"Little" Records by Wilbur Sweatman

Pioneering jazz clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman (1882-1961) often gets a bad rap, in my opinion. Almost every mention of him in the jazz literature points out that part of his act involved playing three clarinets at once. (Yes, that's hokey, but it was probably pretty entertaining.) In recent years there has been more recognition of his many recordings, though. From 1918 to 1920 Sweatman's Original Jazz Band was Columbia's answer to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Columbia released 24 sides by Sweatman during this period; they all appear on the archival label Archeophone's CD Jazzin' Straight Through Paradise.

Before the Columbia period, Sweatman recorded for Emerson and Pathe, and after 1920 for Gennett, Edison, Grey Gull, Victor, and Vocalion, making for an impressive recording career which lasted from 1916 to 1935. (And that's not counting a possible cylinder recording made for a Minneapolis department store in 1903 or 1904.) And during many of Sweatman's Columbia sessions, he also made sides for the Little Wonder label - more on that later.

Besides the three-clarinet trick, the other thing usually mentioned about Wilbur Sweatman is that he wrote "Down Home Rag," a popular and much-recorded composition, covered by everyone from James Reese Europe to Benny Goodman. "Down Home Rag" was one of the two titles recorded by Sweatman in 1916 for the Emerson label. Emerson issued records in all sorts of sizes, and "Down Home Rag" was issued on five-and-a-half-inch and seven-inch discs. The seven-inch version can be found below. Sweatman is accompanied by the oddly-named "Emerson String Trio," which includes Nathan Glantz on saxophone and Malvin Franklin on piano, along with an anonymous violinist. The flip side of the record, not included here, is "Broadway Chicken Walk" by the Emerson Symphony Orchestra. Sweatman's rendition of his composition is an engaging example of hot ragtime.

In a previous post, I mentioned the Little Wonder label's shadowy relationship to Columbia Records. Columbia pressed these little records for Henry Waterson when he established the discount label in 1914, and the larger label took over Little Wonder completely by 1917. Columbia took care to hide its relationship to Little Wonder, though, and kept the public in the dark about its connection to the low-priced, five-and-a-half-inch discs. But Little Wonder's performers, whose names were almost never listed on the record labels, came exclusively from Columbia's artist roster. Artists were often offered a small amount of money to record shorter versions of the songs they had just recorded at Columbia sessions. Wilbur Sweatman's eight (or nine - one is uncertain) Little Wonder records came about less scrupulously: he was asked to record short "test" versions of his pieces, and expressed surprise when he learned, 35 years later, that these were issued on Little Wonder.

"Jazz Band" is the only artist identification on the labels of Sweatman's Little Wonder records. One record is particularly interesting: "Lonesome Road." This is a song by Will Nash, not the more familiar quasi-spiritual composed by Nat Shilkret and Gene Austin. Sweatman recorded three takes of the song for Columbia on February 5, 1919, but for whatever reason none were ever issued. The one-and-a-half-minute version was issued on Little Wonder, though, making #1092 the only one of Sweatman's Little Wonders that is a unique title without a longer Columbia equivalent. For that reason, "Lonesome Road" is the only Little Wonder side included on the Archeophone CD mentioned above. But Little Wonder issued two takes of the tune, and my copy is a different take from that on the CD.

"Lonesome Road" can be found below, along with a couple of other Sweatman Little Wonder sides. The label was not known for the quality of its pressings and there is wear and groove damage to be found on these recordings. But they are wonderful examples of early New York proto-jazz, and not easy to find on reissues. In addition, Little Wonder issued a record of a studio band (probably Prince's Band) playing a Sweatman composition, "Boogie Rag," in 1917 or so. It's another nice, hot rag, with a forward-looking title - the terms "boogie" or "boogie woogie" would not start becoming common until a decade or so later. This dance-band version of Sweatman's piece is well worth hearing.

I'm not going to list the personnel for the "Jazz Band" sides in detail, because those details are uncertain, and some of the personnel listings I've seen don't match what my ears are telling me in terms of instrumentation. But Cricket Smith, Arthur Briggs, or William Hicks are possibilities for the trumpet chair; John Reeves or Major Smith are likely trombonists, and Dan Parrish is probably the pianist. All were recorded in New York City. Enjoy these scarce Wilbur Sweatman "little" records.

Down Home Rag - Emerson 7161; c. December, 1916

Lonesome Road - Little Wonder 1092; February, 1919

Ev'rybody's Crazy 'bout the Doggone Blues - Little Wonder 851; March, 1918

Kansas City Man Blues - Little Wonder 1192; March, 1919

Boogie Rag - Little Wonder 706; c. 1917