Alcide Nunez
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Alcide "Yellow" Nunez
- Genres: Jazz
Biography
Louisiana Five are of interest today mostly for the presence of their clarinetist Alcide "Yellow" Nunez. Nunez was born in New Orleans circa 1892 and in 1916 was a charter member of Stein's Dixie Jass Band, among the earliest of the white Dixieland bands to venture north to Chicago. The band would later morph into Original Dixieland Jazz Band under the leadership of cornetist Nick LaRocca. According to writer H.O. Brunn it was Nunez's unreliability compounded by heavy drinking that caused LaRocca to fire him on October 31, 1916, a scant few weeks before ODJB's landmark successes in New York City.Nunez returned to New Orleans, replaced by Larry Shields, who would do something Nunez was never able to do or possibly unwilling to do, that was to find a place for the clarinet in the cornet led Dixieland ensemble. Nunez formed another band and returned to Chicago's Vernon Café but with little success.
About a year after the initial success of Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Nunez joined with New Orleans drummer and manager Anton Lada to form Louisiana Five. Joining the group were Brooklyn trombonist Charlie Panelli, who would be a fixture on the New York Dixieland scene through the early '20s where he would perform for extended periods with the Original Memphis Five and Original Indiana Five; pianist Joe Cawley; and banjoist Karl Berger. Starting in December 1918 for one year they would record over 50 sides, many original compositions, for Emerson, Columbia, Edison, Okeh, and even an unissued test for Victor. Nunez was modestly billed as "The World's Greatest Jazz Clarinetist" in the various Gotham venues they played.
Some of the Columbia Louisiana Five recordings enjoyed modest success but they never rivaled the sales of ODJB Victors. Shortly after the demise of Louisiana Five in early 1920, Nunez made recordings in association with Harry Yerkes, a New York recording pioneer who played a variety of percussion instruments. Some of the recordings also featured New Orleans trombonist Tom Brown. That association seems to have ceased in the same year. Anton Lada went on to lead dance orchestras and record for Emerson. His last recordings appear to have been made in Los Angeles in 1925 for the Sunset label.
In the mid-'20s, Nunez played through Texas and Oklahoma with his own quartet. One could speculate that Nunez's lack of success stemmed from his unwillingness to change his style by abandoning lead playing to the cornet. But Nunez unknowingly may have had some vindication when he was heard, according Charles Edward Smith, by a teenage Pee Wee Russell at the Elks Club in Muskogee, OK. The argument can be made that Russell's "un-clarinet"-like style may have derived originally from the stubborn old New Orleans veteran with his C Albert system clarinet refusing to surrender the lead. Although Smith's assertions were based on personal interviews with Russell, Robert Hilbert seems to have dismissed much of this in his biography of Russell written in 1993. Nunez returned to New Orleans in 1927 where he continued to work with local groups and was a member of the Police Band. He passed way on September 2, 1934, a forgotten man at the beginning of the swing era.
Some of the recordings of Louisiana Five have been reissued as part of potpourri sets like Timeless Historical's excellent From Ragtime to Jazz three-CD series. ~ Frank Powers, Rovi
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Alcide Nunez
| Alcide Nunez | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Alcide Nunez, 1918 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alcide Patrick Nunez |
| Born | March 17, 1884 St.Bernard Parish, Louisiana |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Died | September 2, 1934 (aged 50) |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Clarinetist |
| Instruments | Clarinet |
| Years active | 1902–1934 |
Alcide Patrick Nunez (March 17, 1884 – September 2, 1934), also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, was an early white American jazz clarinetist. He was also one of the first musicians of New Orleans who made numerous audio recordings and he was announced by Pee Wee Russell as the greatest jazz clarinetist of the world.
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Contents
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Biography
Alcide Patrick Nunez was born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. His parents were Victor Nunez and Elisa Nunez Chalaire and were of Isleño and Louisiana French descent respectively. The family moved to New Orleans when he was a child.
He grew up among the Marigny and Bywater the district of New Orleans. For a time, Nunez lived at 1340 Arts Street, in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans. He initially played guitar, then switched to clarinet about 1902. He soon became one of the top hot clarinetists in the city. By 1905 he was a regular in Papa Jack Laine's band, in addition to playing with Tom Brown (trombonist) and sometimes leading bands of his own. Alcidez could play several instruments, but mainly played the clarinet. In addition, he was able to improvise variations on the songs he heard. Before he was able to make music a full time profession, Nunez worked for a while driving a wagon drawn by mules, in which he carried to his fellow musician "Chink" Martin Abraham.
In early 1916 he went north to Chicago with Stein's Dixie Jass Band, which was to become famous as the Original Dixieland Jass Band, but Nunez left the band shortly before they made their first recordings.[1] In 1917 the Dixieland Jass band achieved great success with their recording of the instrumental "Livery Stable Blues" under the direction of Nick LaRocca. However Nunez and Ray Lopez filed copyright to a sheet music version of the tune before LaRocca. Nick LaRocca and the band sued Nunez for $10,000. At the end the lawsuit was thrown out without decision; the judge denied that any "musicians" who could not read written music could be said to have written anything.[2]
After some time playing with Tom Brown's band in Chicago, he went to New York City with Bert Kelly's band.[1]Pee Wee Russell announced in Chicago and New York that Nunez was the greatest jazz clarinetist of the world. Nunez be become the band leader of Bert Kelly.[2] After playing with Kelly through 1918, at the start of 1919 Nunez helped form the band the Louisiana Five led by drummer Anton Lada. They quickly became one of the most popular bands in New York at the time and recorded for several record labels. In early 1920 Nunez worked with the New York dance band of Harry Yerkes, but in the same year, Nunez returned temporarily to the Louisiana Five, touring the United States.
In 1922 he returned to Chicago to lead the house band at Kelly's Stables, one of the city's top nightclubs and played with the band of Willard Robison. After Bert Kelly replaced him with Johnny Dodds. However, Nuñez began to lose his teeth, so he was almost unable to play his clarinet with which had worked on most of the bands in which he participated. Therefore he returned with his family to New Orleans, where he got a denture and returned to play with various bands in addition to his day job with the police department until his death.
He died in September 2, 1934 of a heart attack.[1]
Personal life
He married 3 times and had one child with his 2nd wife and 3 children with his 3rd. For a time in 1921, he settled in Baltimore, where he bought a large house.[1]
Legacy
Robert Nunez is the great grandson of Alcide "Yellow" Nunez and is also the principal tubist with the Louisiana Philharmonic of New Orleans.
References
- ^ a b c d http://www.hurricanebrassband.nl/Musician%20alcide%20nunez.htm Alcide Nunez. Retrieved december 22, 2011, to 2:24 am.
- ^ a b http://www.redhotjazz.com/yellow.html Yellow Nuñez (1884 - 1934)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alcide Nunez |
- Alcide "Yellow" Nunez extensive multi-page biography.
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Mentioned in
Pioneer Recording Bands 1917-1920
(2004 Album by Various Artists)
Original Dixieland Jazz Band / Louisiana Five
(1917 Album by Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
Ray Lopez
(Jazz Artist, '10s, '20s)
Alfred Laine
(Jazz Artist, '10s)
Anton Lada
(Jazz Artist, '20s-'40s)
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