'Ellington and Braud demonstrated that the string bass, when properly miked, had a more explosive, incisive quality than the tuba - Ellington credited Braud with "crowding the microphone." Duke made sure Braud was placed so he would be prominent on records, and the innovation was so successful that Duke - and later pretty much everyone else - gave up using tuba in jazz rhythm sections.'

• Born on a rice farm owned by his father in St. James Parish, New Orleans. Family is farmers and brickmasons, living in Brookstown, La.
• Surname originally spelled Breaux.
• Played violin when he was 12.
• Moved to New Orleans at age 16 or 1911.
• Began professional career playing drums.
• When he left New Orleans at age 20, Wellman was a fiddle player, also mandolin, and he played guitar before leaving New Orleans at age 20.
• In Chicago he played trombone until his lip went bad in 1916 or 1919 and he took up string bass. Hadn't studied or read music until he started playing trombone. Studied with a Professor Jackson in Chicago.
• Played a year with Kid Ory.
• In 1919 was in the 17 piece Creole Band, led by Charles Elgar.
• Went to Europe with Will Vodery's Plantation Orchestra in a Blackbirds revue with Florence Mills, returned in 1923.
• Saturday Night Function was his first recording. It used no drums so he played percussively. (Elsewhere he remembers other records being his first, including something in 1919.)
• Played sousaphone on some Ellington recordings.
• Bass Edwards was a tuba player and didn't play string bass; Braud came into the band on string bass, so it should be easy for researchers to identify the bassist on early Ellington records.
• Claims to have written Double Check Stomp
• Denies there were two basses when he was with Ellington.

• 'I found it interesting that Wellman says his dad changed Breaux to Braud because so much mail was addressed to Breaux it got mixed up. The pronunciation [of Breaux] was "bro" and Wellman pronounced Braud the same way.
• There is no recording of Saturday Night Function with Ellington and without drums. Braud first recorded with Ellington on 1927 10 06. The earliest known recording of Saturday Night Function is the 1929 01 16 Victor recording. The only recordings listed in discographies by Braud that predate his joining Ellington are four sides by Thomas Morris and His Seven Hot Babies recorded for Victor on 1926 11 12 & 24 on which Braud plays string bass.'
• We can prove that Billy Taylor played bass and tuba alongside [Braud] in late 1934 and early 1935.'
• 'The label of Victor V-38129 credits Double Check Stomp to "Bigard-Brand[sic]-Hodges," while that of Brunswick 4783 credits "Bigard." ASCAP's Ace title search credits DCS to Bigard and Irving Mills and shows the publisher as EMI Mills Music Inc., but the copyright and the sheet music credits Albany Bigard and Irving Mills and show the publisher was Gotham Music Services, Inc. Given Braud's statement in the interview that "I wrote Double Check Stomp," don't we wish we could go back to 1930 and ask Bigard and Braud exactly who wrote what?'
• 'I heard the interview with Braud in the 1990s when I visited Tulane. Since then I've bought a copy of "New Orleans Style" by Bill Russell (compiled and edited by Barry Martyn & Mike Hazeldine), Jazzology Press, 1994, a book that condenses Russell's interviews with many of the most significant New Orleans musicians. In the book, Wellman makes the statement (which I suppose we'll find somewhere in the audio interview) that "I think I'm the first person to start the walking bass." This is to me the most significant statement to be found in the interview and HIGHLY inclusion-worthy in TDWAW.'

• 'Braud, paraphrased at p.112 of "New Orleans Style":

  "I always played for tone, just like when I'm playing sousaphone on The Mooche. I was always curious about things in music. Always asking questions. Anyhow, one day I went over to the Rochester Theater and got talking to the sousaphone player. He was hitting four tones at once on his horn. He said that he had been first brass bass with John Phillip Sousa for twenty-five years. I knew he had to know what he was doing and in fact, he made that horn sound like a string bass. You have to take the dumb side if you want to learn with a professional, so I asked him how he got that tone. He told me it came from the strike of the tongue and so I went home and practiced on that for a long while. That's how I got the effect on The Mooche with Duke's band." '

Snelson advertisement
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     During his heyday he knew more showfolk...colored and white...than any other writer. He created the fabulous theatrical contests which gave readers an opportunity to select the top artists in the field. His 'brainchild' is now universally recognized.
     Oldtimers in the wings...and on the stge...always will remember Floyd Snelson...a genius born twenty-five years ahead of the time!"
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'Tom Whaley - Footnotes and Whole Notes in Jazz History
If Billy Strayhorn was the "shadowy figure" of the Duke Ellington organization, then Tom Whaley operated under deep cover. When mentioned at all in the annals of jazz, he typically appears in the footnote as Tom Whaley 1892-1986, chief copyist for Duke Ellington 1941-1968 [recte 1971].
  ...Whaley was a trained musician and pianist who began his career in 1912; ... He recalls meeting Ellington in New York in 1923... By the late '20s, Whaley began orchestrating as a musical director for various New York theatres. His duties included rehearsing acts and vocalists for popular amateur nights. ... he rehearsed [Ella Fitzgerald] for a Lafayette Theatre amateur night and recalls that he ... introduced her to Chick Webb and his wife. Whaley remembers introducing Sarah Vaughn to Earl Hines while working ... as director of the Harlem Opera House. In 1931 [recte 1935], he began a long association with the Apollo Theatre.
 ... The music manuscripts in the Ellington Archives tell many tales. Scattered throughout are many scores in Whaley's hand...
 ...I believe Tom Whaley, who considered himself "Head Librarian" of the Ellington organization...
 ...Ellington reportedly displayed disregard for his own music manuscripts... It is my personal notion that Ellington could afford such a casual public stance because he was well aware that Tom Whaley was behind the scenes documenting Ellington's role in 20th century American music... '

• Circa 1923: met at Robinson's Restaurant in NYC where Tom was playing the piano
• 1941 - 1950: Hired by Ellington as copyist, taking over from Juan Tizol
• 1950: Left Ellington in a dispute over money, returning in 1951.
• Circa 1965: Became choirmaster for the Sacred Concerts
• 1969: Conducted Ellington band at White House for Medal of Freedom Award and birthday celebration

'Attached is the 1940 census, which shows his occupation as orchestra manager. Also attached is a copy of his death certificate. Even though it says he was a lifelong resident of Dallas, the Social Security Death index shows he obtained his card in New York... Here's a link to his headstone'

'You don't hear much about Boyd but reviews of Ellington stage performances during the '30s laud the dramatic effects of the stage lighting, highlighting the band's soloists in different colors.'

'Irving Mills began managing us when we were in the Kentucky Club. It was imperative that we have a man like that, a front man, because I don't think we could have done it alone without his guidance. When anything important pertaining to Ellington came up, he was there in person. He didn't send someone else out. When he made the second European trip with us, he was so sick he had to have a doctor in attendance twenty-four hours a day, but he made it every step of the way. He was a businessman, sure, but he always saw to it we had the best in transportation. The band didn't know what a bus looked like in the early days. We had private Pullman cars, with 'Duke Ellington' on the side, and a private baggage car, through every state of the union, and we were the only band in the country, white or colored, that had that. On one-nighters, we lived out of the train, and everybody had a lower berth. We parked the cars in a station, and there was no running around looking for rooms, north, south, east, or west. That was the Mills regime. When it ended, we came to the covered wagon – the bus.
  You could be so comfortable in that parlor car. If Duke wanted to get up and write music, all he had to do was put his robe over his pajamas. You could rest all day if you wanted to, and that meant you arrived at the next engagement in good shape. Duke liked to rest, but this way of traveling also gave him such isolation. He wasn't bothered with people worrying him about a hundred different things all day long. When we played a long engagement, we gave up the cars, but closing night the Pullmans would be back in the station.'

