The general sound of the band is suggestive of an attempt to emulate the very successful King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band , then playing at the Lincoln Gardens (459 East 31st Street), with Louis Armstrong and Johnny Dodds. So far as the front line is concerned, this is achieved remarkably well. Ladnier was very much a force to be reckoned with, though lacking at that time to some extent the maturity of Oliver and the genius of Armstrong.
Vincent, or Venson on trombone was at least Dutrey’s equal, and Noone of the gentler Creole school of clarinettists, could give a good account of himself, and does so in this recording. Diemer introduces the alto saxophone voice to little advantage, but the rhythm section as a unit is inclined to stodginess, due to the unimaginative and over-recorded brass bass (probably sousaphone). Calamese, the second cornet, and Powers, the leader, are barely discernible owing to the indifferent recording. Nevertheless, this is a record of great historical interest and, unlike many others of this description, it has quite long moments of musical value.
It appears that Ollie Powers was a vocalist as well as a drummer, for on the original coupling to this title he sang a number “Jazzbo Jenkins“. From this and the fact of his having recorded two quite commercial numbers for Paramount three months earlier, and two more for Columbia in New York over a year later (these were never issued), it seems likely that his status as a jazz musician (although Freddie Keppard and Louis Armstrong both played briefly with this group) is not as obvious as that of a cabaret entertainer.
Taken from the book Recorded Jazz: A Critical Guide by Rex Harris and Brian Rust.
Ollie Powers grandson has written more about him HERE.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Jazzbo Jenkins (Shelton Brooks) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12059-B 1538-1 |
| Jazzbo Jenkins (Shelton Brooks) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12059-B 1538-2 |
| Play That Thing (Ollie Powers) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Puritan 11263 Claxtonola 40263 1502-1 |
| Play That Thing (Ollie Powers) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 20263-A Claxtonola 40263 Harmograph 851 1502-3 |
| Play That Thing (Ollie Powers) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12059-A 1502-4 |
| Play That Thing (Ollie Powers) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12059-A Harmograph 874 1502-5 |
| Play That Thing (Ollie Powers) | 9-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12059-A 1502-6 |
| Artist | Instrument |
| John Basley | Banjo |
| Alex Calamese | Cornet |
| Grover Compton | Piano |
| Horace Demer | Alto Saxophone |
| Ollie Powers | Vocals, Drums, Director |
| Eddie Vincient | Trombone |
| Tommy Ladnier | Cornet |
| Jimmie Noone | Clarinet, Alto Saxophone |
| William Moore | Tuba |
Redhotjazz.com was a pioneering website during the "Information wants to be Free" era of the 1990s. In that spirit we are recovering the lost data from the now defunct site and sharing it with you.
Most of the music in the archive is in the form of MP3s hosted on Archive.org or the French servers of Jazz-on-line.com where this music is all in the public domain.
Files unavailable from those sources we host ourselves. They were made from original 78 RPM records in the hands of private collectors in the 1990s who contributed to the original redhotjazz.com. They were hosted as .ra files originally and we have converted them into the more modern MP3 format. They are of inferior quality to what is available commercially and are intended for reference purposes only. In some cases a Real Audio (.ra) file from Archive.org will download. Don't be scared! Those files will play in many music programs, but not Windows Media Player.
