Johnnie dodds biography

The Dodds Brothers, clarinetist Johnny and drummer Baby, were very important jazz pioneers who made a major impact on jazz of the 1920s. While their individual accomplishments were impressive, their lives and careers frequently overlapped.

Johnny Dodds was born April 12, 1892 in Waveland, Mississippi. He grew up in New Orleans where he was surrounded by music. His father and uncle were violinists and a sister played harmonica. Dodds started on the clarinet when he was 13 in 1905. He was completely self-taught other than having a few lessons with Lorenzo Tio, Jr., never learning to read music and playing strictly by ear.

Despite that possible handicap, in 1912 he joined the Crescent City’s top jazz group, Kid Ory’s band. Dodds became greatly in-demand in New Orleans and freelanced for the next five years. He developed a very distinctive and appealing tone both in his lower and upper registers. His piercing sound and strong vibrato could easily cut through any ensemble and he never had any trouble being heard.

Warren Dodds, who was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1898, was the youngest of six children which resulted in his lifelong nickname of “Baby.” He began playing drums in 1912, building his first drum set. As a teenager he played regularly in street parades and for funerals. Among the brass bands that he worked with in New Orleans were groups led by Bunk Johnson, Willie Hightower, Oscar Celestin, and Frankie Dusen (The Eagle Band).

The Dodds Brothers first played regularly together in 1918 when Baby joined Fate Marable’s jazz bandon the S.S. Capitol; Johnny had become a member the year before. They worked on and off with Marable through 1921 next to the young cornetist Louis Armstrong. It was an excellent training ground not only for learning the latest pop and jazz songs but for the musicians to build up their technique and endurance. Unfortunately no recordings exist of that legendary ver

Much has been written about Johnny Dodds. Unfortunately the biography by Lambert (1961) that inspires much of it is not well-researched and is mostly a personal appreciation of some of his recordings.

The discography by Dürr (2000), is not only a discography of all known 78 RPM records, but has an excellent bibliography and the last pages have important biographical information, reprints of letters and an interview with Johnny Dodds’ eldest son. Example: Johnny Dodds’ “sex education” of his two son’s was putting a revolver to his eldest son’s temple and saying “If you ever ruin the life of another man’s daughter – I don’t care how ugly she is, how short her hair or how skinny her legs – I’ll blow your brains out”.

The Solo Style Of Johnny Dodds by the late Patricia A, Martin (2003) is an essential publication which is well-researched and has an excellent bibliography. She avoids making value judgements. There are, unfortunately, rather a lot of mistakes – wrong dates, wrong personnel and many other trivia.

Johnny Dodds was born on 12 April 1892 in uptown New Orleans. His father was a warehouse employee. He had two elder sisters and one elder brother, his younger brother Warren ‘Baby’ Dodds was born on 12 December 1894; he became a skillful drummer. In about 1901, the family moved to a farm in Waveland, Mississippi. The two sons went to school in Bay St Louis a few miles east of Waveland. In May 1904, Dodds’ mother died. The family lived with the father who gave Johnny his first clarinet in 1908 – he previously played tin whistle. He was taught the rudiments of the instrument in Bay St Louis. In 1940, he told Bill Russell that after five lessons he knew more than his teacher.

According to Joe Robichaux (piano player, band leader and nephew of Johnny Dodds), in ca. 1914, he together with Johnny Dodds took music lessons with Dave Perkins (cited by Vernhettes & Lindström. 2019). Presumably to improve his

Johnnie Dodds Boulevard is the workhorse of Mount Pleasant’s infrastructure. The roughly three-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 17 from the Ravenel Bridge to the Mark Clark Expressway hosts tens of thousands of cars daily and, after a major improvement project completed in 2013, looks great doing it.

But a transportation corridor – or anything, for that matter – bearing the name of the former Mount Pleasant mayor had better be impressive.

Dodds was in the town’s top office from 1976 to 1984, and his leadership helped bring Little League, the Charleston County Library System, a hospital and more East of the Cooper.

He also spurred Mount Pleasant’s first land-use master plan and zoning ordinances, prompting The Post and Courier on more than one occasion to refer to him as the “mayor who prepared the town for unprecedented growth.”

“My father had a vision for the town where families flourished and all its citizens enjoyed a good quality of life,” said John Dodds, Johnnie’s son and a Mount Pleasant attorney.

Mount Pleasant’s boom over the past three decades indicates a mission accomplished in that regard.

SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS

Even a brief glimpse of Dodds’ life and record reveals an impressive prescience in at least two key areas: identifying future public needs and talent in others – a pair of skills essential for municipal leaders.

A case in point: Both of Dodds’ sons, John and Robert, mentioned the hiring of staffers Joel Ford and Colleen Jernigan in the 1970s as particular highlights for their father. Jernigan, who long served in the town Finance Department, was so relied on that former Town Administrator Mac Burdette called her the most important town employee during her 28-year career.

Ford, meanwhile, was integral to the first master plan development. He also went on to create the Old Village Historic Commission and Mount Pleasant Design Review Board, worked on the annexation of Dunes West and helped institute

American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist

Musical artist

Johnny Dodds (; April 12, 1892 – August 8, 1940) was an American jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist based in New Orleans, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds, one of the first important jazz drummers. They worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926. Dodds is an important figure in jazz history. He was the premier clarinetist of his era and, in recognition of his artistic contributions, he was posthumously inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. He has been described as "a prime architect in the creation of the Jazz Age."

Biography

Dodds was born in Waveland, Mississippi. His childhood environment was a musical one. His father and uncle were violinists, his sister played a melodeon, and in adolescence Johnny sang high tenor in the family quartet. According to legend, his instrumental skill began with a toy flute which had been purchased for his brother, Warren "Baby" Dodds. He was known for his serious and reserved manner as well as his "funky blues playing," which earned him the nickname "toilet."

He moved to New Orleans in his youth and studied the clarinet with Lorenzo Tio and Charlie McCurdy. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. Dodds went to Chicago and played with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with which he first recorded in 1923. Dodds blamed the breakup on not wanting to travel and on musical conflicts due to Oliver's failing musical abilities. He also worked frequently with his good fr