• Chilton's Who's Who of Jazz shows Greer as born circa 1895-12-13.
• Steven Lasker:
  • [This webpage showed Sonny's] birthdate as 1902-12-03, the date Greer gave to Balliet in the 1974-12-23 New Yorker interview Tucker republished in the Ellington Reader.
  • ...Per Mark Tucker, [the] most recent State Dept. passport found for Greer, dated 3/21/39, shows 12/13/02.
  • The 1933 Majestic passenger list gives his birthdate as 1902 12 13, consistent with the 1939 passport.
  • Brooks Kerr, who you will recall knew and gigged regularly with Greer for many years, says Greer told him his actual date of birth was 1895-12-13, and Brooks heard the same date from Greer's wife Millie (born in Brooklyn, 1892-01-14 according to Brooks).
  • In 1931, Wellman Braud (b. 1891) was the band's oldest member [but per] the Chicago Defender profile of Greer by Chester Nerges from the Chicago Defender (reprinted in A Cotton Club Miscellany), Greer [at 36] was the oldest member of the band, and began his musical career at Chattel High School in Long Branch in 1914.
• William A. Greer is listed on page 356 of the 1902 Index of Births in New Jersey:

  NAME OF CHILD   NAMES OF PARENTS              NUMBER
  William A.      Greer  Alexander & Elizabeth  28332

  The page is handwritten on ruled paper, with all writing except Sonny's entry being in the same hand. Sonny's entry is in a different hand and a much darker ink, and is the only entry that's squeezed between lines.
• Greer is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery. While Find-a-grave shows his date of birth as 1895-12-13, its picture of his gravestone says 1902-1982.
• Census records don't give birth dates but do show ages:
  • The 1905 New Jersey state census has [Greer] Alexander Jr. born Dec. 1900 and age 4, with parents Alexander and Lizzie born in February 1871 and May 1876 respectively. Other children shown are Sarah, Mollie and James Edward.
  • The 1910 census has a William A. Greer, age 14, living in Long Branch, in Monmouth County, N.J., but the place of birth is South Carolina.
  • The 1915 New Jersey state census has [Greer] Alexander Jr. born Dec. 1901 and age 13, with parents Alexander, age 42, and Elizabeth, age 36, born in February 1873 and May 1888 {sic} respectively. Other family memebers are Loretta (b.Mar. 1898), Madeline (b.Dec. 1900) and James Edward (b. Oct.1905).
  • The 1920 United States census gives Alex Jr.'s age as 19, suggesting a birth in 1900, and it says he was a musician. The other members of the household are Greer, Alex (46), Elizabeth (41), Madelaine (20) and Loretta (22)
  • The 1930 census gives Sonny's age as 29, suggesting birth in 1899 or 1900.
  • The 1940 census gives his age as 39, again suggesting he was born in 1899 or 1900.
  • Greer's oral history names his parents Elizabeth and William Alexander, and says he had two sisters and a brother, one sister being Madelyn {sic).

• The Majestic 1933 passenger list gives Sonny's age as 30 and his date of birth as 13th December 1902.
• The Île de France passenger list May 3, 1939 has William Greer, age 39, indicating birth in 1899 or 1900.
• The Associated Press 1982 announcement of Sonny's death gives his age as 78. The New York Times News Service gave his age as 78 and his year of birth 1903.
• The source of the Find-A-Grave entry is not disclosed.

'In "Duke Ellington in Person" (pp. 34-41) Mercer Ellington describes Ned's role in Ellington's career at length, with precise dates and details, such that one might reasonably suspect these pages were in part ghost-written by Ned himself.'

'It appears the birth date for Elmer Snowden may also be incorrect as well. My first clue was the 1910 census, where despite the fact the ages of the people listed often contain inaccuracies, Elmer was listed as being age 11. This continued in the 1920 census (age 21), the 1925 New York census (age 27), the 1940 census (age 41) and the 1950 census (age 51), all pointing to a birthdate earlier than 1900.

To complicate matters, Elmer's World War 1 Draft Registration Card lists his birth date as 9 Oct 1897 (attached), while his 1973 obituary lists his age as 72. Elmer married a woman named Gertrude in 1920, which ended in divorce in 1926 after two separate indictments for non-support, but I could find no mention of his age or birth date in those documents. '

• Library of Congress Performing Arts Database:
  • His monopolistic dominance as a creator of black floor shows for nearly every colored nightclub in New York City throughout the 1920s and 1930s was matchless...
  • Between 1920 and 1943, Harper produced some 2000 shows. ... When the Cotton Club first opened ... as the Club DeLuxe ... Harper directed the first uptown Cotton Club revue. He was instrumental in helping to establish the Cotton Club as the most prestigious showcase for black musical talent in New York...
• Ellington was Harper's rehearsal pianist at Connie's Inn in New York and Duke and Edna rented a room in his house.

EDNA ELLINGTON
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• They had two babies, son Mercer, in March 1919 and a boy Edna said was "born too close to the first and died." The second baby is not listed in the January 7, 1920 census enumeration.
• U.S. Federal censuses:
  • 1900 shows Edna Thompson, age 1, born August 1898, grandaughter to Dyons Lynch, living at 716 23rd Street N.W., approximately half a mile southwest of the Ellington home on Ward Place. Her mother appears to be Lula Thompson, age 28, one of the Lynch daughters.
  • 1910 has Edna Thompson, age 11, at 1314 S Street, Ward 8, Washington, D.C., over a mile northeast of the Ellington home.
  • 1920 shows Edna Thompson in Edward H. [sic] Ellington's household, with Mercer K. Edna's and Edward's ages were 21 and 20 respectively.
• Separated, probably in 1927, they were never divorced – see Duke and Edna Thompson Ellington Permanently Separate at circa 1927 09 00 below.
• According to her March 1959 interview in Ebony:
  • Edna was born at Ward Place, across the street from Ellington.
  • Ebony said she was his earliest playmate and a classmate for 12 years.
  • Still married but separated for nearly 30 years.
  • In 1959 she lived in an 11-room apartment in Northwest Washington.
  • She was a pianist (played her baby grand piano during the interview
  • 'I taught Ellington and Mercer how to read music... We were going to Armstrong High School then. Duke wanted to be a commercial artist, I wanted to be a music teacher....
         It was at Armstrong that Ellington and I fell in love. He had just learned the difference between girls and boys. Shortly before we were 20, we got married and before we were 21, Mercer came. Ellington was working in music then and he was a messenger in the Treasury Dept. He also painted backdrops at the Howard Theater. Those were hard days. But even then he had hitched his wagon to a star. He knew he would be great.
         Then the second baby came. It was too close to the first and died. We were very young then. Kids, really. I think we both thought Mercer was a toy. We left Mercer in Washington and went to New York. I was one of Ellington’s show girls, though really all I had to do was walk around and lend atmosphere. Those were the days when we lived in one room and beans were only 5 cents a can. Some days we didn’t have the 5 cents.
         Like all things, times began to get better. But I was young and jealous and didn’t want to share him with the public. I couldn’t stand around waiting until the public had their fill of him before he could give me some of his time. If there was something important I wanted to say to him, I wanted to rush up and tell him then. But I had to wait. Then came the big breakup. Ellington thought I should have been more understanding of him. I guess I should have been, I guess I've regretted – I know I’ve regretted it. You see, I’m still hooked on Ellington...
         Why didn't we divorce after the breakup? I love Ellington and I'm going to stick my neck out and say I don't think he hates me. I don't want a divorce and neither does he. We're proud of the way we get along. He has always provided for me through the years. I was hurt, bad hurt when the breakup came, but I have never been bitter. Any young girl who plans to marry a man in public life, a man who belongs to the public, should try to understand as much about the demands of show business first and not be like I was...
         I see Ellington sometimes. Whenever anything happens he'll call me or I'll call him. .. I have as much of him as he could have given of himself to any woman. Other women may have him, but I'll always have the Ellington. It was mine the day Mercer was born. We'll never be together again. The public's still there and I'm still jealous.'

