Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy - Live Session 1937

Kansas City jazz is such an important of jazz and jazz history.  It's political history and geographical location allowed it to become a hub of very influential jazz activity that had a rippling effect on the music.   It's also all so ironic that it happened away from the central jazz stations of New Orleans and New York.  Though the city had its own homegrown heroes like Bennie Moten, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, etc., by the 1930's, It seemed to be one of those places (like New York city today) where many of the musicians were actually not from Kansas City.  After all, Count Basie was from Red Bank, New Jersey.  Lester Young was born in Mississippi and raised in Minnesota before he ended up there.   And Andy Kirk, the subject of today's post, who was born in Kentucky and raised in Denver, Colorado before achieving success in Kansas City.

Besides the music of Moten and Basie, Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy was important as his was the only Kansas City band to be known as a jazz orchestra and as a sweet commercial band.  In The Swing Era, Gunther Schuller points out some interesting connections between Kirk and Jimmie Lunceford: They both studied in Denver with Wilberforce Whiteman, Paul Whiteman's father, then both ended up learning a host of woodwind and brass instruments before ultimately becoming non-instrumentalist bandleaders.  Later, Kirk joined bandleader Terrence Holder in Texas, then called Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy and by 1929, had taken over and renamed them the Twelve Clouds of Joy.  Lunceford had joined the band of one pianist Mary Lou Burleigh in Memphis.  Later, Burleigh would join her husband, alto and baritone saxophonist John Williams who was playing with Kirk in Holder's band, furthering the connection between the two great bandleaders.  Burleigh joined Kirk's group when the band's regular pianist, Marion Jackson, failed to show up to the rehearsal for their first recording in 1929.  Burleigh, by now known as Mary Lou Williams, joined the band and becoming an important part of the band's sound as the primary arranger. 

With Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy became a rare example of a jazz group to have a female instrumentalist (King Oliver's band with Lil' Hardin is another).  Today she is a legend in jazz history, while Andy Kirk is mostly a historical figure by comparison!  Her arrangements were integral to the band's success, and a good example of her music and playing can be heard on Live Session 1937. 

Released on Jazz Anthology, a French label, in 1975, this is a radio transcription from the Trianon Ballroom in Cleveland and was recorded between January 29 and February 6.  The recording isn't superb, as the intensity of the full ensemble is sometimes too much for the microphones, but very listenable.  The rhythm section isn't very loud, but drummer Ben Thigpen's fills pop out nicely (yes, he is Ed Thigpen's father).  As far as I can tell, this recording has not been released or remastered for CD.

The band is in good form and features three trumpets (Harry Lawson, Paul King, Carl Thompson), one trombone (Ted Donelly), 3 saxes (John Williams on alto/bari, John Harring on clarinet/alto, and Dick Wilson on tenor),  rhythm section (besides Williams and Thigpen is Ted Brinson on guitar and Booker Collins on bass) and vocalist Pha Terrell.  Seems funny to have one trombone in the band, but Williams really made it work.  Trombone is alternately voiced with the brass and the saxophones, but sometimes she'll leave him playing by himself and it sounds good and complete.  I know Fletcher Henderson's first bands had one trombone player but the concept of big band was in its infancy.  With this instrumentation, Williams was able to extract a big sound from the band.  The smaller size probably helped to achieve the "sweet" sound.

One song that really stands out for me is "Sepia Jazz".  I don't think there are any other recordings of this tune, but the arrangement is spectacular.  The tune itself is AABA form and played uptempo with a two feel.  After a quick introduction, the first chorus features John Harring on clarinet improvising with nice muted brass punctuations (switching to pads on the bridge).  The second chorus with an active Thigpen on drums is louder with call and response phrases between the saxes and the brass.  In the third chorus there is an open trumpet solo with alternating brass/saxophone backgrounds .  The saxes take over the bridge before Williams solos for the last A section.  In the fourth chorus, Dick Wilson on tenor improvises with light saxophone pads, with Harring returning on clarinet during the bridge.  A 6 measure whole-tone transition leads into the shout chorus which is again a call and response figure between brass and saxes.  The bridge goes into half-time for a short trombone solo before returning to the shout to finish it off.  

Overall, there's a lot of activity happening here and the constant changes in texture reminds me off Jelly Roll Morton's arrangements.  There are also chromatically descending dominant chords in the bridge which stick out a little because the rest of the album does not feature such bold harmonic changes. The half-time change at the end is unusual but effective.  

In general, Williams' arrangements are very clean with good balance between the saxophones and the brass.  Full of call and response figures throughout the album, Williams is also sensitive to the range each section is playing in and this helps to define the tonal range of each section thus strengthening their identity.  Thick vibrato and brass with cup mutes are an important parts of the "sweet" commercial sound and both are heard here in abundance.  Pop singer Pha Terrell is the other commercial part and his tenor seems higher than most male pop singers of the time who were pre-dominantly baritones (Schuller is not a fan of Terrell lol).  

Kansas City bands like Moten's or Basie's were known for their "head" arrangements and riffs, but on this recording, the sound is somewhat more broader.  The band certainly plays their share of riff-type tunes like "Yours Truly", "Organ Grinder Swing" and they even cover "Moten Swing".  Williams' arrangement builds dynamically like the original, but relying less on the background riffs and more on dynamic contrast: her solo chorus is contrasted with sax/brass trades in the seance chorus.  Then the clarinet solo with muted trumpet backgrounds is interrupted in the bridge by a trombone solo, followed by a tenor solo, etc.  

On piano, Williams sounds excellent.  "Never Slept a Wink Last Night" is practically a jazz piano concerto.  She plays stride in her opening and improvises for two choruses.  The band interjects here and at one point she trades twos with the band, but otherwise she is featured throughout with a commanding performance.  She also has nice spots on "There I Love You Coast To Coast", "Moten Swing", and the ballad "What will I Tell my Heart".

One thing nice about this album is that it sounds like everyone in the band gets to solo. Besides John Harring on clarinet, the other featured soloists include John Williams on alto or Bari, Ted Donnelly on trombone, at least one or two of the trumpet players (I'm unable to identify who is playing) and Dick Wilson on tenor saxophone.

Andy Kirk and Dick Wilson on sax
and Ben Thigpen on drums

Dick Wilson is the other star soloist besides Williams but is somewhat obscure.  He had a remarkably warm, personal sound that stemmed from Coleman Hawkins and Herschel Evans school of tenor saxophone playing.  He died prematurely at the age of thirty in 1941.  Schuller remarks that he sounds more like Al Sears than Chu Berry and goes into detail about his sound: "His lines were sinuous and unpredictable, taking odd, unexpected turns that broke through the usual automated fingering patterns.  His solos had a natural organic clarity, executed, with consummate control and, for their time, a high degree of sophistication.  His tone was unusual in that it was at once imbued with a searing old-style intensity and a subtle "modern" coolness."  

It's not an in-your--face band that generates a lot of obvious excitement with impressive technical feats or unbelievably high register trumpets.  Instead, Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy seem to be grab you gently by the collar and whisk you in.  The band is tight and swings in the Kansas City style but there's a lot more to it.  I believe this band to be acknowledged but still underrated.  There's a new study on his music published by Oxford that will hopefully bolster his status in history.