Leon Roppolo

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Leon Joseph Roppolo (* 16th March 1902 Lutcher , Louisiana , † 5. October 1943 in New Orleans ), called "Rap", also Leon Rappolo, was an American jazz - clarinet and - saxophonist (alto), known as a member the "New Orleans Rhythm Kings".

Live and act

Roppolo was born into a Sicilian family - the parents had a grocery store - and moved with her to New Orleans in 1912 . His family was musical, his father played the clarinet (which the son was initially not allowed to approach) and his grandfather was a well-known classical clarinetist in Sicily (Leon Rappolo). Roppolo's father had also been a concert musician, leading bands and teaching music. First he learned violin, but then switched to clarinet, which is also a distant relative in the marching band of Papa Jack Laine played. He first played in Vaudeville theaters with the singer Bee Palmer (known as "Shimmie Queen"). With his childhood friends, the trombonist George Brunies and the cornetist Paul Mares , he played in the New Orleans area and on paddle steamers and went with them to Chicago in 1921 , where they played in the band of the club "Friars Society". This then became the New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK) in 1922 , a pure white band led by Mares, who also openly acknowledged King Oliver's role as a role model . In August 1922 they made their first recordings with solos by Roppolo, which are often considered the first solo recordings in jazz. The NORK had a great influence on young (white) jazz musicians like Bix Beiderbecke and Benny Goodman , especially in Chicago (like the musicians of the Austin High School Gang ). After the band broke up in 1923 (it only existed for a year and a half), Roppolo went to New York with Mares to join Al Siegel's orchestra . Roppolo is said to have recorded with the Original Memphis Five and the California Ramblers ; but the recordings seem to be lost. Roppolo and Mares recorded one last time with the NORK in July 1923 in Chicago. Roppolo then played in Texas with Peck's Bad Boys and in Minneapolis with the Carlisle Evans Orchestra . When he fell ill he went back to New Orleans in 1924, where he briefly played in a new edition of the Rhythm Kings founded by Mares and then in the Halfway House Orchestra . But already in Chicago he showed signs of a mental illness that manifested itself in sudden outbursts of anger - possibly the long-term effects of syphilis , others mention his heavy marijuana consumption. In 1925 he was admitted to a state mental hospital, where he stayed, apart from brief interruptions, until his death in 1943. He also played in a band there and occasionally with local bands.

literature

  • Charles Edward Smith : White New Orleans , in Ramsey, Smith (editor) Jazzmen , Harcourt, Brace, 1939, pp. 51f
  • Martin Williams Jazz Masters of New Orleans , London, New York 1967
  • Mares Leon Rappolo as i knew him , Jazz Quarterly Vol. 2, 1944, p. 3
  • S.-A.Worsfold The forgotten ones: Leon Roppolo , Jazz Journal International, Vol. 33, 1980, No. 2

Web links

Sources and Notes

  1. ↑ after Ramsey, Smith Jazzmen , 1939, pp. 51f, he was born as Leon Rappolo. He is also listed under Rappolo in some encyclopedias such as Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz from 1960 and in Reclam's Jazz Guide from 2000. According to New Grove's Dictionary of Jazz , 1988, Rappolo is a misspelling.
  2. ↑ In which at times, the bassist Steve Brown , the drummer Ben Pollack played and with Jelly Roll Morton recordings
personal data
SURNAME Roppolo, Leon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roppolo, Leon Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Lutcher , Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1943
Place of death New Orleans