• Some sources give his birthplace as Vega Baja or San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Tizol migrated to New York in 1917 but didn't stay. His Oct. 1918 draft registration card ("Tarjeta de Inscripción") gives his address as Cruz 31, S.Juan, Porto Rico, and shows his birthdate as Enero 22 1900, and his occupation Musico, employed by Manuel Tizol in S.J., Porto Rico
• He returned to New York 1920 09 21,, living there for a short while before settling in Washington.
• Tizol and Ellington met in late 1920 when Tizol played the Howard Theatre with Marie Lucas' Puerto Rican Orchestra.
• Patricia Willard interviewed Juan and Rose Tizol for the Oral History Project. Their interview can be read or listened to at https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/61531/.

'...he was born on 20 September 1900 (not 11 Jan), according to multiple sources, including documents he submitted, such as his 1942 Draft Registration Form.

Second, his full name was actually Wilbur Dumont Paris. I'm unsure why he took on the surname "DeParis," but obviously he was in collusion with his younger brother and professional trumpet player Sidney, who also used it. The earliest document I could find using the surname DeParis was in 1945, when he and his brother Sidney returned from a trip to Montreal, presumably to play with a band. And on that document, the first two letters in "DeParis" were actually crossed out for Wilbur and his brother, so as to perhaps not cause confusion regarding identity, I guess. Surprisingly, I found another document from October of 1944, regarding another trip from Montreal, without Sidney, where Wilbur was merely listed as "Wilbur Paris."

Later, on a similar trip, returning this time from Toronto in May of 1946, Wilbur was finally listed as "De Paris," though I also found a July 1960 Passenger List regarding a return flight from Paris in which he was still referred to as "Wilbur D. Paris." He was Wilbur DeParis in the 1950 Census, and in several newspaper articles from the late 1950's and early 60's that I found from reviewers of his gigs. He was also, finally, listed as Wilbur DeParis in the Social Security Death Index after he had passed away in January of 1973... '

• Most sources say Bubber was born in Aiken, South Carolina. A much younger musician born in Charleston, S.C. claimed he was born there and raised in Aiken. It is possible he was born in Elko, S.C., like his mother and two sisters.
• Consensus seems to be that Bubber was born in April 1903, but military records, if they are for the same man, say 1899.
• See the discussion in our supplementary web page Bubber Miley.
  
• Further research is invited.

• Fredi co-starred with Ellington in the 1929 film Black and Tan and would marry Ellington trombonist Lawrence Brown in 1933 (separated 1948, divorced 1950), then married dentist Anthony Bell in 1952. Gossip abounds that Brown disliked/hated Ellington because of an affair Duke had had with Fredi.
• Miss Washington began her career as a dancer in New York, toured with Shuffle Along, and danced at Club Alabam. In 1926 she co-starred with Paul Robeson in the stage play Black Boy under the stage name Edith Warren (her photograph under that name is in the Oct. 7 1926 New York Sun review of the play. She formed a dance team, Moiret and Fredi, which went to Europe, and she returned to the United States in December 1928.
• The 1929-08-01 Standard Union reported the team had joined the Waller, Brooks and Razaf revue "Hot Chocolates," but this may not have lasted long, since Black and Tan, her first movie, was filmed that August.
• She would go on to make several films and perform on the stage, co-found the Negro Actors Guild and become active in the civil rights movement, participating in boycotts and demonstrations and writing for the weekly newspaper published by Isabel's husband, civil rights leader Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
• While her 1994 obituary in the Baltimore Afro-American says she sang and danced at the Cotton Club with Ellington, Steven Lasker observes:

  'Despite what we read in Fredi's BAA obit,... I've found no evidence she ever worked at the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington. '

• Question: Did Fredi Washington work at the Cotton Club with Ellington?
• Fredi's early career is outlined in an article about her and her sister Isabel (or Isabelle), also an entertainer, in the 1931-09-28 New York Evening Post. That article did not mention either the Cotton Club or the film.
• Two collections of Miss Washington's papers are held in New Orleans (Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, and New York (New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Amistad's Reference Archivist L. C. Moore advises:

'    I've reviewed the Fredi Washington papers, 1925-1979, and did not find any correspondence involving Fredi Washington and Duke Ellington, nor Fredi Washington and her first husband, Lawrence Brown. I did find a telegram from Duke Ellington to Fredi Washington in Box 1, folder 3; he sent his best wishes for a successful performance of Lysistrata (1946)...
    Fredi Washington's resume mentions working at Club Alabam (not the Cotton Club), and also "a nightclub" between 1924 and 1926, but said nightclub is not named (Box 1, folder 6)...'

Additional information might be found in NYPL, but is beyond the scope of this webpage.

'...A former singer and singing coach, he made his debut in 1918 at the Howard Theater in the days of the supper shows. In 1922 he bacame Duke Ellington's personal assistant and held this post for 25 years. He had a singing engagement also in these early years with CBS on the "Majestic Radio Hour" show.
In 1947 Mr. Rhea became semi-retired from entertainment activities. Since then he has had jobs as distillery and brewery representative in this area...'

'Going through grade school, Duke Ellington was far from outstanding. He wasn't really a dud, because his life could easily have run parallel to that of Einstein, whose grades, I understand, were terrible, too. But what can definitely be said of Duke Ellington is that he was born an artist and that he had the typical ways of an artist from birth. Basically, anything that didn't move or inspire him didn't exist, regardless of how it could be explained in philosophical terms. '

• Many sources spell Otto's surname "Hardwicke," the spelling he used when autographing a Carnegie Hall programme for the concert 1943 01 23.
• His biography in American National Biography Online and his Jet Magazine obituary spell his surname Hardwick, is the spelling used on the List Of United States Citizens arriving in New York 1939 05 10 on the S.S. Île de France and 1928 09 10 on the S.S. Rochambeau passenger lists.
• The 1910 census has him as Hardwick Otto J.; the 1920 census has his father as Hardwick James W. and the lad's given name (hard to read) looks like Ato. In the 1940 census, Otto and his wife Gladys are listed in New York; and his name is spelled Hardwick.
• This webpage uses "Hardwick" unless quoting directly from a source that adds the "e."

1924 passport photo
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Arthur Whetsel, early 1929(Crop from Apeda Studios band photo)Click to Enlarge
Undated photo from Facebook
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• Whetsel's surname is often misspelled "Whetsol", but his 1924 passport application, the 1933 S.S. Olympia passenger list, and his headstone say "Whetsel," as do the samples of his signature reproduced in DEMS 02/2.
• Arthur's friends called him Artie and Chiefy (derived from "Sheafe," spelled "Schiefe" in Tucker. His 1924 passport application described him as 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall, medium forehead, brown eyes, short straight nose, moustache, small (illegible) mouth, round small chin, black hair, colored complexion, and either a pale or dull face.
• Various sources suggest Whetsel played with Ellington as early as 1917. This seems unlikely; he would have been only 12 years old, and he appears to have lived in southern California and in Florida from 1915 through at least 1918:
  • Arthur's parents, Lucy W. (nee Parker) and Rev. Oscar N. Whetsel appear to have had two children, Marguerite, born in Tennessee in 1902, and Arthur.
  • After Rev. Whetsel died in 1906, his widow married the influential clergyman, Reverend Lewis Charles Sheafe in Huntsville, Ohio in March 1911. Their daughter Doris was born in in 1914. The 1914 Washington D.C. city directory (p.1162) has Lewis C. Sheafe and Mrs. Lucy P. Sheafe at 1223 S St. NW; he is shown as the pastor at People's S.D.A. (Seventh Day Adventists)
  • The Sheafe "timeline" suggests that from December 1914 to sometime in late 1915, the Sheafes did church work in Los Angeles, but the Savannah Tribune, 1916-05-13 (p.1) announced Elder Lewis C. Sheafe and family left Washingon in the fall of 1913.
  • In 1917, the Sheafes opened a school in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jacksonville 1918 city directory lists the Sheafes at 2537 Evergreen Ave., describing them as principal and teacher, respectively, of Mission Industrial School. The 1919 Jacksonville steet directory p.127 lists L.C. Sheafe at 2537 Evergreen; the relevant page of alphabetical list of individuals is missing.
  • The Sheafe "timeline" has Rev. Sheafe returning to Washington in 1918 to lead the People's S.D.A. church, but Mrs. Sheafe does not appear to have moved back at the time. The 1919-12-20 Washington Bee (p.5) carried a request for donated cast-off clothing, shoes or any wearing apparel by the Ebenezer Industrial School in Jacksonville, Mrs. L. P. Sheafe, principal. Elder Lewis C. Sheafe, 529 U Street northwest was to send for anything donated. The 1920 Jacksonville city directory shows Lucy P. Sheafe as the principal of Ebenezer Ind. School, living at 2160 Evergreen Ave. while the 1920 Washington D.C. city directory (p.1315) has Rev. L.C. Sheaf at 529 U nw. The 1921-08-27 Washington Bee (p.7) announced a meeting at their home in Washington on August 27 that year.
  • The 1920 U.S. census for Washington D.C., enumerated in January 1920, has Lewis C. Sheafe, Arthur P. Whetsel, 15, and Doris C. Sheafe, 7, as roomers at 529 You [sic] St. N.W.
  • Preliminary conclusion:
    It seems unlikely Whetsel played with Ellington's early orchestra until 1918 or 1919.
• Whetsel went with Ellington, Snowden, Hardwick and Greer to New York and remained in the orchestra until August or September 1923.
  • Hasse:

