Johnny Dodds born 12 April 1892

Dodds was the older brother of the drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds, one of the first important jazz drummers. They worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926. Dodds is an important figure in jazz history. He was the premier clarinetist of his era and, in recognition of his artistic contributions, he was posthumously inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. He has been described as "a prime architect in the creation of the Jazz Age." 

Dodds was born in Waveland, Mississippi. His childhood environment was a musical one. His father and uncle were violinists, his sister played a melodeon, and in adolescence Johnny sang high tenor in the family quartet. According to legend, his instrumental skill began with a toy flute which had been purchased for his brother, Warren "Baby" Dodds. Johnny started to play the clarinet at the age of 17. 

King Oliver. Dodds 2nd from right.

He moved to New Orleans in his youth and studied the clarinet with Lorenzo Tio and Charlie McCurdy. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. Dodds went to Chicago and played with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with which he first recorded in 1923. Dodds blamed the breakup on not wanting to travel and on musical conflicts due to Oliver's failing musical abilities. He also worked frequently with his good friend Natty Dominique during this period, a professional relationship that would last a lifetime. After the breakup of Oliver's band in 1924, Dodds replaced Alcide Nunez as the house clarinetist and bandleader of Kelly's Stables. 

Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, 1925 - Dodds on far left.

Jazz writer Bill Russell said of Dodds' greatness, "His was probably the fullest and roundest tone ever produced on the clarinet. Johnny never needed a microphone to be heard—even with the loudest of New Orleans’ great cornetists blasting against him."  From 1924 to 1930, Dodds worked regularly at Kelly's Stables in Chicago. He recorded with numerous small groups in Chicago, including Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. He also recorded prolifically under his own name, Johnny Dodds' Black Bottom Stompers, between 1927 and 1929 for Paramount, Brunswick/Vocalion, and Victor. He became a big star on the Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s, but his career precipitously declined with the Great Depression. 

Initially a sensitive, fluent ensemble improviser, Dodds became a valued soloist as well. His tone was distinctive, with a full, reedy lower (chalumeau) register and a variety of rich sonorities in the upper register; he featured a wide, flat vibrato that lent drama to his musical lines. He was a fertile creator of diatonic melodies coloured with blues inflections and enhanced by an urgent attack, and his blues improvising is especially highly regarded. 

Among his outstanding recordings are “Perdido Street Blues” and “Too Tight Blues” with the New Orleans Wanderers; “Wolverine Blues” with the Jelly Roll Morton trio; and a series of 1928–29 Victor recordings that he led, including “Heah’ Me Talkin’,” “Too Tight,” and “My Little Isabel.” 

Although his career gradually recovered, he did not record for most of the 1930s, affected by ill-health; he recorded only two sessions—January 21, 1938, and June 5, 1940—both for Decca. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in August 1940, in Chicago. 

Known for his professionalism and virtuosity as a musician and his heartfelt, heavily blues-laden style, Dodds was an important influence on later clarinetists, such as Benny Goodman, who stated that no one ever surpassed Dodds in achieving a finer tone with the clarinet. Dodds was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Dodds was one of the most original and talented of all the clarinetists to emerge from New Orleans. Had he lived past 1940 he would almost certainly have been celebrated in the traditional jazz revival as an icon of the movement. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Britannica & Riverwalk Jazz)