The New Orleans Wanderers

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The New Orleans Wanderers was the name under which Lil Hardin recorded in 1926 with members of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, during a session for Columbia. Armstrong himself could not take part, because he was under contract to Okeh, although he did contribute to three of the four songs. His place was taken by cornettist George Mitchell.

Music and breakthrough

The line-up otherwise consisted of Lil Hardin on piano, Kid Ory on trombone, Johnny St. Cyr on banjo and Johnny Dodds on clarinet. All the songs were written by Louis Armstrong. The session took place in Chicago on 13 July 1926 and produced four songs under this name: Gate Mouth, Too Tight, Perdido Street Blues and Papa Dip. The next day the same musicians recorded four other songs, which were released under the name New Orleans Bootblacks: I Can't Say, Mixed Salad, Mad Dog and Flat Foot.

Influence

In this way the New Orleans Wanderers show how names and contracts worked in early jazz. The same players worked under different names for different labels, and the music comes from the New Orleans jazz of the 1920s, played by the circle around Armstrong. The songs were later also released in England, including in the Columbia Swing Music Series.

Listening