    '[Miley] replaced Arthur Whetsol [sic] in the fall when he returned to Washington to finish at Armstrong High School.'

  • Tucker:

    'Most accounts state that Whetsol [sic] left to attend medical school at Howard University. But Dennette Harrod, president of the Washington chapter of the Duke Ellington Society, has searched Howard's records without turning up Whetsol's name. Moreover, trombonist Lawrence Brown, who roomed with Whetsol in the 1930s, told Harrod he had never heard anything to suggest that the trumpeter had received medical training. In his memoirs, Ellington wrote simply that Whetsol left "to continue his studies at Howard university," thus skirting the issue of whether Whetsol actually did so.'

  • Lasker:

    'The 1933 Ellington press book produced by Mills Artists notes that Whetsel was "educated at public schools in California and Washington D.C., and Howard University, Washington." Some years ago, Dennette Harrod contacted Howard University to request records of Arthur's attendance, but no results were obtained. Given that Whetsel's name was mispelled as Whetsol in most print sources ... it's conceivable that Harrod requested records using the incorrect spelling, which would account for the lack of results. '

• How long Whetsel remained in Washington is uncertain.
  • He applied for a passport on Nov. 12, 1924, to go to 8 South American countries for "Professional Work (Musician)" at the Peruvian Centennial Exhibition at Lima, Peru. He expected to leave from New York on Nov. 13, 1924 aboard the Santa Teresa, returning within a year. His address and occupation on his passport application were "148 W. 129 St., N.Y. City" and "Musician."
  • The State Department required a letter from his parents since he was 19 years old, but arranged for him to pick his passport at the American Consulate in Lima when he provided the letter.
  • The passport was issued Dec. 6, 1924.
  • That letter, written by Mrs. Lucy P. Sheafe and dated Dec. 18, 1924, showed her return address as State College, Dover, Del.
  • Arthur's application included an identification certificate signed by musician Norwood A. Penner of New York who reported knowing him for ten years.
• Whetsel returned to the United States January 12, 1925, having left Callao, Peru on the S.S. Santa Ana on December 31, 1924. The U.S. Immigration List of United States Citizens gives his U.S. address as 905 R. Street N.W., Wash. D.C.
• Whetsel rejoined the Ellington orchestra at the Cotton Club in early 1928, and other than two absences for illness, remained with the band until February 18. 1938, when he left due to health.
• Sjef Hoefsmit DEMS 04,3-13:

  'I found in Ken Vail's first volume a newspaper clipping titled "Whetsol is forced to leave Duke", written by Billy Howe,[recte Rowe] dated 3Mar, referring to Whetsel's most recent shock from his prolonged illness during the band's engagement at Rutger's [sic] University "Saturday [recte Friday] Night" '
  (emphasis added)

• Steven Lasker, DEMS 04,2-55:

  When Whetsel rejoined Ellington early in 1928, he replaced violinist Ellsworth Reynolds (per Reynolds, quoted in Jazz Monthly, Feb67p6). He stayed with the band continuosly thereafter, with only two absences prior to his retirement that I know of, the first between mid-June and early August 1935 when he was replaced by Charlie Allen. The April 1937 issue of Metronome reported he was always on the job even when not well. When the band went on the road in early November 1937, Whetsel stayed in New York; Melody Maker (13Nov37) reported his absence from the band will probably be permanent because of serious illness. Whetsel was nevertheless back with the band at its 30Nov37 Birmingham engagement (per International Musician, Feb38). Whetsel's final engagement with the band was a dance at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey on 19Feb38 [recte 18Feb38]...

• The Pittsburgh Courier (1938-03-05 p.20):

  'ART WHETSOL [sic] IS FORCED TO LEAVE DUKE
  By BILLY ROWE
       NEW YORK CITY, Mar.3 – Arthur Whetsol, trumpet player with the Duke Ellington orchestra, is scheduled to leave the profession he loves so well as the result of a brain disorder from which he has been suffering many months.
       Whetsol, who is in his thirties, received his most recent shock from his prolonged illness during the band's engagement at Rutgers University Saturday night. At that time it became apparent that he could no longer walk in active circles in a world of music of which he in the past was a most contributing factor....'

  • Whetsel's last performance with Ellington was at Rutgers Friday, 1938 02 18, not Saturday, four days shy of his 33rd birthday.
  • Vail and thus Hoefsmit spelled Billy Rowe's surname incorrectly. Billy Rowe was the author of Billy Rowe's Notebook column but the quoted passage is not from his column.
• The Baltimore Afro-American 1938-03-12 includes a severely edited and unattributed version of the Howe/Rowe article, just saying Art Whetsol [sic]… was forced to leave this week…
• Juan Tizol, interviewed 1978-11-15 by Patricia Willard for NEA Jazz Oral History Project (p. 63 of transcript):

  '[We learned] he was getting bad because he used to go there and play whatever he had to play, and he was shaking and everything, and could hardly make sense. We start finding out, when it was getting awful bad, he'd get very nervous. And I never did realize what he died of. I know I heard something that his hair turned white completely.'

• Whetsel was enumerated in the 1940 U.S. census as an inmate in "Central Islip State Hospital (Insane)," where he died May 1 that year, reportedly of a brain tumour, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery. Steven Lasker reports the cemetary's archives do not include his death certificate, but the internment order says he died of encephalitis.

