Paul Barnes

Old-timers with sharp recollections remember Paul Barnes as the classic horn player driven by an oral fixation, a boy who never seemed without a toy fife between his teeth. By age eighteen he was already working alto sax jobs, first alongside Kid Rena and soon afterward directing his own sparkling Diamond Brass Band. When the 1920s opened, Barnes entered the well-dressed Young Tuxedo Orchestra yet continued accepting calls from Rena, the Maple Leaf Orchestra, and Bebe Ridgley-Celestin's Original Tuxedo Band. Mid-decade found him a steady associate of New Orleans jazz legend Papa Celestin, though he departed the city in spring 1927 to link up with King Oliver farther north in St. Louis. Several months of well-documented recording with Oliver later, the reed player tested the New York circuit.

Work with drummer Chick Webb, the band of Edgar Dowell, and the pleasantly spicy combo of Ginger Young preceded a period of touring and recording beside Jelly Roll Morton—an association that later enriched Barnes’s discography far more than his immediate earnings. Within Morton’s ranks he received frequent soprano sax features. The early 1930s brought another stretch with Oliver before Barnes returned to New Orleans, organized his own combo, and began statewide travels. The intermittent tie to Oliver resumed when Barnes rejoined that ensemble in early 1934 following engagements with Richard M. Jones, Vincent Lopresto, and the B. Morris Orchestra. Most of the decade’s remainder kept him on home ground, where he performed with units led by Steve Lewis, Chester Zardis, and the fine trumpeter Elmer Talbert.

A sustained partnership with Kid Howard lasted through 1941. The next year Barnes entered three years of Navy service, after which he resumed work with Papa Celestin until 1951. He then moved to the west coast and kept his horns largely inside their padded cases for roughly five years. Alton Purnell’s All Stars drew him back in 1958; additional trad-jazz work included the Paul Barbarin band and parade appearances with the Eureka Brass Band, obligations that required temporary returns to New Orleans. Barnes soon headed west again. In the early 1960s, already in his early sixties, he joined the Young Men of New Orleans and remained until 1964. At that point he settled permanently in New Orleans, performing regularly at venues such as Preservation Hall with assorted local musicians. A 1973 European tour showcasing New Orleans jazz veterans preceded his retirement. Barnes is the brother of clarinetist Emile Barnes yet bears no relation to clarinetist Walter Barnes. Although Paul “Polo” Barnes composed, his most frequently cited credit arose when New Orleans bands attached his name to the gospel standard “Down by the Riverside.”