Red McKenzie (Oct. 14, 1899, St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 - Feb. 7, 1948, 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...

) was an American jazz

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...

 musician. He was the best-known, and one of the only, comb

Comb

A comb is a toothed device used in hair care for straightening and cleaning hair or other fibres. Combs are among the oldest tools found by archaeologists...

 players in jazz history.

McKenzie played the comb by placing tissue paper

Tissue paper

Tissue paper is a lightweight paper or, light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made both from virgin and recycled paper pulp.-Properties:Key properties are: strength, absorbency, basis weight, thickness , brightness, stretch, appearance and comfort....

 over the tines and blowing on it, which produced a sound similar to a kazoo

Kazoo

The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...

. McKenzie also played the kazoo proper, and occasionally sang. He was a co-founder, with Jack Bland

Jack Bland

Jack Bland was an American jazz banjoist and bandleader.Born in Sedalia, Missouri, Bland co-founded the Mound City Blue Blowers with Red McKenzie in 1924 in St. Louis. Their first hit record was "Arkansas Blues", a success in Chicago and the Midwest...

, of the Mound City Blue Blowers

Mound City Blue Blowers

The Mound City Blue Blowers were an American jazz ensemble, formed in Saint Louis and given its nickname. It was co-founded by Red McKenzie and Jack Bland and performed during in the 1920s and 1930s....

, who released a number of titles between 1924 and 1925 and were, for a time, a sensation. At the same time, McKenzie also recorded solo as Red McKenzie & the Candy Kids. In 1928, he fronted a group called McKenzie and Condon's Chicagoans

McKenzie and Condon's Chicagoans

McKenzie and Condon's Chicagoans was a jazz band from Chicago, led by banjo player Eddie Condon and sponsored by singer and comb player Red McKenzie. Their four recordings in December 1927 were important influences on early Chicago style jazz....

 for a few sides on Okeh Records

Okeh Records

Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...

. He returned to the Mound City name again in 1929, 1931, and 1935-36.

Beginning in 1931 (no doubt due to the popularity of crooners like Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 and Russ Columbo

Russ Columbo

Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolpho Colombo , known as Russ Columbo, was an American singer, violinist and actor, most famous for his signature tune, "You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love", his compositions "Prisoner of Love" and "Too Beautiful For Words", and the legend surrounding his early...

), he started recording as a singer, processing a very warm crooner style as a solo for Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 and with Paul Whiteman

Paul Whiteman

Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...

 in 1932. He sang again with the Spirits of Rhythm

Spirits of Rhythm

Spirits of Rhythm were an American jazz string band.The ensemble's members had previously played under several other names , and upon adding Teddy Bunn as guitarist in 1932, the group began calling itself Spirits of Rhythm...

 in 1934 and the Farley-Riley group in 1935. He made two swinging vocal records for Variety in 1937. Between 1939 and 1943 he went into retirement, moving back to his birthplace of St. Louis and working in a brewery

Brewery

A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

, but appeared with Eddie Condon

Eddie Condon

Albert Edwin Condon , better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion....

 between 1944 to 1947 as a vocalist. Known as heavy drinker, he died of liver cirrhosis in 1948.