ORO "TUT" SOPER
- "Right Kind of Love" by Oro Spher. (Steiner-Davis acetate recorded in Jack Gardner's apartment with drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds on January 31, 1944 in Chicago). John Steiner and Hugh Davis teamed Soper up with Dodds in pianist Jack Gardner’s apartment for the session. Gardner owned a particularly fine piano, which is why the session was held in his place, at 102 East Bellevue, a basement apartment located in the same apartment complex as John Steiner. Jazz fans tend to revel in improvisation, and Down Beat columnist George Hoefer loved the idea at how "impromptu" the recording was, as Soper and Dodds had never met before, and had feel each other out in the recording process. Little is known about Tut Soper, and he seems to have made very few recordings. Tut proceeded to develop his career as a popular solo act. He found additional work with reedmen Bud Freeman, Boyce Brown, and Orville "Bud" Jacobson, and with trumpeter Johnny Mendel. Tut also performed with drummer Danny Alvin and with Frank Snyder, who played drums with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922. While hot jazz was artistically rewarding, Tut found greater monetary security working with popular hotel-orchestra leader George Olsen. The great recorded legacy of this grievously overlooked pianist consists of six duets he recorded with master percussionist Warren "Baby" Dodds. Five of these sides, recorded January 31, 1944, can be found on Jazz & Blues Piano Vol. 2: 1924-1947. With Tut sounding at times a bit like Earl Hines, these tasty stomps provide a tangible context for his reputation as a mainstay of traditional Chicago jazz. The only other session involving this pianist that has come to light is a 1957 Dixie revival date led by guitarist/vocalist Marty Grosz, released on Riverside as Hooray for Bix! and reissued in 2000 on the Good Time Jazz label. Tut's impact upon the evolution of jazz in Chicago was greater than this handful of obscure phonograph records can ever demonstrate. His story serves as a reminder that the real history of this music is a mosaic of many individual lives; it runs much deeper and is far more intricate than the standard pantheon of famous names and familiar faces.
- --- BUSTER BAILEY - "Eccentric Rag" (single-sided shellac test recorded in New York, dated 1940). Buster Bailey (1902-1967) was a brilliant clarinetist who, although known for his smooth and quiet playing with John Kirby's sextet, occasionally really cut loose with some wild solos. Expertly trained by the classical teacher Franz Schoepp (who also taught Benny Goodman), Bailey worked with W.C Handy's band in 1917. Eccentric Rag was the first big hit written by J. Russel Robinson in 1912.
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