James Wesley ("Bubber") Miley

April 3, 1903 (?) - May 20, 1932

supplement to
The Duke – Where and When
A Chronicle of Duke Ellington's Working Life and Travels

'Our band changed its character when Bubber came in. He used to growl all night long, playing gutbucket on his horn. That was when we decided to forget all about playing sweet music.'

When was Bubber born?

Potential birth dates:

• April 3, 1899:
  • U.S. Navy records for James Westley [sic] Miley
  • David Hill:

    'I discovered a document from Bubber's military service that could cause an adjustment to the birth date listed on TDWAW. It makes more sense than 1903, because he probably wouldn't have served in the Navy at the age of 15. In addition, it lists Bubber's middle name as "Westley," instead of "Wesley," but I'm still looking for any documentation that would corroborate that. Bubber's death date of 20 May 1932 is confirmed by this document. I've attached a screen print of the information on the document, from Ancestry.com, but there is unfortunately no hyperlink to the actual document. '

  • Mr. Hill's document shows:

    James Westley Miley in the U.S., Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
    Name:	James Westley Miley
    Record Type:	Military Service
    Birth Date:	2 Apr 1899
    Residence Place:	New York, NY
    Death Date:	20 May 1932

  • According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_seaman, In 1909 Navy regulations were changed so that the minimum age for enlistment was raised to 17 with parental permission and 18 without. Recruits enlisted under age 18 served until they reached age 21 at which point, they could be discharged or re-enlist.
  • According to "African American Sailors in the U.S. Navy, A Chronology" in the Naval History and Heritage Command website, 6,750 Afro-American sailors served in the U.S. Navy during the First World War but were only allowed to serve as coal heavers, messmen, stewards, and cooks.
  • Ancestry.ca's New York, U.S., Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919 for James Westley Miley
    WWI Navy cards > Meyer-Miller (Box 68) is consistent:
    
    James Westley Miley naval service record
    
  
  Officers' galley, U.S.S. Matsonia
  Click to Enlarge
  U.S.S. Matsonia, a passenger liner built in 1913, was turned over to the U.S. Navy in January 1918 to be used as a troop transport. After her mahogany staircases were ripped out and 3,000 bunks were rigged, she was commissioned 1 March 1918 and carried 13,329 passengers to Europe in six voyages before the armistice. Miley seems to have joined her in time for the second voyage, during which a U-boat attacked the convoy and was sunk about 800 meters from the ship.
  
  Officers and crew of USS Matsonia
  Feb.25 1919
  Click to Enlarge
  
  
  She made eight more trans-Atlantic round trips after the war, returning over 23,000 troops to the United States.
  
  Miley appears to have remained in her crew until she was decommissioned September 12 1919 and returned to her owners September 17.
  
  
  References:
  • The Wartime Memories Project - USS Matsonia during the Great War
  • NavSource Online: Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive
  • Wikiwand: U.S.S. Matsonia
• 1902:
  • The 1910 U.S. Federal census, enumerated April 15 1910, has James Miley in New York, age 8, suggesting he was born in 1902. The head of the household is his widowed mother, Eva, age 31,there is a lodger, and there are Eva's children Murdis, Gladys, Willie, James, and Fannie. Willie is shown as a boy in error. (Willie's Application/Proof to Register a Delayed State of South Carolina Certificate of Birth, filed in 1963, gives her names as "Willie Rose or Willie Miley," born January 3, 1898. It shows her mother, Eva Arthur, was born August 17, 1877 in Elko, S.C. Sister Murdis Miley, born in 1892 also applied for a delayed birth certificate in 1961, declaring she and her mom were born in Elko.)
  • The 1920 U.S. census lists James Miley, 18 year-old elevator operator, living with his mother, Eva, age 42, sisters Connie, 14 and Rose, 21, and two of Eva's grandchildren at 239 62nd St., New York.
• 1903 generally:
  • Albert J. McCarthy, Bubber Miley,
    Jazz Music Vol.1 No.1, 1943, p.26
  • Steven Lasker, booklet to EARLY ELLINGTON
    The Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings of Duke Ellington, 1926-1931, Decca 5268963, 1992, p.32
  • A. H. Lawrence, DUKE ELLINGTON and His World, A Biography, Routledge, New York, London, 2001 p.39
  • The 1915 New York state census, taken June 1, supports 1903 as Bubber's birth year. James Miley, 12, is listed at 239 W. 62nd St. with mother, Eva, 38,and sisters Gladys, 20, Willie, 17 and Connie, 8.
• January 19, 1903:
  • Leonard Feather, ibid
  • Göran Wallén, ibid., relying on Feather.
• April 2, 1903:
  • S.S. Paris passenger list, New York arrival June 24, 1929, shows MILEY, James, 26, born April 2, 1903 in Aiken, S.C.
• April 3, 1903:
  • Roger Pryor Dodge, H.R.S.Rag, 1940-10-15, quoted in Duke Ellington Reader.
  • Leonard Feather, The NEW editon of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAZZ
    Bonanza Books, New York, 1962 p.333
  • John Chilton, WHO'S WHO OF JAZZ, New Revised Edition, fourth edition, Da Capo Paperback, New York, 1985 p.223-224
  • New Desor Part 2
  • Richard Ehrenzeller, Blue Light Vol.7 NO. 3, July/August/September 2000, p.3
• 1904:
  • The 1925 state census, taken in June, has James, age 21, at the same address with mother Eva, 47, her daughters Rose, 26, and Connie, 19. His occupation is shown as Musician. This census would suggest Bubber was born in 1904.

