Mod Mobilian |  Notes on Mobile Bay Music

Notes on Mobile Bay Music

Mobile-Baldwin Music Organizations and Venues

Mobile-Baldwin Musicians

  • Alabama Music Hall of Fame.   AMHOF Mobile “Achievers”.
  • Excelsior Band. The Excelsior Band is a ten piece jazz marching brass band that consists of three trumpets, three saxophones, one trombone, a tuba, bass drum and snare drum. The band performs in Mobile Mardi Gras parades and other event. The group also performs as a quintet, as requested for smaller events. – PR 11/13/08
    • John A. Pope founded the Excelsior Band in 1883 on the corner of Scott and Selma Streets with a group of musician friends who had gathered to celebrate the birth of his son. John A., born in Mobile in 1863, attended the Creole Catholic School in the downtown area and later became President of the Creole Fire Company. Several original members worked for the Creole Fire Company, so they often practiced their music in a room above the fire station.
    • Originally, Pope’s Excelsior Band had eighteen members. Among those members were people such as, “Cootie” Williams, Leo Battiste, Alex Terez, Ted Collins and the band’s founder, John A. Pope who played the B-flat trumpet.
    • When John A. died in 1951, the younger Pope had long since taken over the reign as director of the band.
    • In 1902, John C. Pope became leader of the band at the young age of 19. In 1972 John C. Pope was recognized by the Mobile Jazz Association for his contributions to jazz music in Mobile. Pope, who owned and operated a small diner in Mobile’s Southside area, on the corner of Dearborn and Selma Streets, died in 1972 at the age of 88.
    • Members of the Excelsior band in 1988 included: James Matthews and Phillip Moody on drums; Ernest Coleman on tuba; Robert Petty on trombone; James Seals, Herbert Dillard, and Hosea London on trumpet; Joe Morrison, Hubert Standfield and Joe Lewis on saxophone. The band also has several substitute members, including William Burks, Ray Packer, Theodore Arthur and Leon Rhoden.
    • James M. Seals, Jr., was a musician and band director in the Mobile County Public School System and at Bishop State Community College, director of the Excelsior Band, and President of the Down the Bay Community Organization. The James M. Seals, Jr. Park and Community Center in the Down the Bay community are named in his honor.
    • Excelsior Band Video
    • Excelsior History
  • James Reese Europe (1881–1919) was a ragtime and early jazz bandleader and composer. Europe was born in Mobile, but his family moved to Washington, D.C. when he was 10 years old. He was the leading figure on the African American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Europe organized the Clef Club Orchestra, the first jazz band to play at Carnegie Hall. His “Society Orchestra” became nationally famous in 1912. In 1913 and 1914 he made a series of phonograph records, some of the best examples of the pre-jazz hot ragtime style of the 1910s. The Clef Club Orchestra and the Society Orchestra were large symphonic bands; the Clef Orchestra had 125 members. During World War I Europe saw combat as a lieutenant with the “Harlem Hellfighters”, the band of which he directed to great acclaim. In February and March of 1918, James Reese Europe and his military band travelled over 2,000 miles in France, performing for British, French and American military audiences as well as French civilians. In 1919 he made more recordings for Pathé Records. James Reese Europe died after being stabbed by a member of his band. At the time of his death, he was the best-known African American bandleader in the United States. - Wikipedia
  • Bill Lagman (1907-1976) developed his personal style in Dixieland and Jazz from listening to local musicians and records, especially Bix Biederbeck. By 1925, he was the leader of a band called Bill’s Merrymakers which was followed by Crescent City Orchestra in 1929. The orchestra played afternoons at the Cawthon Hotel. His music was enjoyed at Monroe Park, on the Bay Queen and at ADDSCO during World War II. Throughout his career, Lagman performed for hundreds of parties, schools, organizations and civic events including America’s Junior Miss. He wrote special arrangements for many Carnival societies’ tableau and his orchestra was always in demand during Mardi Gras for fifty years. He is an important part of Mobile’s musical history playing Ragtime in the twenties and Big Band music from the thirties through the seventies. One of Bill’s original trumpets is on display at the Mobile Carnival Museum and the trumpet given to him by The Tonight Show band leader Doc Severinsen, is on display at the Museum of Mobile. He was awarded the M.O. Beale Scroll of Merit in 1968 for his “artistic contribution to [Mobile's] social and civic life.” Lagman was one of the founders of the Mobile Jazz Festival.
  • Bob Schultz (1931-2006), clarinetist, formed a Swing Era big band orchestra that played at many Mardi Gras events. He was born in New London, Conn., and was buried in Church Street Cemetery in 2006.
  • Catholic Boys Home Band
