Joseph “Muggsy” Spanier was a prominent Chicago white cornet player. Before Bix Beiderbecke arrived, he was known as Chicago’s best trumpet/cornet. Muggsy was the leader of several “hot” or traditional jazz bands, including Muggsy Spanier, His Ragtime Band, and Muggsy Spanier (which didn’t play “ragtime”, but “hot jazz” that would be known as “Dixieland”. This band established the standard for all subsequent attempts to combine traditional jazz and a swing rhythm section. Except for Muggsy, the band’s most important members were: George Brunies (later Brunis-) (trombone and vocals), Rodney Cless or Joe Bushkin(piano), Ray McKinstry (piano), Nick Ciazza (tenor sax) and Bob Casey. The band had a number of talented, but not memorable drummers. – Wikipedia User-contributed Text is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
