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* Apr 18 1891 Parks, La or St. Martinville La.16
† Nov 29
1989
As a brass band musician he played with:
Excelsior,
Tuxedo, Brass Band
He played with Manuel Perez (1909), Silver Leaf orchestra (1911) and the
Tuxedo Brass band, before WW I. In 1919 he started his own band (the
Maple Leaf Band). He was active until illness forced retirement from
music in 1925.16
In addition to civic and social activities, the Autocrat Club
continuously hosted professional jazz musicians who played for balls and
dances. One such musician was the great trumpet player Hypolite Charles,
whose Maple Leaf Band was named after composer Scott Joplin’s hit “Maple
Leaf Rag.” Charles had a contract with the Autocrat Club during the 1920s.
Jobs paid $3.50 per night for each musician, and according to recorded
interviews with band member Eddie
Dawson, “the band made lots of money.” The band also played the New
Orleans Country Club, San Jacinto Hall, and most of the Creole balls.
The Maple Leaf Band included Camilla Todd playing piano, with
Sonny Henry on
trombone, Emile Bigard on violin, Joe Welch on drums,
Lorenzo Tio, Jr., on sax
and clarinet, and Albert Glenny
on bass. Eddie Dawson also played tenor banjo and bass. Prior to 1910,
bass players commonly played with a bow. It was around that time when
Dawson became the first musician noted for plucking the strings.i1
'My band went into the Moulin Rouge which was opened by an
ex-waiter at Tranchina's. I had the following musicians in my band who
came from the Maple Leaf Band, Camilla Todd, Sam Dutrey and Henry Martin
who had switched from drums to banjo. I added Sonny Henry on trombone and
later Albert Glenny on string bass. Joe Welch was the drummer with the
band. Red Dugas was the original drummer with my band, but some of the
other members criticised his playing so much that he quit and so Welch
came in. My band was also the first band to broadcast on the radio, WSMB,
from New Orleans.
When Piron took his band to New York, we had been playing the dinner
dances at the New Orleans Country Club and I took over the afternoon tea,
although the people there insisted on strings only. I played a number,
'The Rosary', very softly on my cornet with Camilla 'Chick' Todd
accompanying. After the number, the people seemed to go wild. We played at
the New Orleans Country Club until my health forced me to quit playing
altogether. The people who were attending these afternoon teas were old
and very rich.' (Hypolite Charles Tulane interview)
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