stomp was named for the Tijuana saloon.

There were no recordings of Jelly Roll Morton during his stay on the west coast. In 1923 he
relocated to Chicago and began a substantial recording career including a number of
compositions written while living on the west coast.

He returned to Los Angeles at the end of his life where he passed away in July of 1941 at the
age of 50. He’s buried at the Cavalry Cemetery in Los Angeles.

February 3, 2020- Today's BHM topic is: Bill Johnson

Most people associate jazz on the west coast with the well known Los Angeles scene of the
1950s. There was however jazz on the west coast in the very early years of the music’s
beginnings and it was brought here by a group of New Orleans transplants.

The story of jazz in California begins with bass player Bill Johnson. Johnson was working in
the New Orleans Storyville district between 1903 and 1905 at the infamous Tom Anderson's
saloon. He also worked with a variety of New Orleans ensembles including Frankie Dusen’s
Eagle Band and the Peerless Orchestra.

Around 1908 he formed a band and travelled to California to introduce New Orleans music to
the west coast. They played a one month engagement at The Red Feather tavern in Los
Angeles followed by Johnson returning to New Orleans. The cornet player he brought with
him to Los Angeles, Ernest Coycault, stayed on the coast and became a significant musician in
the area.

Back in New Orleans, Johnson formed his “Original Creole Orchestra”, a seven piece group
that toured the Southwest. In 1912 he re-formed the band in Los Angeles and set up
permanent residence. Over the next couple of years he fine tuned the personnel which
required importing some musicians from New Orleans.

Members of the Original Creole Orchestra included his brother Dink Johnson, clarinetist
George Baquet and most notably cornetist Freddie Keppard.

Keppard followed Buddy Bolden as the next great New Orleans cornet player and had been
enjoying much success with the Olympia Brass Band and Frankie Dusen’s Eagle Band.
Johnson convinced him to come to Los Angeles which was a major addition to the group.

Around 1914 the Orchestra auditioned for the Pantages vaudeville circuit and ended up touring
the country between 1914 and 1918.

Since there are no recordings it’s hard to know for sure what the group played on the vaudeville
circuit but it is likely that this was the group that introduced the New Orleans sound to a good
portion of the United States.

In 1915 they played an extended engagement at New York’s Winter Garden theater. Victor
records approached them with an offer to record. Freddie Keppard didn’t want to take the
chance of having other musicians “steal his stuff” so they turned Victor down.

If they had accepted Victor’s offer they would have made the first jazz recordings.
Unfortunately today the pioneering group is mostly unknown.