Wooden Joe Nicholas (September 23, 1883 – November 17, 1957) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter and

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

ist, active on the early New Orleans jazz scene. He was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States. Nicholas began playing professionally on clarinet, and continued occasionally doubling on it in later years after he had mostly switched to cornet. Nicholas knew

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries and later jazz scholars as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass ...

and said Bolden was the main influence on his cornet style, but did not begin playing cornet until 1915 when he was playing clarinet with

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wro ...

, and started playing around with Oliver's cornet while Oliver was on break. He lived nearly his entire life in New Orleans, and played in many

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

s and street ensembles in the city for decades, in addition to forming the Camelia Brass Band in 1918. He was famed for his volume and his endurance, though these are not evident on most of his recordings (a notable exception being his driving version of "Shake It and Break It",

American Music Records American Music Records is a jazz record company and label that was established by Bill Russell in 1944. Russell produced new recordings and reissues, concentrating on New Orleans jazz musicians such as Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Baby Dodds, a ...

MX 800). Nicholas did not record until 1945, when he was 62 years old. He recorded again in 1949 as a leader, in addition to playing with Raymond Burke. Nicholas died in New Orleans in November 1957. He was the uncle of clarinetist

Albert Nicholas Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player, who was mostly based in Europe after 1953. Career Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown ...

References

;Footnotes ;General references *

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, Wooden Joe Nicholasat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

1883 births 1957 deaths American jazz cornetists American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters 20th-century American trumpeters Jazz musicians from Louisiana 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Camelia Brass Band members {{US-jazz-trumpeter-stub