Stomp Your Stuff

78rpm Vocalion V. 1023

State Street Ramblers had recorded with Roy Palmer on trombone and Darnell Howard on clarinet, but here they have to do without them, and if you can trust Rust “Jazz Records” discography, it’s just the trio of the rhythm section that we hear. I would have liked to have those three musicians on hand in my band! Their playing is very tight and they don’t ever speed up the tempo. When they stomp their stuff, they really make the most out of it by vocalizing. We hear a good lead from Alfred Bell’s kazoo followed by a scat chorus, and then there is another kazoo solo with a different sound, probably played by someone else, before the last chorus with Bell again in the lead.

All this could have been a mess, but the guys really know what they’re doing. The tune has two similar strains, with one a bit longer than the other and the shortest one reminding of Coney Island Washboard.

As often with Chicago South Side combinations, the personnel are not so easy to establish. On the record itself, it says that Alfred Bell plays kazoo and that the washboard player could be Jimmy Bertrand. Another source have W.E. Burton on washboard and I think that could be right since I recognize his voice in the scat chorus. Ed Hudson plays banjo, and the star of the group is Jimmy Blythe on piano.