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Johnny worked with most of the major Hot Jazz bands of the era. He was in Kid Ory's band in New Orleans from 1912 to 1919, and played on riverboats with Fate Marable in 1917. Dodds moved to Chicago in 1921 to play with King Oliver. Johnny and his brother Baby Dodds were an important part of Louis Armstrong's classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings for Okeh. During the 1920's he also recorded with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton, and on most of Lil Hardin-Armstrong's sessions.
Unlike many of his famous contemporiaries, Dodds and his brother stayed in Chicago, and were pretty much forgotten as Jazz moved East to New York in the Thirties. He recorded several records under his own name in the Twenties, often with Natty Dominique on trumpet, and worked regularly at Kelly's Stables from 1924 to 1930. Dodds continued to play and record in Chicago throughout the Thirties.
From;
Johnny Dodds was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920's. Although both Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet had better technique, Dodds had a very soulful, bluesy style of playing that was often emotionally powerful. He was a master of the New Orleans' ensemble style of collective improvisation, he didn't have the flash of Louis Armstrong, but he did provide the perfect enviroment for Armstrong to shine.
Johnny Dodds by G.E. Lambert, A.S. Barnes, 1961
and
The Baby Dodds Story as told to Larry Gara, Louisiana State
University Press, 1959