  • The E. B. Coleman Orchestra was organized in 1955 and consisted of eighteen amateur musicians.  “E.B.” did all of the band arrangements and wrote numerous original compositions.  It performed at wedding receptions, conventions, parties and Mardi Gras and society balls.  “E.B.” retired as conductor of the orchestra in 1993 yet continued to write arrangements for the band.  At the time of his retirement, the orchestra had grown to twenty-two pieces. Hubert “Hawk” Stanfield assumed the position of bandleader and conductor of The E. B. Coleman Orchestra in 1993.  The orchestra is currently under the direction of Hosea London and consists of fifteen members.
  • Lil Greenwood is a Mobile jazz vocalist. She left Prichard for California in 1949. For about 10 years she made a living singing at clubs in the San Francisco Bay area, occasionally traveling to Los Angeles to record singles with bandleader Roy Milton and other groups. She was hand picked by Duke Ellington to join his tour. Ellington and Billy Strayhorn revamped her tune “Walking and Singing the Blues,” and it became her signature contribution to the Ellington canon. She stayed with him until his death in 1974 and continued to tour with his son. But at the end of the decade she came back home to Prichard, to care for her mother and other relatives. In 2002, English label Ace Records released “Lil Greenwood: Walking and Singing the Blues,” a collection of singles from the 1950s. In 2007, she released the album “Back to My Roots” at the age of 83. – PR 6/21/07
  • Charles Melvin (”Cootie”) Williams (1910-1985) was a Mobile-born trumpeter who played with Duke Ellington’s orchestra from 1929 to 1940. In 1940, he joined Benny Goodman’s orchestra, then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which he employed Charlie Parker and other young players. He began to play rhythm and blues in the late 1940s. In the 1950s he toured with small groups and fell into obscurity. In 1962 he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974. Cootie Williams was renowned for his use of the plunger mute, and is reputed to have inspired Wynton Marsalis’s use of it. – Wikipedia
  • Bernard Odum was born in Mobile and played bass in James Brown’s band in the 1960s.Odum started playing with Brown in 1956 and became a full-time member of Brown’s band in 1958. Odum worked in the James Brown band until the end of the 1960s, and played on such hits as “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (1964), “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (1965), and “Cold Sweat” (1967). In 1969, Odum and most of the other musicians in Brown’s band walked out on him over a pay dispute and other issues, prompting Brown to create a new backing band, The J.B.’s. In 1970, Odum briefly joined Maceo Parker’s group, Maceo & All the King’s Men, appearing on the album Doin’ Their Own Thing. Odum died in Mobile in 2004.
  • Fred Wesley Jr., trombonist, grew up in Mobile, the son of Fred Sr., a music teacher at Mobile Central High School and big band leader. He joined the Ike and Tina Turner Review in 1962. A period with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and Army service preceded his work with James Brown 1968-70 and 1971-5. He served as band leader and musical director of Brown’s band the J.B.’s and did much of the composing and arranging for the group. He left Brown’s band in 1975 and spent several years playing with George Clinton’s various Parliament/Funkadelic projects, even recording a couple of albums as the leader of a spin-off group, The Horny Horns. In 1978 he joined the Count Basie Orchestra. He released his first jazz album as a leader, To Someone in 1988. It was followed by New Friends in 1990, Comme Ci Comme Ca in 1991, the live album Swing and Be Funky, and Amalgamation in 1994. In the early nineties Wesley toured with his colleagues from the James Brown band, Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker, as the JB Horns. With the departure of Ellis the band became The Maceo Parker Band. Wesley was featured trombonist with Parker until 1996 when he formed his own band, The Fred Wesley Group. In 2002 Wesley wrote Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman, an autobiography about his life as a sideman. Also in 2002 he recorded an album entitled Cuda Wuda Shuda with a group of jazz musicians calling themselves the Fred Wesley Band. Wesley currently serves as an adjunct professor in the Jazz Studies department of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has completed his first book entitled, “HIT ME FRED ( Recollections of a Sideman)”.   – Wikipedia; Fred Wesley Website
  • Cliff Nobles (1944-2008) was born in Grove Hill and grew up in Mobile, and began singing in high school as a member of a local group, The Delroys. He moved to Philadelphia and formed a group, Cliff Nobles & Co., Their second release was “Love Is All Right” b/w “The Horse”, which peaked at #2 for three weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. – Wikipedia
  • Theodore Arthur started his musical career on saxophone at age 16, playing in nightclubs in Mobile and Prichard. With the help of bass player Marshall York, Arthur was asked to play with the Junior Parker band. Arthur accompanied Bobby Blue Bland, Aretha Franklin, and Johnny Taylor during the 1960’s. He moved back to Mobile and started a 14 member band. Since 1980, he handles his own bookings and controls his own record label, Castanet Records. He also has his own publishing company, Prichard Music Co.
