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* 1881 Algiers, La
† Apr 1, 1936 New Orleans, La
As a brass band musician he played with:
Pacific,
Tulane Brass Band.
Frankie Dusen Jr. became the trombonist in Buddy Bolden's band in
1906 and took over the group after Bolden went insane in 1907. He re-named
the group the Eagle Band after the Eagle Saloon at Perdido and South
Rampart Street in the Storyville district. They were a hot, hard-drinking
outfit and were quite popular in New Orleans up until around 1917. It is
said that they played the same songs in the same style as when Bolden was
the bandleader. Cornetist Tig Chambers replaced Bolden in 1907 and in 1910
Bunk Johnson replaced Chambers until around 1914 when Buddy Petit replaced
him. Many up-and-coming Jazz musicians passed through the band including
Bill Johnson, Baby Dodds, Pops Foster, Ed Garland, and a teenager named
Sidney Bechet occasionally played with the group. In 1917 Dusen, Buddy
Petit and Wade Whaley went to Los Angeles to join Jelly Roll Morton at
Baron Long's night club in Watts. When they arrived Morton ridiculed them
so much for their down home clothes and ways, that Dusen and Petit soon
returned to New Orleans, angry and swearing to kill Morton if he ever
returned to the city. Wadley stayed on and went on to play with Kid Ory.
Ironically, Morton's verse about Dusen in his 1939 recording of Buddy
Bolden's Blues has given Dusen a touch of immortality, but it doesn't
paint a very flattering picture of him. The lyrics are as follows:
Thought I heard Frankie Dusen shout
Gal give me the money or I'm gonna beat it out
I mean the money like I explain you, I'm gonna beat it out
Cause I heard Frankie Dusen say
Dusen started another band when he returned to the city. In 1918 he played
with the band on the riverboat S.S. Capitol. Throughout the 1920s and
1930s he played occasionally with Louis Dumaine's Orchestra and he
received money from the WPA during the Depression. Dusen never recorded
and he died in poverty sometime around 1940.i1
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