Arnett Nelson (March 8, 1892 – March 14, 1959), sometimes credited as King Mutt, was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician who played

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

on many recordings made in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the 1920s and 1930s.

Early life

He was born in

Ellisville, Mississippi Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of t ...

, and grew up in nearby

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

Career

Nelson served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and then played professionally in a band led by John Collins, the father of Lee Collins. Lee Collins described Nelson as a musician with a "weird style", who "liked to do tricks with his clarinet. He would take it all apart and play it." His first known recordings were in Chicago in 1923, as a member of

Jimmy Wade James F. Wade (c.1895 – 1957) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Wade began leading groups in the Chicago area about 1916. He played in California and Seattle, Washington with Lucille Hegamin, and then moved with her to New Yo ...

's Moulin Rouge Orchestra. While with Wade, Nelson wrote "Buddy's Habit" with

Charley Straight Charles Theodore "Charley" Straight (January 16, 1891 – September 22, 1940) was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. Biography Straight started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916, he began work ...

. The tune was recorded by

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of Mute (music), mutes in jazz. Also a notable c ...

's Jazz Band with a notable solo by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

, and later by many other musiciansBiography by Arwulf Arwulf, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 6 May 2020
Retrieved 6 May 2020 Although the extent of his involvement on sessions in the late 1920s is uncertain, he certainly played with Wade on sessions with singers

Victoria Spivey Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976), sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer and songwriter. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis A ...

and

Perry Bradford Perry Bradford (February 14, 1893, Montgomery, Alabama – April 20, 1970, New York City) was an American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer. His most notable songs included "Crazy Blues," "That Thing Called Love," and "You Can't Kee ...

, and in 1928 with

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

tist

Punch Miller Ernest Miller, also known as Punch Miller or Kid Punch Miller (June 10, 1894 – December 2, 1971), was an American traditional jazz trumpeter. Miller was born in Raceland, Louisiana, United States. He was known in New Orleans, Louisiana, where h ...

and pianist Alex Hill. The following year, he played on sessions with female impersonator Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon. In the mid-1930s he led his own Hot Four quartet, which comprised guitarist

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

ist

Casey Bill Weldon William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901 or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an American country blues musician. Some details of Weldon's life are unconfirmed. According to some sources, he was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, an ...

, pianist Black Bob, and bass player Bill Settles. They were sometimes credited as King Mutt and His Tennessee Thumpers. As a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, Nelson played on many

recordings in Chicago in the 1930s, including records by Sweet Pease Spivey,

Lil Johnson Lil Johnson ( fl. 1920s–1930s, born 1900, date of death and places of birth and death unknown) was an American singer who recorded dirty blues and hokum songs in the 1920s and 1930s. Career Her origins and early life are not known. She first ...

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gui ...

Bumble Bee Slim Admirl Amos Easton (May 7, 1905 – June 8, 1968), better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues singer and guitarist. Biography Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States. Several original sources c ...

Washboard Sam Robert Clifford Brown (July 15, 1910 – November 6, 1966), known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues musician and singer. Biography Brown's date and place of birth are uncertain; many sources state that he was born in 191 ...

, Red Nelson, and the Washboard Rhythm Kings. On one 1936 recording by the State Street Swingers, bandleader Leonard Scott is heard to comment: "What's that you're doing, Arnett? I never heard nobody do that before."

Personal life

After 1940, Nelson's dependence on alcohol led to him to withdraw from a public career. He died in Chicago in 1959, aged 67.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Arnett 1892 births 1959 deaths People from Ellisville, Mississippi American jazz clarinetists American jazz saxophonists Jazz musicians from Mississippi 20th-century American saxophonists