• Alternative Name: Jimmy Noone
• Genre: Jazz
• Active: '20s, '30s, '40s
• Instrument: Clarinet

Biography

Considered one of the three top New Orleans clarinetists of the 1920s (with Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet), Jimmie Noone had a smoother tone than his contemporaries that appealed to players of the swing era (including Benny Goodman). He played guitar as a child, and at age 15 took clarinet lessons from Lorenzo Tio, Jr. and Sidney Bechet (the latter was only 13, shockingly enough). Noone developed quickly, and he played with Freddie Keppard (1913-1914), Buddy Petit, and the Young Olympia Band (1916), which he also led. In 1917, he went to Chicago to join Keppard's Creole band. After it broke up the following year he became a member of King Oliver's band, staying until he joined Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra (1920-1926). Although Noone recorded with Cook, it was when he started leading a band at the Apex Club that he hit his stride. By 1928, he had pianist Earl Hines and altoist Joe Poston in the unusual quintet (Poston stuck to playing melodies behind Noone), and was recording for Vocalion, creating classic music including an early version of "Sweet Lorraine" (his theme song) and "Four or Five Times." Noone worked steadily in Chicago throughout the 1930s (although he received less attention from the jazz world), and he used Charlie Shavers on some of his late-'30s recordings and welcomed the young singer Joe Williams to the bandstand; unfortunately, they never recorded together. In 1944, Noone was in Kid Ory's band on the West Coast and seemed on the brink of greater fame when he unexpectedly died. Thanks to European reissue series, Jimmie Noone's recordings are readily available on CD. His son, Jimmie Noone, Jr., suddenly emerged out of obscurity in the 1980s to play clarinet and tenor with the Cheathams. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Representative Songs:

"Apex Blues," "Sweet Lorraine," "I Know That You Know"

Representative Albums:

Apex Blues, The Jimmie Noone Collection, Vol. 1 (1928), 1934-1940

Similar Artists:

Frank Powers, King Oliver, Buster Bailey

Influences:

Wilbur Sweatman, Sidney Bechet

Followers:

Frank Powers, Omer Simeon, Frank Teschemacher, Benny Goodman

A Member of the Group:

Original Creole Band

Performed Songs By:

Byron Gay, Clifford R. Burwell, B. Rose, Harry Brooks, Joe Sanders, Victor Young, Spencer Williams, Mitchell Parish, Gus Kahn, Henry Creamer, Warren, Andy Razaf, Vincent Youmans, Jimmy McHugh, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Dizzy Gillespie

Worked With:

Johnny Wells, Fayette Williams, Bud Scott, Joe Poston, Bill Newton, George Mitchell, Louis Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Freddie Keppard, Johnny Dodds

Chicago Rhythm - Apex Blues: The Recordings of Jimmie Noone 1923-1943 Buy this CD	The Alternative Takes: 1923-1941 Buy this CD	1929-1930 Buy this CD	1928-1929 Buy this CD	1923-1928 Buy this CD
New Orleans Buy this CD	1934-1940 Buy this CD	1930-1934 Buy this CD	Apex Blues Buy this CD	The His Best Recordings: 1923-1940 Buy this CD

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