Where was Bubber born?

• Bubber was born in Aiken, S.C. according to:
  • The S.S. Paris June 24 1929 passenger list.
  • Roger Pryor Dodge, H.R.S.Rag, 1940-10-15, quoted in Duke Ellington Reader.
  • Leonard Feather, The NEW editon of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAZZ
    Bonanza Books, New York, 1962 p.333
  • John Chilton, WHO'S WHO OF JAZZ, New Revised Edition, fourth edition, Da Capo Paperback, New York, 9p.223-224
  • Lawrence ibid. p.39
  • Göran Wallén, Bubber Miley, Duke's Inspirer
    Duke Ellington Society of Sweden Bulletin, Nov. 2021 p.6 (relying on Feather and Lawrence)
• Steven Lasker:

  The late Brooks Kerr told me he had been told by the pianist Cliff Smalls (b. Charleston, 1918) that "Bubber was born in our hometown, Charleston, S.C. and raised in Aiken."

• Elko, S.C. is between Aiken (about 25 miles northwest) and Charleston (roughly 100 miles southeast). In their 1961 and 1963 applications for delayed South Carolina certificates of birth, sisters Murdis and “Willie Rose or Willie Miley” declared they and their mother was born in Elko, S.C. Unless the family moved from Elko after Willie was born, or unless mother Eva required medical attention in Aiken or Charleston during childbirth, it may be that Bubber was born in Elko.
• The best evidence of Bubber's birthplace would be his birth certificate, which he may never have applied for, his navy enlistment documents, or his passport application. None of these appear to be available through the Ancestry or FamilySearch genealogy websites.

Early life events:

• Wallén says Miley's father, Valentine was a carpenter and amateur guitar player and his mother was Eva.
• No records for Valentine are found in the Ancestry or FamilySearch genealogy websites as of the time of writing.
• Censuses indicate James was the fourth of five children. The children's names and spellings vary from census to census, but in the 1910 federal census they're listed as Murdis, 17, Gladys, 15, Willie, 13, James, 8 and Fannie, 2. Willie is shown as a son in error.
• Valentine died before the 1910 census, for Eva Miley (nee Arthur?), a widow, is the head of the household. When her daughter Murdis applied for a delayed certificate of South Carolina birth, she reported Eva was born in Elko and died in April 1956. Daughter Willie's application gives Eva's birth date as Aug. 17, 1877.
• According to Ehrenzeller, the family moved to New York when Bubber was six. Chilton dates this as 1909. Source: Chilton (ibid) Wallén says they moved to West 63rd St. in San Juan Hill, Harlem.
• Bubber's sister Murdis married Vassey Bourdenoile Sweeney March 10, 1916 and his sister Willie married Frank White October 13, 1925.

