Topic: Snoozer Quinn--anybody heard him?

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I ws wondering if anybody out there had heard or had recordings of the New Orleans guitarist Snoozer Quinn?  I was introduced to his music about fifteen years ago by an excellent guitarist named David Sebring , who has since returned to Nashville and has worked a lot for George Gruhn over the years.
Anyway, David had some Snoozer Quinn cuts on tape that were tremendous.  I don't believe he ever recorded very much, and I think his few titles are from the late '20s or '30.  He was operating in the kind of cross-over area between Blues and Jazz (a bit more toward Jazz) that Mark has mentioned he has been mining lately.  Snoozer had a big chordal vocabulary and swung very hard, which a lot of guitarists of that era did not do.  I remember on one tune that he played, I figured out that he was playing in dropped D tuning to play in the key of F, and had set up his chord voicings and phrasing so that he was fingering the melody of the tune almost exclusively with the little finger of his left hand, doing a lot of really cool (and difficult) slides and bends.  And all of this was being done while maintaining a very full and fluid chordal sound and swinging like crazy.
I believe Snoozer had some kind of birth defect, which may have led to his nickname, and he apparently was a shadowy figure who also died pretty young.  Have any of you heard him, or does anybody know of places where you can currently obtain recordings of his music?  He seems to me to be ripe for a "Complete Recordings Of" tribute CD.  Maybe if you ask around in New Orleans you can find somebody who remembers him, Lindy.  I only ever heard him once, but his music really made an impression on me.  He could REALLY play, and he didn't sound like anyone else I've ever heard.
All best,
Johnm       

[frankie]

I ran across his name in a book about jazz guitarists probably 10 years ago or so.  The description sounded really juicy (more or less exactly the way you described him), but I never could find any actual recordings of him.  About 4 years ago I ran across a site that had eight tunes played by SQ in RealAudio format.  I thought they were great & saved them, but later swore off RealAudio & haven't been able to listen to them since.  I'm just downloading the latest version of RealPlayer now (only for Snoozer!) so I can refresh my memory & maybe convert the files, one way or another, to mp3.

[Slack]

Here is the site with the 8 Real Player songs of Snoozer (great name, good listening, very jazzy to my ear).

http://www.booze-bros.com/snoozer.html

[Rivers]

Wow. What's with the pickups on Snoozer's guitar, sounds like the mid / bass pole pieces are pumping out a lot more voltage than the treble side, wonder if it's recorded direct. Through my pc speakers it sounds like a guitar jamming with a megalomaniac kazoo player... Great player though, thanks for that, I had never heard of him.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I agree with Mark, Snoozer sounds pretty great--just as I remembered him.  Thanks for tracking this down, John D.!
All best,
Johnm

[lindy]

Y'all:

If you haven't seen this page yet, it looks as though a Japanese company has gotten hold of those Snoozer Quinn tapes (and maybe some other cuts?) and put them on a CD. No idea about whether or not they digitalized the recordings and cleaned them up, but I wouldn't be surprised. Unfortunately, the web page is in Japanese:

http://www.craftone.co.jp/solo_flight/guitarist/quinn,s/

But the site has another page in English that has a Quinn discography:

http://www.craftone.co.jp/solo_flight/guitarist/quinn,s/discography.html

Not much to go on, but I did get the impression that Quinn backed up Bing Crosby in some small-group sessions, so you may have a clean chance to hear his work a little bit, a brief solo here and there.  I'm planning a trip to the Tulane University Jazz Collection as soon as I get out from under a pile of work, maybe they'll have something on him.

Lindy

[lindy]

I asked a Japanese friend to take a look at that link I described, and it turns out that the CD was issued on the Fat Cat label, a label that was started by an American hobbyist/fanatic that was sold to the Jazzology label a few years back.  I looked at the Jazzology site and didn't see Snoozer anywhere.  Will send them an email.

But I took another look at the discography, and wow, how did he stay so far beneath the radar?  He was part of a pretty classy circle of players that included Trumbauer, Beiderbecke, Hazlett and Crosby.  And according to the discography, he cut several solo sides that were "rejected" for distribution.  A major bummer of a decision.

Lindy

[Eldergreene]

WOW - just heard a couple of the SQ tunes - he's GREAT! wish there was more (esp old) stuff; just when you think you've heard'em all ..

[Scott Black]

Greetings All,

I noticed on your list that there were quite a few people interested in Snoozer Quinn. And rightly so, Snoozer was one of the greatest player of all time! The reason for this post is that I started a small CD label about a year ago, just for collectors of the really rare stuff. I have about 70,000 old records going back to the 1890?s. But I?ve always looked for acetates and home recordings of any type, and I?ve been doing this for close to 40 years now. I?ve spent the past quarter century touring and playing the cornet with Leon Redbone, and I just quit last month. And I spent a good deal of time on the road scrounging around flea markets and antique shops digging up more goodies. I spent 10 years living in New Orleans and around 1990 I rescued a huge box of old home recordings recorded between 1942 to 1952. They were falling apart and just horrible shape. But I?ve managed to piece quite a few back together. And I was able to salvage pieces of a couple of song that has Snoozer soloing!
And it?s just amazing! The sound quality is so-so, but given the condition of the recording it?s as good as it can get without compromising the sound. I put up Snoozer?s chorus on ?After You?ve Gone? as a sample for those would like to give it a listen. I may have others with him on them, but this is what I have so far. The other New Orleans sides on these CD?s are great as well. I don?t do any re-issues at all. I just want to put out sides that have never been heard before. And I have a ton of them! So, if you?d like to check them out just go to Kazoolips.com and click on the label that says NEW ORLEANS JAZZ ACETATES ? VOLUME 2, and this will take you to the page with a  ?new? solo from Snoozer Quinn. He was everything they said he was and more!

Scott Black
Kazoolips.com

[Rivers]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to Weenie Campbell. First off I'm a big fan of the stuff you and Leon have done over the years and look forward to seeing what you put out under your label.

Second, the post in Performance Corner was a duplicate and basically in the wrong place so I removed it.

Regards,

Rivers.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I merged the new Snoozer Quinn thread in the Main Forum with the pre-existing one in Other Musical Interests and since Snoozer was not really a country blues musician, it seemed to make sense to keep the thread here.
all best,
Johnm

[Rivers]

Nice to revisit those eight tracks. The sound is still weird even though since first listening I've got a really good audio setup.

Tantalizing stuff, such a shame he didn't record much earlier on. Historians might be reappraising Charlie Christian's role in the history of modern jazz guitar.

Still, that audio is really strange. The bass / mid sounds closer to the mic than the treble. I'm still not convinced it's not a hoax, two guitars kinda thing.

[Cambio]

I recently heard a Jimmie Davis 78, Pea Pickin' Papa, that had Snoozer Quinn playing backup guitar.  I sounded really great.  Does anyone know if he played with Jimmie Davis a lot?
Todd

[Parlor Picker]

I don't have Godrich & Dixon to hand, Todd, but from memory I think he's the slide player on "Hum Dum Dinger From Dingersville" (isn't he?).

[Bill Roggensack]

Thanks JohnM for bringing Snoozer to my attention, and to Slack for finding a link that makes it easy to listen to a few tunes. I gotta say, I liked what I heard! Very jazzy, but down to earth at the same time.