Biography
While the ensemble's leader occasionally revived the Jimmy Bertrand's Washboard Wizards name during the 1930s and 1940s, the primary incarnation existed strictly as a studio unit assembled for Vocalion in the latter half of the 1920s. Numbers including the offhand "Easy Come Easy Go Blues," the unhurried "Idle Hour Special," and the brisk "I'm Going Hunting" gained widest circulation on reissues because of trumpet and cornet contributions from Louis Armstrong. Clarinetist Johnny Dodds likewise enjoys legendary stature, even if his name lacks the instant recognition attached to Satchmo. Bertrand himself cannot be reduced to a mere custodian of an obsolete laundry implement; he performed as a capable drummer and xylophonist, logging a decade with the Erskine Tate band. Throughout the 1920s he matched his performing schedule with equal dedication to teaching, counting among his pupils the grinning vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and the ultimate swing drummer, Big Sid Catlett. Whenever questioned about formative influences, Hampton consistently cited the washboard specialist as his "original idol."