Hayes Alvis
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• The 1920 census shows his parents were Hayes and Mary Lou Alvis; he had a brother Winfrey, then just over a year old. His father was a waiter in the steam railroad industry and his mother was a dressmaker working at home.
• A 1953 New York Age feature quotes him discussing his life. His musical training began at the Chicago Music School and with the Chicago Defender Band, which included Lionel Hampton, Big Sid Catlett, Billy Taylor and Billy Franklin, and later, Nat (King) Cole.
• Alvis joined the union in 1924, started playing professionally as a drummer but switched to tuba and bass, played with Jelly Roll Morton in 1927-1928 before joining Earl Hines, for whom he played tuba from 1928 to 1930.
• He played with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band from 1931 to 1934, where he was also its manager and occasionally played baritone sax. Discographies show him in two late 1936 MBRB recording sessions. The Baltimore Afro-American 1932-12-17 p.8 has him on bass in MBRB, known on the radio as Baron Lee's Band, and says the organizer and true owner of the band was Edgar Hayes.
• Mr. Alvis joined Ellington May 31, 1935 and left in 1938 to form his own band, apparently taking Freddy Jenkins with him. While he was with Ellington, Duke used two basses (the other was Billy Taylor). Hayes doubled on drums when Sonny Greer was absent.
• He met his wife, a milliner, in 1938 and would sell her hats while on tour. He toured with a bicycle in the baggage car, so he could get around various towns to take pictures.
• His October 1940 draft registration card says he was employed by Benny Carter. He then played with Joe Sullivan, and Louis Armstrong, before his military service, during which he played in Sy Oliver's army band.
• He seems to have continued in music for the rest of his life but in 1953 his interior design business was his focus.
• Hayes' draft registration card, dated Oct. 14, 1940, confirms his given name was Hayes and his surname was Alvis, he was then living in New York, married to Bella Alvis and working for Benny Carter. He was 5'4¹/₂" and 172 pounds. He enlisted in August 1943, was hospitalized in June 1944 with appendicitis, hospitalized again in January 1945 with a herniated disc and discharged in March 1945 as disabled.
• He attended Whitman School of Interior Design and Decorating under the GI Bill and became an interior designer. Later he and his wife became interior design contractors.
• His obituary in the New York Times says he was a supervisor of the social services department of the Musician's Union Local 802, before he joined the American Red Cross in 1968 as its labour coordinator.
• Additional facts from an ANP wirestory by Allan McMilian (Baltimore Afro-American 1934-08-25 p.7):
  • Currently managing MBRB, conducted by Lucky Millinder and featuring Edgar Hays
  • Graduated from high school as band captain
  • Began a course in dentistry after high school
  • Within six months of joining Jelly Roll Moten [sic], became the transportation manager.
  • Member of Hine's orchestra for three years.
  • Brought to New York by Jimmie Noone.
  • Joined MBRB when it was at the Cotton Club
• Additional facts from Freddy Doyle's column in The California Eagle, 1936-12-19:
  • Doyle went to school with him, but incorrectly calls him Alvis Hayes and Alvis throughout the column.
  • Attended Lane Technical School in Chicago, was the only drummer of "Color" in the school band
  • Became band leader and graduated with honours.
  • Gigged while in school.
  • Played in bands not mentioned above: Erskin Tate, Fats Waller, Jimmy Noon [sic].
  • Studied to become an aviator like his cousin; and was a director of an aviation magazine.

Johnny Hodges through the years
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Additional reference material

• Johnny Hodges – The Composer
  Sven Eriksson's catalogue of compositions by Hodges
• Charlie Holmes recounts his early years in Boston growing up with Hodges and Harry Carney:
  https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/54271/
• Con Chapman, Rabbit's Blues, The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges,, Oxford University Press, 2019

• Steven Lasker:
  'The funeral brochure for Lawrence Olin Brown (d. September 5, 1988) contains an brief overview of his life before meeting Ellington...:

    Lawrence Olen Brown was named for the Kansas University town in which he was born August 3, 1907. His father, Rev. John Merrill Brown, pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, led the singing of the congregation. His mother, Maggie, played the organ. His older brother, Merrill, Lawrence, and his younger brother, Harold, sang in the choir. That was the beginning of his musical background. All three men became musicians distinguished in their fields.
    Lawrence played piano, violin, tuba and alto saxophone, but settled on the trombone as his favorite instrument[....]
    When Lawrence was four years old, Rev. Brown was sent to Oakland, California to pastor. There Lawrence grew up, playing in church accompanying the choir. During his teenage years, his father was sent to minister at the AME Church at 8th and Towne Streets in Los Angeles, California. The family settled in Pasadena where Rev. Brown founded another AME Church which was named Brown Chapel for him and which remains there today.
    In Pasadena, Lawrence attended high school and Pasadena Junior College where he studied medicine intending to become a doctor. But he began playing numerous engagements with local orchestras. His first professional appearance was at the Aimee Semple McPherson Temple in Los Angeles before an audience of more than 6,000 people. He joined the Les Hite Band playing at Sebastian's Cotton Club in Culver City. He also played in studio bands for movies.'

• Brown met Irving Mills and Duke Ellington in Los Angeles in March 1932 and left town with the band on April 2 that year. He rehearsed with the band during its Hartford, Conn. engagement (week of 1932 04 08) but was not allowed to perform with the Ellington orchestra until it grew to 14 musicians with the return of Toby Hardwick, which may have been as late as May, 1932.
• Lawrence was married to actress Fredi Washington from 1933 to 1951 and married divorcee Dorothea Bundrant (nee Burton) in July 1954. David Berger advises Miss Washington was present at Lawrence Brown's memorial service at St.Peter's in New York (Brown died in Los Angeles Sept. 5, 1988).
• Oral History project interview June 1976 - Patricia Willard interviewed Lawrence Brown for the Oral History Project. The interview can be read or listened to at https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/52986/.

• Procope's parents were amateur musicians, with his mother playing piano and singing in a choir, his father playing violin.
• Russell and a brother started violin lessons when he was six and he played in the first violin section of the Commerce High School Orchestra.
• His mother bought him an Albert system clarinet when he was 14, and he played Albert with Ellington. He joined the 369th Cadet Boys' Band and when he was sixteen or seventeen, his mother gave him an alto sax.
• Russell's first professional gigs were around age 18 and got his first steady job doubling alto sax and clarinet in a 5 piece dance school band in 1927.
• He later joined Henry Sapiro's [recte Henri Saparo] 10-piece band at the Bamboo Inn, after which he took a dance school band job again, working for various band leaders including Jelly Roll Morton, who took the group on the road as Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers.
• He worked with Omer Simeon, who, with Bigard and Buster Bailey, influenced his style.
• Procope's experience before Ellington included McKinney's Cotton Pickers in Detroit, a one-nighter in Washington D.C. with Ellington, Benny Carter, Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Tiny Bradshaw, Ralph Cooper, Teddy Hill (1934-1937), and the John Kirby Sextet (1937-1943).
• Drafted in 1943, he played in army bands in New York, Kentucky and Arizona, and was able to play outside gigs. When his regiment was due to go overseas, he was tranferred to the Medical Corps, received some training as a medic and then was returned to the army band until October 1945.
• Procope freelanced, played a guest solo in an Ellington broadcast, and rejoined the Kirby sextet.
• In April 1946 Ellington called to ask him to play a Saturday afternoon broadcast in Worcester, Mass. (1946 04 27), replacing Hardwick that evening as well, and day to day for the next 10 days. He appears then to have been offered a permanent job, and played lead alto until 1950, when he was recorded on clarinet in Mood Indigo.
• He would sometimes sub for Carney on bari sax and Ellington bought him a bass sax which he still had in 1979.
• Russell stayed with the Ellington orchestra until Duke's death.
• He played once with the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington, and from 1974 to 1978 he played in a trio with Sonny Greer and Brooks Kerr before joining a quintet.
• Procope died in New York 1981 01 21, predeceased by his wife Helen, who died in late 1980.

'I enjoyed every day I was a member of the Ellington band, even though it was gruelling trying to keep up with Duke. But I knew I was a part of something that was very special, something that would never die. But the biggest joy I had, and I think the other musicians had too, was the music. Duke constantly surprised me. Musically, I could never predict what was going on in Duke's head.'

