Thomas "Papa Mutt" Carey (September 17, 1891 – September 3, 1948) 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 ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

Early life

Carey was born in

Hahnville, Louisiana Hahnville is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the parish seat of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census and 2,959 in 2020. For information on the origin of Hahnville, see Michael Hahn (1830 ...

,Kernfedl, Barry, ed. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. Macmillan, 1994. p. 185. and moved to New Orleans with his family in his youth. His older brother

Jack Carey Jack Carey (1889 – 1934) was an American jazz trombonist and the leader of the Crescent City Orchestra. The authorship of the famous ''Tiger Rag'' tune is attributed to him by some. During his career, he performed with Sidney Bechet Si ...

was a

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

player and bandleader; Mutt was playing

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 ...

in his brother's band by about 1912.

Career

Although Carey's early work was with brass bands in the New Orleans area (1913–17), in 1914, he started working with

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of New Orleans jazz. He was ...

Zieff, Bob
"Carey, (Papa) Mutt".
''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 November 2022. and would continue to do so, on and off, through the 1910s. After touring the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

circuits in 1917, he returned to New Orleans in 1918 and then went to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

with Ory in 1919, eventually taking over leadership of the band when Ory left in 1925. Carey’s big band, the Jeffersonians, appeared in the silent films ''

The Legion of the Condemned ''The Legion of the Condemned'' (aka ''Legion of the Condemned'') is a 1928 American silent film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Jesse L. Lasky, Wellman, and Adolph Zukor and distributed by Paramount Pictures.Wynne 1987, p. 62. ...

'' and '' The Road to Ruin'' (both 1928). Carey rejoined Ory’s band from around 1929 to 1933, when the lack of work during the Depression led him to work as a Pullman porter. In March 1944 Carey rejoined Ory in an all-star band that was a leader of the West Coast revival of traditional New Orleans jazz, put together for the

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

series ''

The Orson Welles Almanac ''The Orson Welles Almanac'' (also known as ''Radio Almanac'' and ''The Orson Welles Comedy Show'') is a 1944 CBS Radio series directed and hosted by Orson Welles. Broadcast live on the Columbia Pacific Network, the 30-minute variety program was ...

''. The All Star Jazz Group also included Ed Garland,

Jimmie Noone Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical ...

(succeeded by

Barney Bigard Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone. Biography Bigard was born in New Orleans to Creole parents, Ale ...

Bud Scott Arthur Budd Scott (January 11, 1890 – July 2, 1949) was an American jazz guitarist, banjoist and singer. He was one of the earliest musicians associated with the New Orleans jazz scene. As a violinist he performed with James Reese Europe' ...

Zutty Singleton Arthur James "Zutty" Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was an American jazz drummer. Career Singleton was born in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in New Orleans. According to his ''Jazz Profiles'' biography, his unusual ...

and

Buster Wilson Albert Wesley "Buster" Wilson (1897 - October 23, 1949) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Buster Wilson was born in Atlanta and grew up in Los Angeles. He was the replacement for Lil Hardin in King Oliver's band in 1921 during its engagem ...

. Renamed Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, the group then made a significant series of recordings on the

Crescent Records Crescent Records was an American independent record label that produced jazz recordings from 1944 to 1946. It was founded by Nesuhi Ertegun to record a band that was assembled to perform on CBS Radio's 1944 variety series ''The Orson Welles Alman ...

label. Ertegun, Nesuhi. Liner notes for ''Tailgate! Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band''.

Good Time Jazz Records Good Time Jazz Records was an American jazz record company and label. It was founded in 1949 by Lester Koenig to record the Firehouse Five Plus Two and earned a reputation for Dixieland jazz. The label produced new releases and reissues, includi ...

L-10 and L-11, 1953, also used for Good Time Jazz Records L-12022, 1957. Carey left Ory's band in 1947 to lead a group under his own name.

Personal life

Carey died in

Lake Elsinore, California Lake Elsinore is a city in western Riverside County, California, United States. Established as a city in 1888, it is on the shore of Lake Elsinore, a natural freshwater lake about in size. The city has grown from a small resort town in the l ...

, on September 3, 1948, aged 56.

References

External links

Mutt Carey 1891-1948
at the Red Hot Jazz Archive

at The Kid Ory Archive

at The Kid Ory Archive
Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band: 1944–1945 The Legendary Crescent Recording Sessions
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

(

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Mutt 1891 births 1948 deaths African-American jazz musicians American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Dixieland trumpeters Jazz musicians from New Orleans Musicians from Chicago People from Hahnville, Louisiana Savoy Records artists Vaudeville performers 20th-century trumpeters Jazz musicians from Illinois 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Tuxedo Brass Band members 20th-century African-American musicians