Wilton Crawley

Here is an early jazz artist who has largely been forgotten, yet if listeners had his clarinet blasting in their ears for a few days, that would hardly be the case. Perhaps not the most versatile musician on earth, Wilton Crawley still worked up a clarinet sound and style that utilized weird speech-like sound effects and extended use of slap tonguing, sometimes filling out whole lines of a solo with obnoxious little pops. The fact that one of his sidemen, pianist Jelly Roll Morton, went on to become an everlasting legend of early jazz has meant that many of the recordings originally done under Crowley's name have all been reissued in various Morton retrospectives. Crawley formed his first band with fellow reed-playing brother Jimmy Crawley after his family moved from Virginia to Philadelphia. During the '20s and '30s, the clarinetist began to have success with a variety act featuring his singing and playing. In the late part of the '20s, he made many of the aforementioned recordings, most of which include Morton. Some earlier sides from 1927 and 1928 also combine Crawley with fine early jazz guitarist Eddie Lang. Much of this music reveals Crawley attempting to recreate jazz sounds from other instruments, particularly typical muted trumpet effects that might have been done by an artist such as Bubber Miley. Other influences may be more easily traceable back to Virginia and its many farms and barnyards: Crawley cackles and clucks like a chicken, oinks like a pig, and neighs like a goat. While some of this sound effect activity may predict the later work of artists such as Anthony Braxton, Crawley actually seems to have more in common with the clarinetists who worked with Spike Jones or even later rock showmen such as Arthur Brown. Apparently, the finale of Crawley's...