Johnny Wiggs born July 25, 1899

Johnny Wiggs (July 25, 1899 – October 10, 1977) was an American jazz musician, and leader and composer, and many of his tunes––“Congo Square,” “King Zulu Parade,” “Canal Street March” are now well known in the various jazz repertoires of New Orleans and beyond.

One of the few Jewish cornet players of his time, Johnny Wiggs, also known as John Hyman, was a traditional jazz cornetist from New Orleans. Early in his career Wiggs distinguished himself for his talents as an instrumentalist. he also taught music to many future New Orleans musicians, including Jack Delaney, George Girard, Milton Scheurmann, and Pete Fountain. A founder of the New Orleans Jazz Club, Wiggs was a central figure in the post-World War II jazz revival.

Wiggs was born John Wiggington Hyman on July 25, 1899, in New Orleans to John Meleton Hyman (who was the son of the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, William Bryan Hyman) and Alice Wood Wigginton, Wiggs came from a prominent Jewish New Orleans family. Wiggs’s uncle drafted the ordinance that created Storyville, the red-light district that would play a central role in the history of jazz. 

                       

A childhood friend of Joseph “Wingy” Manone, Wiggs began his musical career on violin but soon switched to cornet after hearing King Oliver perform. Along with Bix Beiderbecke, King Oliver would become one of Wiggs’s primary musical influences. He studied music at Loyola University in Chicago. The family also moved to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for a time, thus exposing Wiggs to live musical traditions outside New Orleans.

He began playing around 1920 with Earl Crumb, then worked with Norman Brownlee (1924-5) and Happy Schilling (1926). Inn 1927 he toured with a vaudeville troupe and recorded as John Hyman, with his Bayou Stompers for the  Victor label. Due to the Orleans Parish School Board’s unfavourable attitude toward jazz during that time, he changed his performing name to Johnny Wiggs. Even in the 1920s, when Wiggs gigged the most, he also worked as a journalist and merchant seaman. He would lead the Stompers as well as a number of other groups during his long career. During 1928 he performed and recorded with Tony Parenti. During the early 1930's Wiggs took a job as a teacher in Louisiana including as a high school architectural drawing teacher and as a musical tutor. Long after Wiggs had stopped teaching, many locals continued to refer to him as “Professor Hyman.” He taught during the day and at night played in New Orleans jazz clubs.

In the 1940s he again became a full-time musician, leading several bands and recording many songs. From 1946 on, Wiggs was a central figure in the post-World War II jazz revival, as he was a founder of the New Orleans Jazz Club and helped to bring many great jazzmen out of involuntary retirement. He convinced Radio WSMB to form an all-star band (with Julian Laine, Bujie Centobie, Armand Hug, Chink Martin, and Monk Hazel) to work weekly for the station for 18 months. He participated in the jazz revival by recording with Snoozer Quinn (Melancholy Baby), Santo Pecora, Raymond Burke and Doc Souchon, among others; Under his own name, he recorded four tracks for the small label New Orleans Records in 1948, Ultra Canal, Two Wing Temple in the Sky, Bourbon Street Bounce and Congo Square. In 1950, he recorded the standard Baby Won't You Please Come Home for Commodore Records. The 1950s are usually said to be Wiggs’s most prolific time, as he recorded frequently and played an important local role in the jazz community.

Johnny Wiggs & Wallace 1971

By the '60s he appeared only intermittently, but he still recorded and found time to work with Maxine Sullivan on her material. From 1969 to 1974, he performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Manassas Jazz Fest. He was a mentor to younger musicians such as George Finola, and helped found the New Orleans Jazz Club. Among his most famous students were Pete Fountain and George Girard.

He stopped playing during 1974 due to deteriorating health, and on the  9th October of 1977 he passed away in New Orleans, a relatively unknown figure in the genre, despite his impressive body of work.

(Edited from The New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz, 64 Parishes, Wikipedia & AllMusic)

Here's a rare clip of Johnny Wiggs Bayou Stompers at the Manassas Jazz Festival at the Stonewall Jackson High School in Manasss, VA, December 2, 1972. Be warned, this is what a much-transferred fifty four years-old videotape looks like, but the audio is loud and clear. Johnny Wiggs, Cornet - Raymond Burke, Clarinet - Graham Stewart, Trombone - Bob Greene, Piano - Danny Barker, Guitar - Freddie Moore - Drums.

 

You can hear in Wiggs, who was 73 at the time of this video, a sweet, sad evocation of what Bix might have sounded like had he lived on this long.  Wiggs’ music plunges forward while looking over its shoulder in a melancholy, ruminative way.  And although Wiggs recorded early (1927) and from 1949 into the fifties, his late work fully expresses a kind of autumnal sensibility, delicate without being timid or maudlin — the sweet voice of an elder who has seen a great deal and knows that life is sadly finite but celebrates that life with his cornet.(Jazz Lives)