Early musical life:

• Bubber's sisters Rose, Connie and Murdis sang in church and later professionally as The South Carolina Trio. Sources: Chilton and Wallén (ibid)
• Bubber sang and danced in the streets for moneySource: Wallén (ibid)
• Bubber began the trombone in school, later switching to cornet, played in the school band.Source: Chilton and Wallén (ibid)
• Joined the military (navy) in 1918 at age 15, where he learned to play mellophone during his 18 months in the military.Source: Wallén (ibid)

Professional beginnings:
Sources: Chilton (ibid) and Wallén (ibid), Wikipedia.

• Chilton:

  '...worked in New York with The Carolina Five before joining Willie Gant's Band at Lee’s Cabaret, New York. Toured with Mamie Smith (autumn 1921), later played residency with house band at John O’Connor’s Club, New York (winter 1922 until late 1923), also played for cabaret at Reisenweber's, New York. Toured the South with the "Sunny South" revue, then again briefly with Mamie Smith. Worked in The Washingtonians (then led by Elmer Snowden - September 1923),'

• DuPré's Cabaret Source: Wallén (ibid)
• Lee's Cabaret in Willie Gant's (Grant's?) band Sources: Chilton and Wallén (both ibid)
• Southern tour with Sunny South Revue Source: Wallén (ibid)
• Replaced Johnny Dunn with Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds Source: Garvin Bushell, Jazz From the Beginning,
  quoted in Duke Ellington Society of Sweden Bulletin, Nov. 2021 p.10) They regularly performed in famous clubs around New York City and Chicago. Source: Wikipedia
  Lasker:
  'Nat Hentoff, Garvin Bushell and New York Jazz in the 1920's, Part Two, The Jazz Review, Vol. II No. II, February 1959, p. 9: We went on the road with Mamie Smith in 1921. When we got to Chicago, Bubber Miley and I went to hear Oliver at the Dreamland every night. (Armstrong wasn't yet in the band, but Baby and Johnny Dodds were, also Lil Armstrong and Honore Dutrey.) It was the first time I'd heard New Orleans jazz to any advantage and I studied them every night for the entire week we were in town. I was very much impressed with their blues and their sound. The trumpets and clarinets in the East had a better 'legitimate' quality, but their sound touched you more. It was less cultivated but more expressive of how the people felt. Bubber and I sat there with our mouths open.
• Worked occasionally with Johnny Dunn Source: Wallén (ibid)
• Subbed for Whetsel in Elmer Snowden's Novelty Orchestra October 18, 1923 Source: Wallén (ibid) or September 1923 Source: Chilton (ibid)
• Recorded with Thomas Morris, "a master in the use of mutes," and Charles Irvis in 1923. Source: Ehrenzeller (ibid)

With Ellington:

• Ulanov has Miley joining in late 1924 Source: Barry Ulanov, "Duke Ellington," Da Capo, New York 1975 p.47
• Wallén (ibid)

  'When ... Whetsel ... was replaced by a twenty-year-old Bubber Miley, Bubber soon started to totally change the character of the Washingtonians... they soon gave up their sweet music...'

• Recorded with Ellington and with non-Ellington groups as well.Source: Ehrenzeller (ibid)
  
  "Bubber was in fact more interested in participating on recordings than playing regularly in a band." Source: Wallén (ibid)
  
  Lasker:

  'Here's a link to a discography of most of Bubber's recordings, omitting those issued under Ellington's name.
  http://www.harlem-fuss.com/pdf/soloists/harlem_fuss_soloists_miley_bubber.pdf'

• In September or October 1923, Arthur Whetsel left the Washingtonians and was replaced by Miley - see TDWAW1 at 1923 09 00.
• Miley and Charlie Irvis introduced the use of plunger mutes to Ellington's band.
• Bubber's drinking made him unreliable and he was fired in February 1929. While at the Cotton Club he would be too drunk to play, falling asleep under the piano.
• Ellington replaced Miley with Cootie Williams sometime in early 1929.

