Topic: Snoozer Quinn--anybody heard him?

[dj]

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"

Snoozer Quinn accompanied Jimmie Davis on:

  "She's A Hum-Dum Dinger" - Part 2 (2 takes)
  "Market House Blues"
  "Get On Board, Aunt Susan"
  "Midnight Blues"

Ed Schaffer (as "Dizzy Head") also played guitar on the above tracks.

     

[lindy]

Last spring when I was in New Orleans I spent some time in the Hogan Jazz Archive looking for as much info as I could about Snoozer Quinn. I?d done the same five years earlier, and at that time I couldn?t find anything except for a few typewritten transcripts of interviews with other musicians who were asked to describe their meetings with Snoozer.

This time there was a lot more information, mostly in the form of research done by Snoozer?s great-great-niece. She?s put together an informative website, surprisingly called http://www.snoozerquinn.com. It has film footage of Snoozer playing in 1932, unfortunately without sync sound, but still worth watching. She?s also put up a few sound files on her site.

A couple of times when I went to the Columns Hotel to listen to John Rankin I?d ask him to play a Snoozer tune or two, he's a big Snoozer Quinn fan. Another person who has tried to work out some of his music is Don Vappie, who has taught at Port Townsend a couple of times.

Do check out those web pages and links, he was a remarkable player.

Lindy

[Johnm]

Here is a recording of Snoozer made by a friend of his when he (Snoozer) was in the hospital.  What a wonderful and unique guitarist he was!







All best,
Johnm

[Pan]

I was just looking for his possible YouTube videos myself! Thanks for introducing me to this great musician!

Here are some other YouTube findings:





Cheers

Pan

[Rivers]

Wiggs Inc. What a perfectly sexy name for a record label 

[Mike Billo]

   I have two Jimmie Davis, Bear family LP's, that have Snoozer Quinn on them.
    Although often pictured holding a guitar, Jimmie Davis, apparently, didn't actually play and had guys like Snoozer Quinn and Oscar Woods as his back-up.
  Later in life, Davis (composer of the ubiquitous, "You Are My Sunshine") was Governor of Louisiana and a Gospel Singer, but the early recordings are very cool, Jimmie Rodgers-influenced, Blues.
   In my opinion, Davis was several notches above most of the other Rodgers imitators of the day and really had a good feel for the Blues.
  I don't know if Bear Family has the Davis sides reissued on CD, but of they do, I highly recommend them. Great listening and the presence of guys like Quinn and Woods make them all that much  better.

[poymando]

I seem to remember hearing Leo Kottke mention Quinn as a great guitar player and former Davis sideman during his in between song raps a number of years ago. He even has a tune named "Little Snoozer".

[tonyrees]

Picking up on this thread after a bit of a gap (what's 11 years between friends??)

- A fair bit more info on Snoozer now at https://snoozerquinn.com/ - including a book by the site curator, Kathryn Hobgood Ray ...

- The FatCat materials (Wiggs Hospital recordings) are now available on CD, per the discogs entry: https://www.discogs.com/release/15576437-Snoozer-Quinn-With-Johnny-Wiggs-Johnny-Wiggs-Big-Five-The-Magic-Of-Snoozer-Quinn - available for listening via Spotify if needed (some tracks also on youtube).

- Youtube user Nick Rossi put together this playlist in 2017 of 1920s (?-1930s) jazz tracks featuring Snoozer Quinn:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1vTNGM5zLFe1ibtYPP9DW8sF6sA7jeQf

The last 2 (3: 1 is duplicated) items are Snoozer + 2 others accompanying Bing Crosby's first solo recording session in 1929.

- A few other early dance band tracks are floating around as well, probably with Snoozer mostly inaudible

- I'm still intrigued by Scott Black's info above regarding "two just found solos by Snoozer Quinn!!" labelled as After you’ve gone (1:31) ; Blues (1:29) on his 2008 Kazoo Lips release “New Orleans jazz acetates. Volume 2” and wondering if they are different to the Fat Cat material - if so, would be fascinating to hear...

[Stuart]

In Tuesday's The Syncopated Times:

https://syncopatedtimes.com/restoring-edward-snoozer-quinn-to-the-jazz-guitar-pantheon/

An embedded link in the ST article:

http://www.jazzhotbigstep.com/70001.html

[Slack]

Welcome tonyrees!

[MarkC]

Here’s a Fretboard Journal podcast from June 2022:

https://www.fretboardjournal.com/podcasts/podcast-368-the-legend-of-snoozer-quinn/

[tonyrees]

This info from Scott Black  in 2008 (https://web.archive.org/web/20080708184012/http://kazoolips.com/NEW_ORLEANS2.html):
"7. AFTER YOU'VE GONE - 1:31
8. BLUES - 1:29  SNOOZER QUINN
ONE DOWNLOAD! I wish I could have saved more from this record, but glad to get this!" ... "You can see the condition of the recording on the cover of this CD. The other side had almost no acetate coating left, just the aluminum base. But it did have, at one time, a couple fragments of the label that had Snoozer's name on it. All I could save was about two choruses from each song. As luck would have it, Snoozer's solos on each song were saved. Out of this collection there were a few like this one as well with Snoozer mentioned on the label. Over 60 years of sitting in a box in New Orleans caused most of the labels to fall off and did damage to the recordings that can't be believed. So I'm still doing my best to save what I can."

Just wondering if the track/s are still around, or whether anyone paid $0.99 for the download back at that time (or purchased the CD "KL-6 New Orleans Jazz acetates & home recordings Volume 2")... or can point to where the tracks might be available today.

[MarkC]

https://archive.org/details/lp_the-legendary-snoozer-quinn_eddie-snoozer-quinn

I didn’t try to download them

[MarkC]

Whoops, it looks like you’re looking for other recordings.,

[tonyrees]

"The Legendary..." (Vinyl, Fat Cat) now re released with extra tracks (not featuring Snoozer) as "The Magic Of..." - can listen as a youtube playlist at

Other early tracks from the 1920s-30s featuring Snoozer (probably not always audible) have been put together as a playlist at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1vTNGM5zLFe1ibtYPP9DW8sF6sA7jeQf

The 2 tracks rescued from acetates by Scott Black and made available in 2008 on his KazooLips label are still unheard by me, apparently different from any of the above

- Tony