Papa Jack Laine's bands in New Orleans before going to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois with
Tom Brown's band in early 1915. After serving in the Army in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
he moved to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
and joined the early
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
Orchestra, with which he moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. He helped give the Whiteman band a touch of the
Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...
jazz style. One of the Whiteman Orchestra's early hit records, as well as one of the unfortunately few recordings where Mueller can be heard prominently, is
Wang Wang Blues which Mueller dominates in a style similar to
Larry Shields. Mueller also shares composer credit on "Wang Wang".
According to Whiteman, Mueller was reluctant to learning how to read music, for fear that it would impair his abilities as a "hot player". He left the Whiteman band in November 1920, saying "I jes' can't play that 'pretty music' that you all play. And you fellers can't never play
blues worth a damn". Mueller returned to California to join his old friend Ray Lopez in the
Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''.
His name at birth was Abr ...
Orchestra. Mueller stayed in the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
area and remained active as a musician well in to the 1940s, mainly performing with "
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...
" bands. He rejoins Whiteman in Capitol Record's Hollywood studios in 1945, for a recreation of the famous Wang-Wang Blues.
[Rayno, Don. ''Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music'' Lanham, MA: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2013, Vol 2, p. 256.] On the record Mueller replicates in detail his phrases from the 1920 recording.
References
*
*
Dixieland clarinetists
Jazz musicians from New Orleans
American jazz clarinetists
20th-century American musicians
1890 births
1965 deaths
{{US-jazz-musician-stub