After Ellington

• Chilton:

  ' "Gigged" in New York, then sailed to France with Noble Sissle in May 1929, returned to New York after a fortnight in Paris, worked with Zutty Singleton's Band at the Lafayette Theatre, then joined Allie Ross Band at Connie’s Inn. From early 1930 worked occasionally for Leo Riesman ... where segregation problems prevented visible participation Miley played with the orchestra, but was hidden from view by a screen. In January 1931 he accompanied noted writer Roger Pryor Dodge (then a professional dancer) for the ’Sweet and Low’ revue, remained for four months. In late 1931 Miley (financed by Irving Mills) formed his own band, they played in the ‘Harlem Scandals’ show in Philadelphia, then opened in New York (January 1932), Shortly afterwards Miley, ill with tuberculosis, was forced to stop playing. He entered hospital on the 10th April 1932 and died just over a month later.

• Miley returned 1929 06 29 aboard the S.S. Paris. He is listed in the passenger manifest as Miley, James, 26, born April 2 [sic], 1903 in Aiken S.C., passport no. 26400, address 105 Edgecombe Ave., New York City.
• He then recorded with several groups, cutting six sides for Victor in 1930 as Bubber Miley and his Mileage Makers.
• David Hill identified these post-Ellington jobs:
  • Fox Corona, New York:

    'A LETTER FROM N.Y.
    
    ...
    "Harlem Scandals", Irving Mills new colored revue, with Tim Moore, Mantan Moreland, the Three Bon Bons and Bubber Miley's band is at the Fox Corona, the first half of the week'

    California Eagle, Los Angeles, Cal. 1932-01-22 p.10, courtesy D.Hill
  • Alhambra Theatre, 126th St. & 7th Ave., New York:

    ENDING FRIDAY NIGHT
    CLARA SMITH
    and TIM MOORE
    In "GOLDEN GIRLS" with
    PEEK-A-BOO JIMMIE
    And His Band
    With BUBBER MILEY
    Wizard Of The Cornet
    ANDREW TRIBBLE, BABY
    GOINS, BILLY ANDREWS JUA-
    NO HERNANDEZ, BANKS, BURN-
    HAM & CORNBREAD.'

    New York Age, 1931-06-06 p.6
    courtesy D.Hill

  • 'Alhambra Theatre
    Peek-a-Boo Jimmy and bis Band, who were a sensation on Broadway in “Just a Minute", have a lot of new and original musical stunts at the Alhambra Theatre this week. To hear Jimmie tease tunes out of a mere cymbal and then drum his way all the hard-wood surface of a stage is a treat.
    Bubber Miley, considered by many to be the greatest of the cornetists, is featured, and Billy Andrews is a nifty master of ceremonies.
    Clara Smith sings her record songs and dispenses her humorous advice to girls, which appears to be equally enjoved by the men. Baby Goins is applauded for her songs and her acrobatic dances and tumbling.
    New ideas in comedy by Tim Moore, aided by Andrew Tribble, keep everybody laughing. Juano Hermandez sings while standing on his head, and Banks Burnham and Cornbread have whirlwind dances.
    “Golden Girls" is the name of the show, with a gorgeous chorus in costumes of cloth and gold lace, against a novel scenic background of golden-hued fur.
    A ganster drama is the talkie. “The Last Parade," in which the stars are Jack Holt, Tom Moore and Constance Cummings.'

    New York Age, 1931-06-06 p.6
    courtesy D.Hill

Death

• James Westley {"Bubber"} Miley died 1932 05 20 from tuberculosis at Charity Hospital, also known as City Hospital, on Welfare Island, New York, N.Y. at age 29.
  
  '...According to his friend Roger Pryor Dodge (HRS Rag, 1940-10-00, p.11),

  "he had dwindled to seventy-six pounds--a little shriveled old man. It seems that he had had tuberculosis for some time. [....] My wife and I went to his funeral. It was held in a bare whitewashed parlor. Apparently no musicians were there although there was a large wreath of flowers from Duke Ellington. The mourners were out of his mother's life. Was this the funeral of one of the greatest artists of our time? The place Bubber had made for himself in music history was completely ignored. Not knowing who Bubber was, one would have thought it was a service for some good little colored boy. The congregation sang 'Rock of Ages' and all through it we heard Bubber's horn, playing the 'Black and Tan [Fantasy]'."

  courtesy S. Lasker, 2018-09-06