Alcide, nicknamed
Yellow because of his complection, moved to Chicago in 1916, with Stein's Dixie
Jass band, which later became the Original Dixieland Jass band. After an
argument with the bands cornetist Nick Larocca in October 1916, Nunez left the
band just before they began recording and was replaced by Larry Shields. Nunez
and Larocca were to disagree again in 1917 when Larocca claimed composition of
his band's hit "Livery Stable Blues" which Nunez quickly tried to copy write as
his own. The case was long and involved, but eventually thrown out of court as
ownership of tunes, often created, and added to over many years was said to be
too difficult to establish.
He spent the
remainder of his time in Chicago playing with the trombonist Tom Brown, before
leaving to travel to New York with Bert Kelly's band. He later formed his own
group, The Louisiana Five, in 1919, which became one of the best loved bands in
the area making several recordings of original tunes which can still be heard
today. Taking a few years break from the band to record with Harry Yerkes and
play in cities all over the North East, he rejoined them in 1920 to make a ten
week tour of the West. Nunez settled in Baltimore for the year 1921 before returning to
Chicago in 1922, where he lead the house band at Kelly's Stables until he was
replaced by Johnny Dodds. When he began to lose his teeth, Nunez thought that he would no
longer be able to play clarinet, so he went back to New Orleans with his family
in the mid 1920s, where he was fitted with a faulse set and discovered he could
still play. He played with various local dance bands and live on the radio
station WCBE with The Moonlight Serenaders, as well as playing banjo, clarinet
and driving a patrol wagon for the police department.He died suddenly after a massive heart
attack on September 2nd 1934 when he was just 50 years old. Back to Shell's Mini
Bios
Alcide Patrick Nunez was born
on March 17th 1884 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. His family was quite large
and is thought to have originated from Spain and France. While still a child he
moved to down town New Orleans where he began playing C clarinet in about 1902
after first playing the guitar in local bands such as "Right At 'em's Razz
Band". He also played tin whistle and many improvised instruments and although
he didn't learn to read music until he joined the police band at around the age
of 40, his grasp of jazz and blues music was almost instant. Playing at Beter's
place on Music Street and Claiborne Avenue,
He gained a
reputation as one of the best clarinetists in the area, playing with Papa Jack
Laine's band and also running his own groups as well as holding down a job
driving a mule cart with his friend, Chink Martin Abraham, who was also a
musician.
