[ Ref. 231207 MMD, Ragtime Pianist Hughe Woolford on Telektra Brass ]

Dear MMD, A few days ago there was a request from David Krall for
information about the pianist Hughie Woolford. My friend, Andrew
Barrett, urged me to reply with what I had found about him.

Hughie Woolford

Hughie Woolford was one of the circle of Black Baltimore musicians
born in the 1880s who went to New York City in the 1910s and spent
the rest of their career in the New York metropolitan area. The most
famous of these, of course, was Eubie Blake.

Woolford was born March 26, 1885 (according to his WW1 and WW2
draft registrations, and the month and year given in the 1900 census)
in Baltimore, Maryland. By as early as 1904 he is listed in the
Baltimore City Directory as a musician. He was remembered many years
later by Eubie in interviews as one of his piano-playing "competitors"
in Baltimore, along with Edgar Dowell.

Fascinatingly, the 1908 Baltimore City Directory lists all three:
Hubert Blake, 1505 Jefferson, musician, Edgar Dowell, 106 May St.,
musician (the two addresses near the Johns Hopkins Hospital are only
a 5-minute walk apart), and Woolford, musician, at 436 Regester St.,
about 0.9 mi to the south of Dowell and Blake's home addresses.
(The Baltimore City Directories of this period mark listings of Black
individuals with an asterisk, which helps further strengthen the case
that these musicians are indeed the ones we are concerned with.)

The reason that researchers have heretofore apparently not found the
early documentation of Woolford's life is that we all assumed "Hughie",
sometimes rendered as "Hughe" or just "Hugh", were all nicknames for
"Hugh". In fact, Woolford's given name turns out to have been "Eugene",
and that is how he is listed in all of the early documentation in
Baltimore (censuses and directory listings.)

The last time we find Eugene Woolford in the Baltimore City Directory
is in 1911, which is consistent with the fact that of the Clef Club
concerts in 1910, 1912, and 1914, "Hugh Woolford" appears as a pianist
in the listing of the musicians in the New York Age articles describing
the latter two concerts. Hence we can assume Woolford has moved from
Baltimore to New York City around 1911 or 1912. (Note that Eubie Blake
is listed in the 1912 Baltimore directory as "Jas. Blake" (his full
name was James Hubert Blake) at 1529 Monument, so he has not yet made
the move to New York City.) Lester A. Walton's review of the 1912
concert (May 30, 1912 issue) indicates that the Clef Club orchestra
played a piece entitled "Dance of the Marionettes" by Woolford and the
veteran composer Will Tyers.

Hughie Woolford Telektra Autograph brass rolls for dancing

By 1914 Woolford was evidently well-enough known as a pianist for
dances that the Tel-Electric company engaged him to make rolls for
their Telektra system, as evidenced by the large display ad shown here,
from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of January 11, 1914 [1]. A sales point
is made of the fact that the all-electric system meant that the piano
would play without anyone having to pump it, so everyone could dance.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the three pianists listed in
the ad is that two of the three were Black members of the Clef Club
(Woolford and Louis Finley). This serves as a reminder of how Vernon
and Irene Castles' success in popularizing the then-modern dances with
an orchestra of Clef Club members accompanying them had rendered Black
musicians very much in demand in society circles in New York by 1914.

The origin of the fox trot

Woolford went on to a long career as a musician and singer-entertainer
as well as a booking agent in the New York metro area, but for the rest
of his career he seemed to have cited a single incident from 1914 as
a memorable highlight. 32 years later he told his story to a reporter
from the Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press (August 18, 1946) [2].

Hughie Woolford's story of the origin of the fox trot is to be compared
with the story of Jim Europe playing Handy's "Memphis Blues" slowly and
swingingly for the Castles, who adapted what they always said had been
an old "Negro" dance into what became known as the fox trot, also
supposedly in 1914.

What is verifiable about Woolford's story is that his composition,
"The Trouville Canter", was copyrighted and published in September 1914,
while what is probably an earlier version was arranged by Will Vodery
and copyrighted as an unpublished composition under the title "The
Woolford Canter" on July 23, 1914.

A very similar version of Woolford's story appears in Tom Fletcher's
book "100 Years of the Negro in Show Business" (1954), but this cannot
be considered in any way an independent verification of the story,
because Fletcher writes explicitly on p. 163 of his book "This story
was told to me by Hughie Woolford". However, Fletcher does us the
service of providing a photo of Hughie: [3]

A photo of Woolford in 1946 with Broadway Jones accompanied the Asbury
Park Press story, but the available reproduction is very poor.

It appears from the New York City death index that Hughie Woolford
died there on 11 June 1958.

Best regards,

Bob Pinsker
San Diego, California

References:

[1] 1914 Telektra advertisement listing two Clef Club members as
recording artists, Hugh Woolford and Louis Finley.
https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/12/15/231215_012659_Woolford%20making%20Telektra%20rolls%20The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Jan_11__1914_.jpg 

[2] 1946 Asbury Park Press story excerpt: Hughie Woolford inventing
the Fox trot in 1914
https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/12/15/231215_012659_Crop%20of%20Woolford%20story%20about%20foxtrot%20from%20Asbury%20Park%20Press%201946.jpg 

[3] Hughie Woolford photo from Tom Fletcher's book "100 Years of the
Negro in Show Business" (1954)
https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/23/12/15/231215_013013_Hughie%20Woolford%20photo%20from%20Tom%20Fletcher%20book.jpg 

 [ Baltimore City Directories are available in microfilm, microfiche,
 [ or bound-book formats, and some are even available online. Visit
 [ https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=327119&p=2195209#10284745 
 [ -- Robbie