  • Billy Bang (b. William Vincent Walker) is a jazz violinist and composer. He was born in Mobile, but his family moved to Harlem neighborhood while he was still an infant. After serving in Vietnam, he returned to New York and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra. In 1977, Bang co-founded the String Trio of New York.
  • Joe Lewis, a native Mobilian, has backed artists such as Millie Jackson, Redd Foxx, and in concert with Ray Charles. He has recorded with renowned trombonist Fred Wesley, the accomplished pianist Roy Merriwether and opened for Lou Rawls, Chemistry and Authur Prysock. Early in his career he was a member of the United States Air Force Band performing in the United States and Europe. He has played with the Excelsior Band for over 30 years. He is also an accomplished producer, arranger, composer, music instructor (saxophone, flute, clarinet, and piano).
  • Luther Wamble is a Blues guitar player from Mobile. He has played with such musicians as Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, B.B. King, and Greg Allman.
  • Dennis “Finger Roll” Nelson is a guitarist that grew up in Mobile and attended Williamson High School. He landed the guitar spot with Otis Day and the Knights (in the movie Animal House) The Temptations, jazz trumpeter Tom Brown and Ray Charles. He co-wrote Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Memphis Monday Morning” and  Robert Palmer’s “Hyperactive.” Recordings include In the Zone (1996), Still Rollin’ (1997), Back on Track (2003), Hip-Notic (2007), and contributions to Unwrapped 1-4  Finger Roll Website
  • Milton Brown is a Mobile songwriter. His award-winning songs have been recorded by more than 50 major-label artists – Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Rich, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, and others. He has written songs for movie soundtracks including “Every Which Way But Loose” from the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name, and “Barroom Buddies” from the Eastwood film “Bronco Billy”. His Azalea Film Corporation produced “Mi Amigo” in 2002, directed by his daughter Margaret Brown.
  • Linda Zoghby is a Mobile-born opera singer who has sung with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Washington Opera.
  • Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula. His parents J.D. and Mary Loraine “Peets” Buffett both worked for ADDSCO/Atlantic Marine, and lived on the Eastern Shore until their deaths in 2003. Buffett grew up along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. He graduated high school from McGill Institute for Boys in 1964. He began playing guitar during his college years at Auburn University and The University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1969. Buffett began his musical career in Nashville during the late 1960s as a country artist and recorded his first album, the folk rock Down to Earth, in 1970. During this time Buffett could be frequently found busking for tourists in New Orleans. Buffett then moved to Key West. 1977’s Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes featured the breakthrough hit song “Margaritaville”. Buffett owns or licenses the Margaritaville Cafe and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains. In June 2007, Buffett, in partnership with Harrah’s Entertainment, announced plans to build the Margaritaville Casino & Resort in Biloxi. Buffett has written 3 No. 1 best sellers: Tales from Margaritaville, Where Is Joe Merchant? and the non-fiction A Pirate Looks At Fifty. Buffett also co-wrote two children’s books, The Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls. Jimmy Buffett has been involved in many charity efforts. In 1981, the Save the Manatee Club was founded by Buffett and former Florida governor Bob Graham. – Wikipedia; This Goodly Land
  • Mobile Musicians include composer and conductor James Reese Europe, Charles Lipskin, John A. Pope, Excelsior Brass Band, Charles Melvin “Cootie” Williams, the Pope Sisters, the Nicholas Brothers, Pomp Gaston and the Melody Masters, Onzie Steele, Fred Wesley, Sr., Edward Pratt, and the Gator Brothers, one of whom was George “Lakey” Matthews. Mary Lou Williams co-wrote the lyrics to her noted tune, “Walkin’” with Mobilian Lindsay Steele. Lil Greenwood and Cootie Williams were prominent with Duke Ellington. Also drummer John “Jabo” Starks, trombonist Fred Wesley, Jr., Theodore Arthur, Joe Lewis, and The Lewis Brothers, Marion and Joe. – Shawn Bivens
  • Mobile in Music: “Mobile” by Julius Larosa; “Mobile” by Marcia Ball; “Guitar Man” by Jerry Reed, Elvis Presley; “Let It Rock” by Chuck Berry; “Mobile” by Randy Newman; “Mobile, Alabama” by Curtis Gordon; “Mobile, Alabama Blues” by Milton Brown; “Mobile Bay” by Dave Kirby, Curley Putman; “Mobile Bay Magnolia Blossoms” by Dave Kirby, Curley Putman; “Mobile Blues” by Mickey Newbury; “Mobile Boogie” by The Delmore Brothers; “Mobile Serenade Polka” by Tim Eriksen



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