"Sugar Blues" - Kid Ory

“Sugar Blues” (PDF) from the Kid Ory album, Kid Ory Plays the Blues.

“Sugar Blues” was composed by trumpeter Clyde McCoy and it would become his theme song because of his signature Harmon mute wah effect used throughout the performance.  Regardless of who actually invented the technique, McCoy popularized its novelty in an early recording and assumed the credit.  Decades later when electronics could replicate the manual sweeping-filter effect, McCoy’s name was associated with the original Cry Baby wah foot pedals.

Perhaps the most fascinating anachronism surrounding “Sugar Blues” is that McCoy recorded the tune for multiple record labels over the years, with each version being a unique performance.  When the song became popular, everybody wanted a cut of the action and McCoy appeased them because each recording generated new money for him.  This business model seems like a fallacy in this digital age of exclusivity and “leaked” music.  More incredible is that McCoy traveled across the nation to re-record the song because it was more efficient than having one record label distribute a single recording throughout the world.

Recommended reading: Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz by John McCusker.  Published by University Press of Mississippi.