Original Text From The Harlan Leonard “Hairy Joe Jump” Scan:
Chicago -Talk about coincidences… Recently Harlan Leonard penned a stomp tune, with Freddie Culliver assisting, which he titled Hairy Joe Jumps and began featuring it with his band. The boys started calling Leonard “Hairy Joe” as a result. Two weeks ago he and his band put the tune on Bluebird wax, along with several other originals, and that night the Leonard band played the fancy Architects Ball at Trianon Ballroom. One of the first to greet the band was the “Hairless Joe” shown above, actually Ken Krebs. Leonard can be seen puffing his alto in background. The band, one of the most solid sepia crews, currently is at the Golden Gate Ballroom, New York.
The Mystery of “Hairy Joe”
This photo is from the FEBRUARY 1, 1940, issue of DOWNBEAT magazine. The scan captures HARLAN LEONARD AND HIS ROCKETS. The bearded figure in front wasn’t a band member. In fact, it was a STAGED PHOTO OP created by DownBeat editors to provide a visual hook for a band they were championing as a top Kansas City unit.
THE DOGPATCH CONNECTION
In 1940, America was obsessed with DOGPATCH. The town was the setting of the comic strip LI’L ABNER. Indeed, the “Hairy Joe” in the photo was a pun on the strip’s famous character HAIRLESS JOE. By staging the band with a “Hairy” counterpart, the magazine gave Harlan Leonard’s sophisticated unit a recognizable pop-culture link for its national readers.
THE EVOLUTION OF A SWING CLASSIC
THE ORIGINAL: The DownBeat article titled this piece “Hairy Joe Jumps.” However, the Rockets recorded it as “HAIRY JOE JUMP” for Bluebird on JANUARY 11, 1940.
THE RETOOL: Several months later, arranger BILLY MAY took the core riffs and transformed them into a mid-tempo, greasy groove. Consequently, the song was recorded by the CHARLIE BARNET ORCHESTRA on SEPTEMBER 17, 1940. The song was renamed “SOUTHERN FRIED” and became a definitive hit for Charlie Barnet’s Orchestra.
SOLO COMPARISONS & NOTABLE TALENT
HARLAN LEONARD’S “HAIRY JOE JUMP” (1/11/1940): A KC burner featuring HENRY BRIDGES on tenor sax and the pioneering trombone of FRED BECKETT. This session also featured drummer JESSE PRICE. Indeed, the recording captured the band at full throttle just after a young Charlie Parker’s brief tenure with the group had ended.
CHARLIE BARNET’S “SOUTHERN FRIED” (9/17/1940): Billy May pulled the tempo back into a deep, rhythmic “BOUNCE.” May’s “rework” of the original Hairy Joe Jump highlights BARNET’S SAXOPHONE and a punchy, growling brass section.
Hear Harlan Leonard’s Hairy Joe Jump and Charlie Barnet’s Southern Fried rotating on our big band and Swing Era radio stream. Explore more historic jazz scans in our Swing Era Magazine Scan Archive.