BERT KELLY GOES TO NEW YORK

In mid 1918 Bert Kelly left the band in Chicago and went to New York City to scout for opportunities there. He went to the office of the manager of Reisenweber's Cafe, where the Original Dixieland Jazz Band had been employed for a year and a half, and said he represented the best jazz band in Chicago and was looking for employment in New York. Kelly seems to have had either the good luck of perfect timing, or the advantage of inside information. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's trombonist, Eddie Edwards, had just been drafted. The O.D.J.B. had arranged to take time off to go back to New Orleans to find and rehearse a replacement. Kelly was hired to provide music in their absence.

Kelly said that he wired Nunez, Tom Brown, and Ragbaby Stevens to come to New York. Nunez, in his brief diary, says that he went back to New Orleans to pick up Brown and bring him to New York. (Had Brown returned to New Orleans without telling Kelly?)

In August the Bert Kelly Jazz Band opened at Reisenweber's in New York. The band consisted of Bert Kelly, banjo and leader; Tom Brown, trombone; Alcide Nunez, clarinet; Joe "Rag Baby" Stevens, drums; and possibly Joe Cawley on piano. (No trumpet or cornet? Ray Lopez, Frank Christian, Doc Behrendson, and Alfred Laine have been mentioned by second hand sources as playing with Nunez sometime around these years, but I'm unable to confirm this or if so when. Bert Kelly seems to have perfered bands without a cornet or trumpet.)

Brown and Nunez had worked together off and on for years down in New Orleans, and then Chicago. Two years later in New York, they worked together in the recording studio-- we can get an idea of their interaction on the recordings they made for bandleader Harry Yerkes in 1920. One good example is reissued on the cd "Ragtime To Jazz 2" Timeless Historical CBC 1-045, track 12 "Railroad Blues" (originally one of the 2 known takes of Col A2929). The band on this recording has the same instrumentation as Kelly's Band which Brown and Nunez were playing with 2 years earlier. With a good New Orleans drummer like RagBaby substituted, one can infer something of the exciting sound of the Bert Kelly Band.

The Kelly Jazz Band was successfully recieved, and was reported as bringing in new customers to Reisenweber's.

On September 7th the Original Dixieland Jazz Band returned to play at Reisenwebers with Emile Christian substituting for Edwards. The book "The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band" tells a colorfull story of how the band couldn't find a trombonist to replace Edwards, so they had to teach a cornet player, Emile Christian, how to play trombone. It's a delightfull anecdote, but obviously completely false. As we've seen, Emile Christian was playing trombone professionally with Nunez and Kelly earlier. (If the dates on certain photos in the book "New Orleans Jazz, A Family Album" are correct, Christian had been playing trombone at least since 1916.)

Rather than simply dismiss Kelly's band upon the return of the O.D.J.B., the Reisenweber's management decided to keep both bands and have them alternate. Newspaper advertisments for Reisenwebers promote dancing to both "The Original Dixieland Jazz Band as well as the inimitable Bert Kelly Jazz Band". Some ads promoted the two groups as "The Bands (plural!) that Created Jazz".

There was an old New Orleans tradition of cutting contests, or battles of bands. This was a competition -- often friendly, sometimes not so friendly-- to see which band could outplay the other and win the greatest approval from the audience. No doubt there was some keen competativeness and perhaps grudges between certain members of the two bands at Reisenweber's. Bert Kelly claimed that his band won greater approval from the audience and dancers than the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Tom Brown also made reference to defeating the O.D.J.B. in a musical battle at Reisenwebers.

According to Bert Kelly, a startling incident happened soon thereafter: "One evening upon arriving at Reisenwebers, I found that Ragbaby's bass-drum heads were slashed to shreds. [...I] was told by Yellow Nunez that Ragbaby had left for Chicago. Ragbaby had told Nunez to tell me [to] get another drummer."

Kelly recalled that Nunez quickly found a substitue drummer named Anton Lada, who Kelly had never heard of. That Kelly hadn't heard of Anton Lada, reveals that Kelly wasn't as aware of the Chicago music scene as he thought he was. The previous year Lada had been playing in Chicago with " The Five Southern Jazzers" which included New Orleans musicians Frank Christian and Johnny Fischer.

Anton Lada (photo at left), also known as Tony Lada, was born in Chicago in 1890. He seems to have traveled extensively, apparently including some time working in New Orleans in the mid 1910s. Creole Charlie Levy said he remembered Lada and Nunez working together at the Grunewald Hotel in New Orleans.
In Chicago in January of 1918 Nunez and Lada were listed as co-composers of two tunes, "Tuxedo Rag" and "Blue Grass Blues", which they sold to Roger Graham Publisher.
Lada's recordings show he played some interesting syncopated rhythms, though it's unfortunately often hard to hear him on the old acoustic recordings.

The Kelly Jazz Band, now with Lada on drums, continued at Reisenwebers until October 14th, when they left for less hostile venues. From then through December they played in theaters in the Greater New York City area with dancer/commedian Joe Frisco and his partner Loretta Mc Dermott.

Louis Joseph, known on Vaudeville as "Joe Frisco" (shown above) was a pioneer in hiring jazz or "jass" bands to accompany his eccentric dance & comedy act. He worked with Tom Brown's Jass Band in 1915.

While in New York Alcide Nunez the love of his life.

Hilda Emma Bagdahn had been born in Nordelda Germany. They met while staying in the same New York boarding house. When the Great War ended on the 11th of November 1918, Hilda's father wanted her to come back to Germany. She refused. Hilda and Alcide were married on December 14th, 1918.

Alcide Nunez has been married before, first while still a teenager. His first wife died young. He married another woman breifly on the rebound; it didn't last. With Hilda it did.

Alcide and Hilda's Daughter, Alcidie, recalled that years later whenever her daddy took his clarinet out of it's case at home, the first thing he'd play would always be the tune "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" for Hilda. Alcide called Hilda his "guardian angel".

Next:
The Louisiana Five

© 2000 - 2001 Daniel C. Meyer. Photos courtesy of Nunez Family.

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