• Webster subbed for the vacationing Barney Bigard in the summer of 1935 and after Bigard returned, played in the Ellington recording sessions of 1935 08 19 and 1936 07 29.
• Webster joined Ellington sometime in January 1940, stayed until August 1943, and returned in October 1948, staying until May 1949. He also played Ellington recording sessions or was recorded in concert at other times.
• New Desor has him in the band from 1940 01 08, probably based on his presence in an erroneously dated broadcast from the Southland Cafe, until 1943 08 13, and again from November 1948 until 1949 05 17.
• Ken Steiner's research suggests Webster joined between 1940 01 19 and 1940 01 21,, based on his apparent presence in a January 18 recording session for Teddy Wilson and a report in Jazz Information, 1940 01 26, pp. 1 & 6:

  'BEN WEBSTER JOINS ELLINGTON
       BOSTON, Jan. 22. – Ben Webster, well known tenor sax man formerly with Teddy Wilson, has joined Duke Ellington's orchestra, which is playing one-nighters around New England this week after packing them in at the Southland here.
       The addition of Webster, who had played with such famous bands as Bennie Moten, Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant, John Kirby, and Roy Eldridge before he joined Wilson's new band last year, gives the Duke a five-piece reed section, as well as a soloist to be featured on tenor sax...'

• A one page biography of Webster with quotations, was published in Down Beat
• Ben Webster, interviewed by Les Tomkins, possibly in January 1965:

  'In 1934, Fletcher Henderson sent for me, and I went back to New York...But the height of my ambition was to play with Duke. Barney Bigard took a vacation in 1935 and I had a chance to sit in the band for two or three weeks. And we went out on the road for a little while. Then we made this record, "Truckin'," and we did "In A Jam." As close as I can remember, that's the same time that they made "Accent On Youth". Then Barney came back, so I had to leave, naturally. But I sure hated to leave, because I'd enjoyed that music and hearing these guys play. That was such a great band. Duke has always been way out front. He was then and he still is now way out front.
  
  I was working with Teddy Wilson when I got the call to join the band. Teddy had a very good band and I didn't like leaving him, because I had a real nice spot, with plenty of solos. I made quite a few records with him. But I explained to him: "This is the chance I've been waiting for."...'

• Webster left the United States permanently in 1964, lived in Amsterdam from 1966 to 1969, and in Copenhagen thereafter. He appears in several telecast videos of Ellington concerts in Europe.

'When you are playing one-nighters, you go to the bank with the man to get the money out. When you work one-night stands, if a man was paying you $2,000, you wouldn't accept a check. It was unorthodox to take a check on the road.'

'A Small World, To Be Sure!
  A Chester Times staff member recently visited composer-pianist Duke Ellington in New York City. During conversation, Ellington asked: "How's Mr. Doubet? Ever run across him?"
  It developed that years ago, when the Duke of the jazz and popular music world was a little tyke, he worked after school hours in the store the Chester jeweler operated in Washington, years before Doubet made his bow to Chester as a merchant at 7th and Edgmont.
  Surely is a small world, after all.'

When was he born?

• Steven Bowie:

  'I found Tyree Glenn's birth certificate on Ancestry. The history books say he was born on 23 November 1912. His birth certificate says he was born 23 November 1910, two years earlier. The birth certificate was generated in 1942, but the 1920 census backs up the 1910 birthdate.'

• The census, enumerated in Jan. 10 1920, shows "Glenn Tyree," nephew, age 9, in a household headed by "Offard, Sara" which included Sara's brother in law and niece Myrtle Gibson at 1204 East 5th Ave, Corsicana.
• This birth certificate is not original. It is a document used to correct a certicate filed at the time the birth and was notarized Oct. 3, 1942, and is partly handwritten with several typed changes. The birth year was originally handwritten as 1912, overwritten by 1910, with "(1910") typed above it.
• Mr. Glenn's WWII draft registration card, dated Oct. 16, 1940, shows his name as Evans Tyree Glenn, age 27, born Corsicana, Texas, date of birth 11-23-1912. Although the first name is different, this man's employer is named as Cab Calloway, Inc.
• His grave marker shows he was born in 1910 and died in 1974.

'I found Tyree Glenn's birth certificate on Ancestry. The history books say he was born on 23 November 1912. His birth certificate says he was born 23 November 1910, two years earlier. The birth certificate was generated in 1942, but the 1920 census backs up the 1910 birthdate.'

'Armstrong was the leading Negro manual training school. Duke went there to study drawing, freehand and mechanical. He was deeply interested in art, interested in little else in the secondary school curriculum, and it was only for those classes that he would show up with regularity. His grades were both sustained and let down by his interests.'

• Mr. Spring says Ellington wrote his first composition, Soda Fountain Rag, in 1914 or possibly 1915. Steven Lasker:

  'Source is Austin Lawrence "Chronology," p405: "Later 1914-Early 1915 Ellington composes his first piece, "Soda Fountain Rag" '

'We had a piano player in the Poodle Dog who was one of the best when he was sober, which wasn't often. When he got to where he couldn't play any better than I could, the boss would throw him out, take my place behind the soda fountain, and have me play piano. The only way I could learn how to play a tune was to compose it myself and work it up, and the first one was Soda Fountain Rag.'

Source is Austin Lawrence, p.405: "Midyear 1915, Ellington's close friend Edgar McEntree dubs him "Duke" around this time, because of Ellington's sartorial elegance and his flashy piano playing.

Lawrence's source is not identified.

'My mother explained that he got his nickname through being so fastidious. He kept himself well clothed and always presented a neat appearance... It was the thing to do then to be smart and attractive, and if he had a patch on his pants, my mother said, the pants were nevertheless always pressed...'

'She attended elementary and junior high schools in the Washington Metropolitan area and finished her basic schooling in New York City ...graduated from ... Columbia University with a degree in biology. In 1941, Ellington established Tempo Music,... installing her as president of the company. ... Ruth's duties at Tempo included signing contracts, arranging some travel at Duke's request, and, most importantly, keeping Duke's music copyrighted. According to her own interview statement, she never arranged bookings. Other interests included hosting a Sunday salon for musicians, appearing at and listening to recording studio sessions once or twice a year, and keeping in touch with the older band members' wives. The older band members ... along with the earlier singers ... were like family to Ruth. After Duke's death ...Ruth maintained Tempo until 1995 when she sold 51% ... to a New York publishing firm, Music Sales.'

'Ruth's 1969 appointment book is in SI-NMAH Archive Center DEC301 Series 3G Box 116.'

' Al Hibbler I met first in L. Rock Ark. I knew he was a singer but had never heard him sing. Our paths crossed from time to time until '43 we were playing the Hurricane Club... and Mary Lou Williams and Shorty Baker came up and told me that Al was downstairs in the Turf Club and that it was possible to maybe get him to sing for us. So I sent for him. They brought him up and he sang something. I naturally liked it - but the thought of adding to the payroll was of quite some concern and a smart business mind would not have considered it. But me - well, my ear makes my decision. So I said great - I like it - you just started work. It was much easier than I thought it would be because he has ears that see. He learned song after song and soon he was our major asset, truly a great investment both $ wise and the luxury of my ear was kept in deep fat - He had so many sounds he told of fantasy beyond fantasy.'

'He wouldn't let anybody touch me, he had a way of bringing me on stage, he called me, just do this, 'Walk towards me,' and I'd walk towards him. I'm the straightest walker you've ever seen in your life, and I'd walk to him, walk me out on stage and he'd take his shoulder and put it against mine and when we get to the mike, he just turn his shoulder like that and a lot of people actually believed I could see for a long time.'

• Arthur Whetsel, trumpet
• Duke Ellington, piano
• William Escoffery guitar
• Otto Hardwick, string bass
• Lloyd Stewart, drums

Source is Austin Lawrence, p406: "Winter 1917, Arthur Whetsel on trumpet and Otto ("Toby") Hardwick on saxophone join Duke's teenage band. They also play with local banjoist Elmer Snowden."

Source is Austin Lawrence, p406: "Spring 1917, Duke drops out of high school, begins an affair with Edna Thompson, a neighborhood girl."

'They had met while he was still going to Armstrong, a kind of rough high school.'

