I found these while poking through some old Utah newspapers. This is from June 14, 1912. Red was showing his stuff even then! The newspaper is wrong on one sccount. Red was only 7 years old!
PHIL EVANS TRIBUTE PAGE 27 A SALUTE TO RED NICHOLS PLAY IT, RED!
August 1, 1912. Red is really making folks sit up and notice! He kept it up for another half century, and still died too young.
<---Ruth Etting & Red Nichols College Prom - 1935
August 16, 1912. It's a real shame that there are no known recordings of the Nichols family band. And the price of admission includes a Moving Picture!!
April 22, 1915. It looks like Red was being featured outside his family band, and making a big hit. Of course it was nothing compared to a good "Italian Organ Grinder - Brown Bear Act."
Feb. 17, 1922 Red is another guy whose reputation took a beating from a bunch of blowhard writers who never touched a cornet. Except one, and he couldn't carry Red's case when it comes to playing with taste and good execution. True, Red was a businessman a good deal of the time. But Red was also a damned fine player in his own right. It seems like he was punished for being under the spell of Bix. So what? So was Red's biggest critic in recent times. Shall we compare their output to see who the better musician was? Why bother? I wouldn't waste my time. That's the beauty of the instrument. You can't bullshit a cornet with attitude. Either you play or you can't. You're either original or an imitator. Ken Burns won't save you here! Just a reminder here. Steve & Stan Hester are working on a wonderful book on Red's life. These boys are to Red Nichols as what Phil Evans was to Bix! And that's the Best!
December 5, 1923. Red's pals back in Ogden, Utah get a chance to hear their boy on a Edison Record made in New York, with a popular orchestra. Again, the newspaper is wrong. Red still hasn't reached his 20th Birthday!
Feb. 14, 1926 A report on a local boy hitting the Big Time in the Big Apple. Miff on Sax?
The local "Boy Wonder" of the cornet makes good! And the folks back home knew he would!
If you hit it big in the Big City, the first thing you have to do is to marry a New York Actress. Right? Bobbi was an actress? Hmm. They didn't give her name here. Perhaps the name Willa Stutsman wouldn't have rung a bell.
Here's a rather odd link to a site that I found on Red Nichols. Click Here----->Red Nichols
Red & Joe Ruston tearing it up at one of those legendary sessions held at Squirrel Ashcraft's house. Squirrel was the "Guardian Angel" of Jazz. Joe was the best thing that happened to the Bass Sax since Adrian Rollini. Joe was known as "Blizzard Head".
A very popular Radio Show that featured the talents of Red & Ruth Etting. There's a link at the top of this page to a song from one of these broadcasts. Fine stuff indeed!
