Freddie Keppard
Encyclopedia
Freddie Keppard (February 27, 1890 – July 15, 1933) was an early jazz
cornetist.
Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana
. His older brother Louis Keppard
was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin
, mandolin
, and accordion
before switching to cornet
. After playing with the Olympia Orchestra
he joined Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band, taking the place recently vacated by Buddy Bolden
. Soon after Bolden was off the music scene Keppard was proclaimed "King Keppard" as the city's top horn player (see: jazz royalty
).
About 1914 Joe "King" Oliver won a musical "cutting contest" and claimed Keppard's crown; soon after Keppard accepted an offer to join Bill Johnson's band in Los Angeles, California
.
Johnson and Keppard's band became the Original Creole Orchestra which toured the Vaudeville
circuit, giving other parts of the USA
a first taste of the music that was not yet known as "jazz"
. While playing a successful engagement in New York City
in 1915 the band was offered a chance to record for the Victor Talking Machine Company
. In retrospect this would probably have been the first jazz recording. An often repeated story says that Keppard didn't want to record because then everyone else could "steal his stuff." Another well known story is that he was so paranoid about the risk of being copied that he sometimes played with a handkerchief over his fingers to conceal how he played. The recording company offered him $25 flat fee to make a record (a fairly standard rate for non-star performers at the time), far less than he was earning on the vaudeville circuit. His retort to this offer, according to Lawrence Gushee
's research, was: "Twenty-Five dollars? I drink that much gin in a day!" The reminiscences of the other members of the Creole Orchestra reveal that another factor was that the Victor representative had asked them to make a "test recording" without pay, and the band balked, fearing it was a ploy to have them make records without being paid.
About 1917 Keppard settled in Chicago
, which would remain his home (except for briefly going to the East Coast to work with Tim Brymn's band about 1920). Keppard worked in Chicago both as a soloist and with the bands of Jimmie Noone
, Johnny Dodds
, Erskine Tate
, Doc Cook
(for several years), Don Pasquall, and Lil Hardin Armstrong
.
Keppard made all his known recordings in Chicago
from 1924 to 1927. The only recordings he is certainly on are three sides under his own name ("Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals") and a dozen with Doc Cooke's Orchestra, most of which are wonderfully arranged and with Keppard on second cornet. Note that second cornet was the logical and quite demanding seat for the premier cornetist in a two-cornet band, as evidenced by Louis Armstrong's role (one example of many) in similar sized bands and orchestras around the same period. His "Stockyard Strut" is in fact a stunning improvisation on the chords of "Tiger Rag
". Aficionados will derive great pleasure from his contributions to the Doc Coooke recordings, wherein he plays the 'walking-talking' style of Stomp Cornet that pre-dates jazz by about a half generation and follows naturally from ragtime by the same margin. There are a few other recordings on which he plausibly may appear, and a great many more that are often dubiously attributed to him. Keppard was widely imitated both in New Orleans and Chicago, including contemporaneous and highly regarded players such as Louis Panico and Frank Guarante.
Many of his contemporaries said that either Keppard was past his prime when he recorded or that his recordings do not do him justice. Nonetheless, informed listening to the sides on which he is undoubtedly present reveal Keppard to be technically a very proficient player and an adventurous improviser. Many make the mistake of comparing his accomplishments to jazz of a later era, a comparison which does neither approach any favours.
Keppard's style is much more raggy
compared to Oliver's blues
tinged style. While Oliver had more admirers, to some extent preference was a matter of taste; Jelly Roll Morton
, Lil Hardin Armstrong
, and Wellman Braud
all thought Keppard superior to Oliver.
Several musicians with clear memories of Buddy Bolden said that Freddie Keppard sounded the most like Bolden of anyone who recorded.
Keppard suffered from alcoholism
and tuberculosis
in his final years, and died, largely forgotten, in Chicago.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
cornetist.
Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. His older brother Louis Keppard
Louis Keppard
Louis Keppard was an American jazz guitarist and tubist. He was the brother of Freddie Keppard....
was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
before switching to cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
. After playing with the Olympia Orchestra
Olympia Orchestra
The Olympia Orchestra was an American jazz dance band active in New Orleans from around 1906 into the late 1910s.The Olympia Orchestra was founded by Freddie Keppard, and typically held between five and seven members. The instrumentation usually consisted of cornet, trombone, clarinet, guitar or...
he joined Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band, taking the place recently vacated by Buddy Bolden
Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden was an African American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of rag-time music which later came to be known as jazz.- Life :...
