Red Nichols & His Five Pennies

Jazz cornetist, bandleader, and composer Red Nichols was born Ernest Nichols on May 8, 1905, in Ogden, Utah. A child prodigy, at the age of 12, he was playing complicated pieces for his father’s brass band. Influenced by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Bix Beiderbecke, he moved to the Midwest in the early 1920s and played with bands such as the Syncopating Seven and the Johnny Johnson Orchestra before ending up in New York City in 1923. There, he and trombonist Miff Mole formed a partnership that would last a decade. By 1926, the duo had formed Red Nichols and his Five Pennies and signed to Brunswick Records. Utilizing their unique Dixieland-influenced chamber jazz sound, the group recorded over 100 sides for the label under a variety of names including Red Nichols and the Five Pennies, the Arkansas Travelers, The Red Heads, the Louisiana Rhythm Kings, The Charleston Chasers, The Six Hottentots, The Hottentots and Miff Mole and his Little Molers. Future jazz legends that passed through the Five Pennies ranks include Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, and many others. The Five Pennies’ cover of “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider” became a huge hit, selling ore than a million copies. Red Nichols was also a composer, and he wrote or co-wrote many well-known songs like “Five Pennies, "Hurricane" (with Paul Mertz), “Bug-a-Boo”, "You're Breakin' Me Down" (with Glenn Miller), "Trumpet Sobs", "Junk Man's Blues", "That's No Bargain” and many others. By the early 1930s, swing music had taken the U.S. by storm and Red Nichols was not able to keep up with the rapid changes in the industry. Red Nichols and the Five Pennies drifted apart as Red Nichols struggled to make ends meet by playing in show bands, working in wartime shipyards, and taking any small-time gig he was offered. He didn’t fully return to music until after World War II ended, forming a new version of the Five Pennies and booking shows that began in small clubs but evolved into much larger venues. Red Nichols’ contributions to music were re-evaluated and he became something of a celebrity again, appearing in films and on television. During this resurrection of his career, he released several albums on the Capitol Records label including Hot Pennies (1956), In Love with Red (1956), Parade of the Pennies (1958), and Meet the Five Pennies (1959). In 1959, Danny Kaye starred as Red Nichols in the biographical film The Five Pennies, which was nominated for four Academy Awards. Red Nichols died on June 28, 1965, at the age of 60.

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