• Jimmy was born in Dillon, S.C. but the family moved to Philadelphia when he was five.
• His father, an amateur musician, brought home a baritone horn when Jimmy was six. Growing up Jimmy played the baritone, piano, trumpet, saxophone and (Boehm system) clarinet. Hamilton also played flute, but there is no indication he performed with it in Ellington's band.
• Hamilton's father died when Jimmy was 12.
• Jimmy moved to New York around age twenty, studying clarinet with Leo Russianoff. In 1943 he told a writer, Bob Thiele, that he wanted to emulate Benny Goodman's technique.
• Reed says his first New York work was with the Jimmy Mundy band; Haufman says he made his professional debut on trumpet, and his first engagement of real importance was with the Frank Fairfax group in 1937, replacing Charlie Shavers.
• Reed says that after transferring to New York A.F.of M. Local 802 in 1940, Hamilton worked with Teddy Wilson, Eddie Heywood, Benny Carter and Dave Martin. Haufman has him playing with Lucky Millinder, Eddie Heywood, Jimmy Mundy and Bill Doggett in 1939 and joining Wilson's sextet in 1940.
• In May 1943 he joined Ellington, replacing Chauncey Haughton, who in turn had replaced Bigard.
• Herr Haufman says Ellington recordings featuring Jimmy are too numerous to list in his article, but he specifically singles out Air Conditioned Jungle, Ad Lib on Nippon, The Tattooed Bride, September 12th Blues, Pretty and the Wolf and Tenderly.
• Haufman discusses the differences in Hamilton's clarinet and tenor sax styles, and quotes Ellington's nephew as saying Hamilton carried a locking mini-bar on the road so he could sell drinks to other band members.
• Reed says Jimmy began thinking about quitting Ellington about 5 years before he left. Various reasons included the travel and Ellington's failure to credit him for compositions, including as co-composer of Ad Lib on Nippon. The culminating incident appeared to be in March 1968 when Jimmy refused to travel from Las Vegas to Washington D.C. on a day off to perform in an Ellington small group at the White House state dinner for the Liberian president.
• While Reed says he quit "the next time the band was in New York, July 1968," the Ellington octet which began a residency there at the Rainbow Grill in late May did not include Jimmy.
• Hamilton freelanced in New York until moving to the Virgin Islands in 1970.
• He died September 20 1994 in the Virgin Islands, leaving behind a son, four grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.

• Chilton, MacHare and The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz say Ballard was born in 1917 but his obituaries in the Philadelphia Daily News 2011-10-10 and The Philadelphia Inquirer 2011-10-09 give his age as 92, suggesting Butch was born in 1918.
• The Guardian explicitly dates his birth as Dec. 26, 1918.
• His age is 32 in the June 1950 passenger list for the S. S. De Grasse, meaning he was born in 1917, not 1918.
• His draft registration card shows 1917 with a handwritten 8 over the 7, and his 1950 Pennsylvania application for World War II Compensation shows December 26, 1917.

Irresistable Jass
The Duke's Serenaders
Colored Syncopaters' '

• Arthur Whetsel, trumpet
• "Brother" Miller, C-melody sax
• Duke Ellington, piano
• Bill Miller, banjo, guitar, banjorene
• Otto Hardwick, string bass
• Felix Miller, drums

• he was 21
• he and his father Wm. Guy were born in Nottaway Co., Va.
• his address was initially shown as 25 West 135 St., but changed to 68 W.142 St. (New York)
• employed at Warner's Sugar Factory, Edgewater, N.J.
• he was tall, with a medium build, brown eyes and brown hair.
• his draft registration card had the bottom left corner torn off to show he was designated for service in a segregated unit.

• Arthur Whetsel, trumpet
• Otto Hardwick, C-melody sax
• Duke Ellington, piano
• Sterling Conaway, banjorene
• Bill Jones, drums

'After a short spell with my father and mother, I was left with my grandfather and grandmother in Washington, while they went off to New York. Thus my relationship with my parents was rather remote except during the summers, when I would go to New York for two or three months. I guess this went on for about eight years, because I was nine when they definitely separated.'

'Come out Decoration Day with
THE VICTORY CLUB
BIG MATINEE AND RECEPTION
at ODD FELLOWS HALL 1606 M Street, Northwest
Friday Afternoon and Evening, May 30, 1919
Duke Ellington's Jazz Matinee – 3.45 to 7.45 P.M.
Admission 30 Cents
Doc Perry's Section of Capital City Clef Club at Night
8.30 to 1.30 A.M.
Night Admission 50 Cents '

BY THE NEW MASONIC HALL COPROORATION
CENTER MARKET COLOSSEUM
Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 6, 1919, from 8 P.M. until 2 A.M.
     Literary and Musical Program, one hour, by the following contributing artists: Mr. Frank B. Williams, composer of "Jessaline;" Mrs. Louise Mills Brown, Dr. C. Sumner Wormley, and others. Come and whirl the hours away, for pleasure is assured.

MUSIC BY DUKE ELLINGTON'S SERENADERS
Edward K. Ellington, Director

     The public is especially invited. Your comfort will be our effort. Craftmen and Honored Ladies, remember the cause for which we are laboring.

DANCING UNTIL 2 A.M. REFRESHMENTS IN ABUNDANCE.

COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS:
...
CARD OF ADMISSION - - $1.00
...

'Then the second baby came. It was too close to the first and died.'

'Mary Elizabeth Roach was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and raised in Atlantic City from the age of six until she was fourteen. She won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre in New York at seventeen (per liner notes to Bethlehem Records BCP-64.) Ellington suggested her stage name.'

'The Strollers will give the greatest ball that has ever been held in this city at Odd Fellows' Hall, M street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets northwest, on Monday evening, February 16th, featuring three halls, five orchestras and five entertainers. The orchestras are: Howard Theater Orchestra, Joe Rochester's Orchestra, of Baltimore; Miss Gertrude Well's Society Jazz; 351st Jazz Band, recently returned from France, and Duke Ellington's Society Jazz. Continuous music; no intermission. One price will admit guests to the three halls. Entree, 60 cents. Dancing from 8 p.m. t 1 a.m.'

'You had to wage psychological battles to get things done. I had to prod [Duke] to decision through disagreement.
  Paul Gonsalves knew about that, too. When he really wanted to blow or there was someone in the audience he wanted to impress, his trick was to come in and act real drunk. He knew that any time he did this Ellington would drive him and make him play two or three solos back to back. To make it harder, Ellington would increase tempos and put him through paces that would call on every bit of his mental and technical ability, all in order to make him seem ridiculous. The greatest punishment for Paul would be to go out front to face the audience and then to return to his chair, having been proved ineffectual. But sometimes after he had pulled his act, Paul would turn around from the piano when Pop wasn't looking and wink at me over his left shoulder! His little trick had worked. '

'Mr. Jay Clifford is featuring Duke Ellington's Jazzers at Dunbar High School September 6.'

'The music for Monday night, the 13th, will be furnished by DUKE ELLINGTON assisted by DOC PERRY... '

'When Jimmy [sic] left St. Louis, he left a bass behind - a little half-sized fiddle. It lay around for about half a year, and the more Jimmy played with Duke, the more my interest in that bass grew. I picked it up finally and for six months practiced with the radio and with records, and then I played some non-union gigs at school. I joined the union in December, 1941, and I got with Lionel Hampton about that time. My being hired by Hampton was more or less a publicity stunt, I guess, because I was Jimmy's cousin - I'd only been playing about seven months. I stayed three or four months with Hampton, then went back to school...'

• His mother played piano and mandolin and an aunt played piano and led several bands in Chattanooga.
• Held a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University, Jefferson City
• Served in the army during WWII.
• Leaving Ellington in 1955, he went to New York where he recorded with many, playing on more than 150 albums as well as playing in Broadway musical orchestra pits.
• Retired in 1970, returned to St. Louis, working as an insurance agent and in his own insurance business.
• Member of the Greater Ville Neighborhood Association.
• Was a deacon at Christ Temple Cathedral Church of Christ Holiness for many years, and since 1999, deacon at Garden of Gethsemane Baptist Church in St. Louis./li>
• Survived by three daughters and two grandsons.

