Barbecue Joe & His Hot Dogs

• Genres: Jazz

Biography

This band name, which is enough to make fans of good old American cuisine begin salivating, was actually one of many bands led by the classic jazz trumpeter and vocalist Wingy Manone. The recordings done under the name of Barbecue Joe and His Hot Dogs in 1930 include a song that was the basis for Glen Miller's massive hit of the swing era , "In The Mood". Manone had already fronted outfits such as Joe Manone's Harmony Kings, Joe "Wingy" Manone and his Club Royale Orchestra, the Arcadian Serenaders and Wingy Manone and his Orchestra, and why the bandleader was in the mood to pose as Barbecue Joe has never really been explained, although there was speculation that the Decca label, upon purchasing these tracks in the early '40s, made use of the pseudonym in order to pass off the records as the work of a white jazz group. While comic film director Woody Allen made light of the idea of a one-armed vibraphonist in his film Broadway Danny Rose, Manone was actually a one-armed trumpeter, but had such little difficult onstage using a prosthetic arm that very few members of the audience were cognizant of his disability.

"Big Butter And Egg Man" was the one track recorded at the Barbecue Joe sessions that continued the food theme. Other cuts included the winning Indiana Champion, the shimmying "Shake That Thing, a resigned "Weary Blues" and the strongly directional "Up The Country Blues". Most famous of all was "Tar Paper Stomp", because the song's main riff began traveling through various big band recordings in the next few years, and like a shoe walking on fresh tar it picked up new titles as it went along. The riff became "Hot And Anxious" when played by Horace Henderson's band, and then was "In the Mood" to meet both Edgar Hayes and Glen Miller. The enormous success of big band king Miller's version of course meant the riff would be forever identified as "In the Mood", no matter how hard Barbecue Joe had stomped on the tar paper. Bandmembers, who perhaps should be identified as "band-weenies", included the fine trumpeter Ed Camden, versatile Miff Frink alternating on trombone and banjo, solid tuba timekeeper Orville Hayes and the excellent New Orleans drummer Dash Burkis. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi