![]() They were unnamed, but called "two young guitar-playing fools" in the NovemPittsburgh Courier. They were called back for three encores." On October 20, 1928, the New York Age called them "Leon and Douglass, masters of the Ukelele". The SeptemPittsburgh Courier mentioned them again when the show was at Pittsburgh's Elmore Theater: "And we almost forgot Douglass & Watson, who by the way, were a phenomenal success in their ukelele numbers. ![]() (This is exactly how the various members of the Ink Spots started on the streets of Indianapolis.)ĭouglas and Leo were, presumably, new to the show, since they weren't in a July 1927 blurb about the Whitman Sisters that named all the members of the troupe, nor were they in the list of performers that appeared in the FebruPittsburgh Courier. Louis, performing for whatever change people would throw to them. It said: "Two ukelele boys, Douglas Daniels and Leo Watson, quaint racial singers in melody that flows, stormed the house." Supposedly Douglas and Leo had started together on the streets of St. The first mention of any of the future members of the Spirits Of Rhythm is in the AugPittsburgh Courier, which talked about a show put on by Mabel "May" Whitman's company at Chicago's Willard Theater. ![]() (Also note that many articles used the alternative spelling "ukelele".) Also, with the octave tuned courses, you have a kind of honky-tonk piano sound. The multiple strings give both volume and a peculiar sound due to the fractional time interval the nail or pick takes to hit each of the strings of a course. The strings in each 2-string course are tuned to the same note in the 3-string courses, one string is tuned to the same note as the other two, but an octave lower. According to François Moret ( Martin Tiple Blogspot), tipples use steel strings and were, therefore, louder and easier to hear in a theater than ukuleles, which used gut strings in the 1930s. Also spelled "tiple", it looks like a large ukulele, but usually has 10 strings (arranged in sets of 2, 3, 3, 2), although different kinds can have 4, 6, or 12 strings. NOTE: Several of the Spirits played the tipple, an instrument that was very popular in the 1930s. Holmes" became one of my favorite songs the first time I heard it. Close behind them come the early recordings of the Spirits Of Rhythm. The Cats & The Fiddle and the 5 Jones Boys have to rank as my favorite jive groups. Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks - SPIRITS OF RHYTHM
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