Mrs.Kay Davis
Click to Enlarge

'...
Greenlee: Ah, what were the circumstances of your leaving the band? And when did this take place?

Davis: I wanted to get married, [laugh] I left, soon as we came back Europe. I came back and I never went back to New York.

Greenlee: What was his response to your leaving?

Davis: I didn't get any response. I just - I left, I truly just got on the plane that came back and I think I called Celley or somebody.

Greenlee: Saying that you'd -[both at once]

Davis: Uh huh, uh huh. That wasn't too nice [laugh] but we were on a little vacation then, I think. There weren't any dates that I remember, coming right here.

Greenlee: Did you feel some distance from him, to do that? I mean, you didn't WANT to have goodbyes?

Davis: I think that I was just so anxious to make it FINAL, I didn't want to feel like I had to go back. Cuz I had -all those years, I kept saying I was going to leave and finally I said, "I MUST do this now." '

"I first knew Rex in Washington, D.C. that was back in 1920, and I had just about the most popular band in town, in my band was Otto - Hardwick, Art Whetsel, Eddie Ellington, who became known as "Duke Ellington," later.

"We played all of the Dancce [sic] Halls and worked almost every night.

"One night we were playing Murrays Casino and a band of younger fellows came in to audition to try out for some dates. That was a crazy bunch of kids led by a piano player named Ollie - Blackwell. They called themselves the "Clowns Band" and sat on the Floor or jumped up on the piano while playing. We did not think much of them, but we did notice Bernard Addison the Band-Man, and the kid in whort [sic] pants, who did not blow good, but he sure was loud!!!!

"Well the years passed and the next time I saw Rex, we both were in N.Y. There had been the split up of my original Washingtonians..."

'...Going back to 1921, when I was one of the seven young members of Ollie Blackwell's clowns, I stayed in music all my life. 1921 was a momentous year for us members of Ollie Blackwell's Ragtime Clowns because we were actually part of a show! ...

"...Washington, DC, in 1921 was the right time and place for me to hear music. I don't think there were many towns with more dance halls than Washington,..." (discusses battles of the bands, then)

"... At any rate my first awareness of this delightful phenomenon was at the Lincoln Colonnades. There were three bands, but the main battle was between Doc Perry and Sam Taylor. The third outfit was only a pick-up group with Duke Ellington on piano, a fellow named Tobin on C-melody sax, Otto Hardwicke on bass violin and Stick-A-Makum on drums. There were others in the band too, but I don't recall their names or faces...'

• The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington chronology says Ellington made his first trip to New York with Greer, Hardwick, Whetsel and Snowden in 1921, where Ellington would meet James P. Johnson, again, and Willie "The Lion" Smith.
• Lawrence p.406 says:

  'March 10, 1921: Duke makes his first trip to New York, accompanied by Sonny Greer, Toby Hardwick, Artie Whetsol [sic], and Elmer Snowden.'

• Lasker, The Washingtonians: A Miscellany:

  'Brooks Kerr tells me that Sonny Greer told him that "Sonny Greer's Washingtonians," which also included Hardwick and Ellington, first came to New York where they played for two or three weeks beginning 10Mar21 at Busoni's Balconnades Ballroom, on Broadway near West 65th St. Sonny also recalled that Dan Healy booked the room, Mr. Busoni helped the Washingtonians get their local 310 union cards, and the three bands which played Busoni's each night were the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Phil Napoleon's Memphis Five and Sonny Greer's Washingtonians. (See Tucker's "Ellington: The Early Years," p289n3.)'

• Tucker:

  'Greer may have been the one who lured Ellington to New York for a brief visit in 1921, when the two played at Busoni's Balconnade [sic] opposite the Original Dixieland Jazz Band...
   This is the only reference I have seen to an appearance by Ellington in New York at such an early date. Greer may have been referring to the Balconnades [sic] Ballroom, located near Broadway and 66th Street, which featured bands such as the Original Memphis Five and the New Orleans Five.'

• Ken Steiner:

  'Although an early trip to New York seems possible, even likely, given the proximity of Washington, D.C. to New York City, the only indication of this trip to New York is Greer's recollection 58 years later in Tim Weiner's "Keeping Time with Sonny Greer" article in the Soho Weekly News (June 15, 1979).'

• Ralph Wondraschek:
  'Re Ellington at Balconades in March 1921: I can definitively tell you that that date is impossible - the [Original Memphis Five] was in Montreal, Canada, the [Original Dixieland Jazz Band] at Follies Bergère - please refer to part 2 of my [Original Memphis Five] article in VJM.
    ...my research into the career of the Original Memphis Five excludes a March 1921 Ellington engagement at the Balconades Ballroom in NYC where he supposedly played opposite the [Original Memphis Five] & the [Original Dixieland Jazz Band]. At that time, the [Original Memphis Five] played an engagement at the Claridge Cabaret, Montreal, Canada, and the [Original Dixieland Jazz Band] appeared on their long-time job at Folies Bergère, NYC.
   ...March 1923 is, as far as I can ascertain, the most likely time period for Ellington's stay at the Balconades, as the [Original Memphis Five] then played there.
    Sixte Busoni opened his "Balconades Ballroom" on January 14, 1922 - not earlier. Please refer to part 2 of my [Original Memphis Five] piece for the contemporary clipping dealing with the History of "Healy's Golden Glades".
    The [Original Memphis Five] played at Busoni's Balconades during March 1922, but the [Original Dixieland Jazz Band] was not doing so (actually, [it] was dissolved from February 10 to April 10, 1922, and thus did not play any public appearances).
    The [Original Memphis Five] played at Busoni's Balconades during the second half of March 1923. The [Original Dixieland Jazz Band] was also a Busoni group during this period, and alternated between Busoni's Danceland (95th & Broadway) and Busoni's Balconades (66th & Broadway) during early 1923.'
• Other factors indicating the 1921 date is incorrect:
  • Sixte Busoni appears to have taken over the Balconades or Balconnades [both spellings appear in print] Ballroom from building owner Tom Healy:
    • The Evening Telegram carried ads for Thomas Healy's Three Floors of Good Cheer at Broadway & 66th St. in February 1922. The Balconades Ballroom is named in the ads
    • In January 1922, Variety reported an announcement had been made of the opening of the Balconnades [sic] Ballroom at Healy's, without Tom Healy mentioned. It said dancing would be to the music of Castle's Society and Memphis Jazzband Orchestra, and "The Balconnades Ballroom seems to be in line with Tom Healy's previously announnced [sic] intention of disassociating himself from the restaurant business."
  • The Daily Star reported The Original Dixieland Jazzband was engaged for the new Balconades Ballroom in the Healy Building, which was to open that night, January 14, 1922
  • In March 1922, Variety reported The Roseland Amusement Corp. was denied an injunction against Sixte Busone, operator of the Balconnades Ballroom above Healy's to restrain him from employing Philip Napoleon and Milford Mole.
  • In May 1922 the Brooklyn Standard Union ran articles about Danceland on Coney Island which said it was operated by the same management as the Balconades Ballroom. They refer to continuous music provided by the Memphis Five and Busoni's Syncopators.
• Peripheral information:
  • Sixte Busoni's name is found in the press as an orchestra manager with various groups as early as 1914 (New York Herald, New York, N.Y. 1914-08-02 p.10)
  • Thomas Healy's Balconades Ballroom, on the third floor of his building is found in the press as early as 1914 (The Evening Telegram, New York, 1914-11-17 p.12)
  • In mid-1922 Busoni was reported to be the head of leading dancing institutions in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Philadelphia, including the Balconades. (The Evening Telegram, N.Y., Brooklyn Standard Union 1922-05-14 p.6)

'...there's been no documentation found of this event. Sonny Greer did recall a trip to NY prior to the Sweatman gig (mentioned in Steven Lasker's Washingtonians Miscellany), perhaps this is what Floyd [Snelson] was referring to?'