. Soon after Bolden was off the music scene Keppard was proclaimed "King Keppard" as the city's top horn player (see: jazz royalty
Jazz royalty
Jazz royalty is a term that reflects the many great jazz musicians who have been termed as musically gifted, honorific, "aristocratic" or "royal" and had titles added to their names or nicknames due to their strong musical abilities....
).
About 1914 Joe "King" Oliver won a musical "cutting contest" and claimed Keppard's crown; soon after Keppard accepted an offer to join Bill Johnson's band in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Johnson and Keppard's band became the Original Creole Orchestra which toured the Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuit, giving other parts of the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
a first taste of the music that was not yet known as "jazz"
Jazz (word)
The origin of the word jazz is one of the most sought-after word origins in modern American English. The word's intrinsic interest — the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century — has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented...
. While playing a successful engagement in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1915 the band was offered a chance to record for the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
. In retrospect this would probably have been the first jazz recording. An often repeated story says that Keppard didn't want to record because then everyone else could "steal his stuff." Another well known story is that he was so paranoid about the risk of being copied that he sometimes played with a handkerchief over his fingers to conceal how he played. The recording company offered him $25 flat fee to make a record (a fairly standard rate for non-star performers at the time), far less than he was earning on the vaudeville circuit. His retort to this offer, according to Lawrence Gushee
Lawrence Gushee
Lawrence "Larry" Gushee is an American musicologist, who specializes in medieval music and early jazz.He was born in Ridley Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at Haverford College, Yale University, University of Dijon, and the Manhattan School of Music...
's research, was: "Twenty-Five dollars? I drink that much gin in a day!" The reminiscences of the other members of the Creole Orchestra reveal that another factor was that the Victor representative had asked them to make a "test recording" without pay, and the band balked, fearing it was a ploy to have them make records without being paid.
About 1917 Keppard settled in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, which would remain his home (except for briefly going to the East Coast to work with Tim Brymn's band about 1920). Keppard worked in Chicago both as a soloist and with the bands of Jimmie Noone
Jimmie Noone
Jimmie Noone was an American jazz clarinetist.- Background :...
, Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby"...
, Erskine Tate
Erskine Tate
Erskine Tate was an American jazz violinist and bandleader.Tate moved to Chicago in 1912 and was an early figure on the Chicago jazz scene, playing with his band, the Vendome Orchestra, at the Vendome Theater, which was located at 31st and State Street...
, Doc Cook
Doc Cook
Charles L. Cooke was an American jazz bandleader and arranger, who performed and recorded under the stage name Doc Cook...
(for several years), Don Pasquall, and Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader, and the second wife of Louis Armstrong with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s....
.
Keppard made all his known recordings in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
from 1924 to 1927. The only recordings he is certainly on are three sides under his own name ("Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals") and a dozen with Doc Cooke's Orchestra, most of which are wonderfully arranged and with Keppard on second cornet. Note that second cornet was the logical and quite demanding seat for the premier cornetist in a two-cornet band, as evidenced by Louis Armstrong's role (one example of many) in similar sized bands and orchestras around the same period. His "Stockyard Strut" is in fact a stunning improvisation on the chords of "Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
". Aficionados will derive great pleasure from his contributions to the Doc Coooke recordings, wherein he plays the 'walking-talking' style of Stomp Cornet that pre-dates jazz by about a half generation and follows naturally from ragtime by the same margin. There are a few other recordings on which he plausibly may appear, and a great many more that are often dubiously attributed to him. Keppard was widely imitated both in New Orleans and Chicago, including contemporaneous and highly regarded players such as Louis Panico and Frank Guarante.
Many of his contemporaries said that either Keppard was past his prime when he recorded or that his recordings do not do him justice. Nonetheless, informed listening to the sides on which he is undoubtedly present reveal Keppard to be technically a very proficient player and an adventurous improviser. Many make the mistake of comparing his accomplishments to jazz of a later era, a comparison which does neither approach any favours.
Keppard's style is much more raggy
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
compared to Oliver's blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
tinged style. While Oliver had more admirers, to some extent preference was a matter of taste; Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader, and the second wife of Louis Armstrong with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s....
, and Wellman Braud
Wellman Braud
Wellman Braud was a Creole American jazz upright bassist. His family sometimes spelled their last name "Breaux", pronounced "Bro"....
all thought Keppard superior to Oliver.
Several musicians with clear memories of Buddy Bolden said that Freddie Keppard sounded the most like Bolden of anyone who recorded.
Keppard suffered from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in his final years, and died, largely forgotten, in Chicago.