Snoozer Quinn
1906 - 1952
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This is a Snoozer Quinn page. Music-
ally, to a follower of authentic jazz, that's roughly the equivalent of telling Van Cliburn that you've found a Franz Liszt piano roll. For Snoozer, though his name was unknown to the general public, was turning-on the big name jazzmen of the '20's in nightly after- hour performances that had the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer, Jimmy McPartland and Jack Teagarden crowding into tiny hotel rooms to listen as this gangling, crooked-faced guitar- ist held court in New York. Snoozer's praline voice sang in a personal style that echoed for many more years in the sound of Teagarden, but nobody tried to duplicate his pro- digious guitar virtuosity. One hearing of the contents of this sleeve will ex- plain why. Snoozer's mastery of his instrument was then and remains now beyond belief. We've heard about it before from old time jazzmen, and felt free to dismiss their ravings as nostal- gia-but now we have aural evidence that the Snoozer legend-if anything -was understated. In the months (1928-29) that he filled the guitar chair in the Paul White- man Orchestra, then at the peak of its "Symphonic Jazz" celebrity, the public had no chance to hear him or notice him. This was before the era of ampli- ied sound. But after all the bands in town had played their nightly "I'll See You In My Dreams" and "Goodnight Sweetheart" medley, their members would scour the Broadway area to find out where Snoozer would be doing his thing, sometimes until long past dawn. Bix and Tram were the core of his claque and such favorites as Joe Venuti, How- dy Quicksell, Red Nichols and Ted Lewis paid nightly tribute to this delta genius. "So how come no records?" skeptics ask. "If he was so great, wouldn't they have recorded him?" |
It's easy to blame "bad luck"-but
in Snoozer's case it really seemed to be a plot of the gods to suppress his work. The fact is that he made eight sides for Victor in 1925. They were never released, though documented, and nobody actually knows what hap- pened to them. Columbia put him on a trio session with Bix and Tram in '29-even included another version of "Singin' the Blues". This session was simply and inexplicably lost. His re- cordings with the big Whiteman group are, of course, hopeless for the pur- pose of hearing him. In '31 he was hired for a couple of cuts behind hill- billy performer, Jimmy Davis, who willy-nilly became governor of Louisi- ana. (Victor 23620. "Get On Board, Aunt Susan/" Market House Blues"). But that sort of thing wasn't likely to display the Snoozer style and skill. "Bad luck" then. But it could have been worse. Johnny Wiggs might not have thought to record him at all. Wiggs did get the idea to document this unique, frequently overwhelming, guitar. The sessions took place at a hospital during early '50's on Johnny's own, distinctly non-professional equip- ment. Thus we were assured this rare opportunity to get to know why and how Snoozer enthralled his contemporaries. Johnny's recording gear did itself proud. No apologies need be made for the quality of the cuts. The manufacturer would never have guaranteed the fidelity Wiggs achieved. True, Snoozer's health had failed. He wasn't long for this world. But again, this fact need not serve as a plea for tolerance. As you'll hear, at least on these sides, he managed to keep more live guitar going than this listener ever heard. Wiggs, for the occasion, took his lip out of a quarter-century of mothballs, more to put Snoozer at his ease than anything else, and blew on some of these cuts. Little rust had gathered in the superb cornet. It would have been easy to predict even then that a little wood-shedding could bring him to the high performance level which has won him so much critical acclaim in succeeding years. |
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| Snoozer's Telephone
Blues
(Real Audio - 3:29 ) |
Singin' the Blues
(w/ Johnny Wiggs)
(Real Audio - 3:50) |
| Out of Nowhere
(Real Audio - 3:22) |
You Took Advantage
of Me
(Real Audio - 2:57) |
| Clarinet Marmelade
(w/ Johnny Wiggs)
(Real Audio - 3:06) |
Georgia on My
Mind/Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
(Real Audio - 3:36) |
| Nobody's
Sweetheart (w/ Johnny Wiggs)
(Real Audio - 3:31) |
Snoozer's
Wanderings
(Real Audio - 4:11) |
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All Rights Reserved |
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