"Dippermouth Blues" is a song first recorded by

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band 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 mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

for

Gennett Records Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...

in April 1923 and for

Okeh Records Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

in June of that same year. It is most often attributed to Joe "King" Oliver, though some have argued that

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 ...

was in fact the composer. This is partly because "Dippermouth", in the song's title, was a nickname of Armstrong's. Also, the phonograph recordings from 1922 gave credit to Armstrong and Oliver jointly. The song is a strong example of the influence of the

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 ...

on early jazz. There is a twelve-bar blues harmonic progression, with frequent bent notes and slides into notes. Armstrong plays second cornet on the April 6, 1923, recording, with

Honoré Dutrey Honoré Dutrey (c. 1894 in New Orleans, Louisiana – July 21, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) was a dixieland jazz trombonist, probably best known for his work in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. In New Orleans, Dutrey played with the Excelsior Br ...

on trombone,

Johnny Dodds 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, ...

on clarinet,

Lil Hardin Lillian Hardin Armstrong (née Hardin; February 3, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in ...

on piano,

Baby Dodds Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era, and one of the most important ...

on drums and Bill Johnson on banjo and vocal. Oliver's

plunger mute A mute is a device attached to a musical instrument which changes the instrument's tone quality (timbre) or lowers its volume. Mutes are commonly used on string and brass instruments, especially the trumpet and trombone, and are occasionall ...

solo on first cornet became one of the most frequently-imitated solos of his generation. Notably, Oliver pre-composed this solo, playing the same solo on the second recording two weeks later for Okeh. During Armstrong's tenure in the

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musi ...

Orchestra, the song was recorded on May 29, 1925 in a new arrangement by

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, music arrangement, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, West Virginia, Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, Un ...

under the title Sugarfoot Stomp. Redman selected this tune out of a book of manuscripts shown to Redman by Armstrong; in the arrangement, Armstrong paraphrases Oliver's solo without the plunger effects. After his departure, the Henderson Orchestra recorded the tune again as "Sugarfoot Stomp" on March 19, 1931; both versions can be found on the compilation '' A Study In Frustration'' (1961). A piece of the song is used as a plot point in the 2009 Disney film ''

The Princess and the Frog ''The Princess and the Frog'' is a 2009 American Animation, animated musical film, musical fantasy film, fantasy romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The List of Walt Disney Anima ...

'' as a work that Prince Naveen plays that allows for him and Tiana to bond with the alligator Louis.

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...

covered the song on his 2014 album '' Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch''.

References

External links

Original 1923 recording
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

(dead link not functioning) * * Jazz compositions Songs written by King Oliver Louis Armstrong songs Okeh Records singles {{1920s-jazz-composition-stub