Joe Britton

A sweet home Alabama fellow, this trombonist was among the second generation of professional American jazz musicians and also straddled the worlds of blues and R&B, poking the long slide of his trombone into any combo that was lucky enough to have him. His credits are lengthy following his student days under the guidance of Fess Whatley. Classic blues singer Bessie Smith took him on the road from 1924 through 1926 as a member of her backing group, at first the Fred Longshaw Orchestra and then the Bill Woods Orchestra. The next year, he jumped to an outfit called Frank Bunch & the Fuzzy Wuzzies, most likely the most obscure name in the list of the groups he played for. He settled in New York in the '30s and fastened a grip on that city's fast-moving and faster-growing jazz scene, working with Ellsworth Reynold's Bostonians, Teddy Hill, the band of classic jazz drummer Kaiser Marshall, Charlie Johnson, Edgar Hayes, and the Vernon Andrade Orchestra. Positions with bigger jazz names were his in the '40s: he worked with saxophonist and composer Benny Carter from 1940-1941 and modern trumpet maestro Dizzy Gillespie, while at the same time collaborating on older styles of jazz. It was his chance to finally work with Jelly Roll Morton, with whom he also gigged and recorded in that decade, and Kansas City jazz pioneer Jay McShann. He also worked with Lucky Millinder for three years beginning in 1942. Blues shouter Wynonie Harris was also a frequent employer, and although this was not always a gig that provided a trombonist with a lot of solo space, Britton shows up on a half-dozen of Harris' raunchy R&B records, not to mention compact disc box set reissues. He also plays in a similar vein on recordings by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Britton also performed and recorded with the great jazz pianist Earl Hines. The trombonist dabbled into orchestra arrangements and his work in this field is spotlighted on the album Breaks, Blues and Boogies by fellow bone-man Vic Dickenson. Britton retired from full-time professional playing in the '50s, but gigged off and on into the '60s, including a regular stint in a band led by saxophonist Wesley Fagan. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide