Black Birds of Paradise

Based in Montgomery, AL, the Black Birds of Paradise were an eight-piece Afro-American jazz band that ruled the roost in central Alabama during the second half of the 1920s. Formed in 1925 and led by trombonist William "Buddy" Howard, they held down a steady gig for years working every Saturday night serenading the membership of a white country club near Harragut Springs just outside of Montgomery. In addition to the leader, the front line consisted of cornetist Philmore "Shorty" Hall and reedmen Walter Boyd and James Bell, with a rhythm section of pianist Melvin Small, banjoist Tom Ivery, tuba wrestler Ivory Johnson, and drummer Samuel Borders. During the summer of 1927 they went to Birmingham and made a handful of recordings for the Gennett label. In 1928 a fellow by the name of Pluto Brown tried to cash in on their popularity by leading a counterfeit Black Birds of Paradise in Birmingham. This ensemble had nothing to do with the Montgomery-based group. In 1930 Howard tried taking the authentic Black Birds of Paradise on a tour of the Midwest. As this was the first year of the Great Depression it's not hard to understand why several members of the group passed up the opportunity to scuffle through a series of one-nighters; unlike Howard, they had regular full-time day jobs. Howard's road band came apart in Omaha, NB, in 1931. Several of the men headed back to Montgomery to become members of the Black Diamonds, an excellent group led by James Bell. Buddy Howard remained in Omaha, putting together yet another jazz band; the ensemble he'd led in Montgomery never worked together again as a unit. In 1968 a researcher tried tracking down the members of the original Black Birds of Paradise. Ivory Johnson, Melvin Small, and Walter Boyd had passed on; Tom Ivery and James...