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Jazz Horn comb and paper, kazoo
"By far the most important recordings ever made featuring the kazoo are those
made in the 1920s and 30s by the Mound City Blue Blowers. Featured in the
1920s recordings are Jack Bland on Banjo, Dick Slevin on Kazoo and Red
McKenzie on vocals and comb and paper (which he called "Blue Blowing") They
were a sensation and supposedly sold a million records. Later, McKenzie
"Blue Blowing" was featured on records with Coleman Hawkins, Bunny Berigan
Eddie Condon and scores of others. The Classics label (from Europe, but
available widely) just released some mid-thirties Blue Blowers that are
amazing, and McKenzie solos stand up in their own way to those by Berigan
and the rest. In the book Selections from the Gutter, a compilation of
articles from the mid century magazine The Jazz Record, includes an
interview with Bland titles "The Kazoo Comes On." In the book "Lost Chords
author Dick Sudhalter calls McKenzie a legitimate hot jazz stylist on his
homemade kazoo."