Biography
Trombonist Ike Rodgers worked the St. Louis scene throughout the 1920s and into the early 1930s, traveling now and then to Chicago, Richmond, Indiana, or Grafton, Wisconsin, for studio dates that most often paired him with barrelhouse pianist Henry Brown. His documented appearances are concentrated on blues dates spanning 1929–1934. Any involvement in Ma Rainey’s December 1927 “Black Bottom” session remains unconfirmed; if Rodgers was present, he would have substituted for the singer’s usual trombonist, Al Wynn.
On 7 May 1929 Rodgers and Brown accompanied vocalist Mary Johnson on two Brunswick sides. Two days afterward the trombonist led his sole session as bandleader: “Malt Can Blues,” issued by Ike Rodgers & His Biddle Street Boys, appeared as the reverse of Brown’s “Stomp ‘Em Down to the Bricks,” both tracks carrying spoken commentary from guitarist Lawrence Casey. On 16 August 1929 Rodgers, Brown, and streetwise blues singer Alice Moore recorded eight titles together. The following month, on 7 September, Rodgers joined cornetist Baby “Jay” James and pianist Roosevelt Sykes behind vocalists Edith North Johnson and Blind Teddy Darby; during that date Johnson improvised a blues she titled “The Honeydripper” and afterward conferred the name on Sykes as a lasting nickname. A version of the piece served as Sykes’ signature theme for the next fifty years, with Rodgers’ original contribution preserved on the first recording.
Additional sides with Brown and Mary Johnson were cut in November 1929 and February 1930. Rodgers’ final known sessions occurred on 18 and 24 August 1934, featuring Mary Johnson, Alice Moore, Arthur “Art” McKay, Tecumseh “Tee” MacDonald (occasionally billed as Dolly Martin), and the ensemble Peetie Wheatstraw & His Blue Blowers. The surviving discs locate Rodgers among the leading early-session trombonists, alongside Charlie Irvis, Charlie Green, Honore Dutrey, George Brashear, Preston Jackson, Chink Johnson, Albert Wynn, and Kid Ory.
On 7 May 1929 Rodgers and Brown accompanied vocalist Mary Johnson on two Brunswick sides. Two days afterward the trombonist led his sole session as bandleader: “Malt Can Blues,” issued by Ike Rodgers & His Biddle Street Boys, appeared as the reverse of Brown’s “Stomp ‘Em Down to the Bricks,” both tracks carrying spoken commentary from guitarist Lawrence Casey. On 16 August 1929 Rodgers, Brown, and streetwise blues singer Alice Moore recorded eight titles together. The following month, on 7 September, Rodgers joined cornetist Baby “Jay” James and pianist Roosevelt Sykes behind vocalists Edith North Johnson and Blind Teddy Darby; during that date Johnson improvised a blues she titled “The Honeydripper” and afterward conferred the name on Sykes as a lasting nickname. A version of the piece served as Sykes’ signature theme for the next fifty years, with Rodgers’ original contribution preserved on the first recording.
Additional sides with Brown and Mary Johnson were cut in November 1929 and February 1930. Rodgers’ final known sessions occurred on 18 and 24 August 1934, featuring Mary Johnson, Alice Moore, Arthur “Art” McKay, Tecumseh “Tee” MacDonald (occasionally billed as Dolly Martin), and the ensemble Peetie Wheatstraw & His Blue Blowers. The surviving discs locate Rodgers among the leading early-session trombonists, alongside Charlie Irvis, Charlie Green, Honore Dutrey, George Brashear, Preston Jackson, Chink Johnson, Albert Wynn, and Kid Ory.