Big Bands

Fate Marable and his 11-piece Metropolitan Jazz Band, was mainly associated with the riverboats that made daily trips on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans. Marable was so well liked by the owners of the Streckfuss Steamship Lines that they gave him an indefinite engagement.

Marable was a highly-schooled musician and maintained strict control of his band. He had a well organized, disciplined group that rehearsed in a professional manner. This band was unique in that it was one of the few all-black bands where the musicians could read music.

They played the music the riverboat crowd wanted to hear. There were waltzes, polkas, tangos, reels, fox-trots and hot jazz. Very often people would take a daily cruise just to listen to the band.

The band personnel included, Louis Armstrong, (trumpet), Sam Dutrey, (clarinet), Johnny St. Cry, (banjo), George "Pops" Foster, (bass), Warren "Baby" Dobbs, (drums), Davey Jones, (mellophone), Norman Mason, (saxophone), Boyd Atkins, (violin), and Fate Marable, (piano).

Marable had the respect from the men in his band and the public. There was the occasion when the leader of an all-white ten-piece band died, and the white musicians voted unanimously to have Marable take over leadership. As a matter of fact, Marable led a white band for seven years before he formed his first black band. He was also instrumental in breaking the barrier that separated the black and white musicians.

When Paul Whiteman received his discharge from the United States Navy in 1919, he formed his first band in San Francisco. The following year in 1920, he moved to New York, augmented his group and toured the country from coast-to-coast. With all of this exposure, it was inevitable that Paul Whiteman was to become the most popular band leader in the United States.