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* Sep 23, 1883 New Orleans, La
† Nov 17, 1957 New Orleans, La
Instrument: trumpet
As a brass band musician he played with:
Camelia,
Holy Ghost,
Johnny
Fischer's Brass Band
Wooden Joe Nicholas was one of the more primitive trumpeters to record
in New Orleans. He was perhaps most notable in his early days for his very
loud volume and for his endurance, important assets for brass men at
parades. By the time Nicholas (the uncle of clarinetist Albert Nicholas)
got on records, he gave the impression of being much older than he
actually was, and he was clearly past his prime. Early on he played
clarinet and throughout his career he occasionally doubled on that
instrument. Nicholas was quite familiar with Buddy Bolden, although he did
not switch to cornet until he played with King Oliver in 1915. He
considered Bolden and Bunk Johnson to be his main influences and played in
a countless number of parade and street bands through the years. Nicholas,
who spent virtually his entire life in New Orleans, formed the Camelia
Band in 1918. Nicholas recorded as a leader in 1945 and 1949 (performances
by American Music, Storyville, Dan and Wolf in addition to appearing on a
Raymond Burke set in 1949. He may have been only 66 at the time (and 62 at
the time of his recording debut) but Nicholas (who by then was very
erratic) could have passed for 80. His playing talents are therefore
legendary rather than something that can be readily discerned from his
recordings. Scott Yanow i1
Wooden Joe Nicholas born and bred in New Orleans, he was the uncle of
Albert Nicholas. He played Clarinet as a boy and took up cornet when he
was with King Oliver (1915). He modeled his playing on Buddy Bolden and
Bunk Johnson. In 1918 he formed the Camelia Band. He earned his nick-name
from the power and stamina he displayed as a street cornetist. He recorded
on trumpet, and occasionally clarinet as leader in 1945 and 1949 and under
Raymond Burke with Johnny St Cyr. s1
You are the nephew of Wooden Joe Nicholas, who used to play trumpet and
clarinet?
That’s right; he was my father’s brother.
How did he get this nickname . . . what does it mean?
Well, when my uncle was very young, he liked to be outdoors. He used to
go with nature . . . stay out for one or two days fishing and hunting in
the woods, and bringing back birds and things like that . . . trapping
them alive. At that time, when I was younger, back o’town wasn’t built.
Gentilly was all swamps . . . swampland which is now in New Orleans. It’s
the nicest part of New Orleans; it’s the millionaire’s quarter now. It’s
downtown . . . way downtown; Gentilly Terrace is going towards the lake.
It’s not uptown, you see, it’s downtown. That’s where he got his name
‘Wooden Joe’ . . . because he like to see woods.
Roger Richard talks to Albert
Nicholas i2
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