Mound City Blue Blowers - San ~1924

The Mound City Blue Blowers formed in St. Louis, Missouri in 1923 as a novelty jazz ensemble. Co-founded by Red McKenzie (who would play comb and tissue paper) and Jack Bland (banjo), it also featured Dick Slevin (Kazoo), and Josh Billings (ok, get this...a suitcase played with foot and whisk brooms). Their first release in 1924 became a hit in the Midwest, leading to around a dozen records in 1924 and 1925, even seeing Eddie Land and Frankie Trumbauer stepping in on the action (such as on this track with Frankie as a composer)

After 1925, McKenzie stepped away and recorded under his own name as a vocalist, but came back to the Mound City name in 1929 for multiple sessions with jazz greats including Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Glenn Miller, and Pee Wee Russell. Recordings trickled in through the early 30's, ending with around 25 songs from 1935-36 which included appearances from Nappy Lamare, Spooky Dickenson, Billy Wilson, Bunny Berigan, Yank Lawson, and Eddie Miller. Some of these recordings could see as many as ten players in a single song.

All told, the band, in all its forms, recorded over 50 songs for most of the major US labels like Brunswick, Victor, Columbia, and Decca. This song is yet ANOTHER version of "San" for the channel (making it our third one) from the Blue Blowers second record release. It was composed by Lindsay McPhail and Walter Michels, and was recorded in Chicago, Illinois on March 14, 1924.