Ragbaby Stevens
Encyclopedia
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
. (His family name has appeared in print both as "Stephens" and "Stevens", although the family themselves spelled it with the "ph"). He was the 13th and last child of Philip Stephens (1841–1906) and his wife Catherine Kolb (1843–1913), both natives of Baden-Baden. A number of the Stephens family descendants were professional musicians or band members.
"Ragbaby" was of the best regarded hot drummers with Papa Jack Laine
Papa Jack Laine
George Vital "Papa Jack" Laine was a pioneering band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish-American War to World War I....
's Reliance band in New Orleans in the early years of the 20th century. He left town to get away from personal problems, and became one of the first New Orleans jazz musicians established in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. His telegrams home were responsible for bringing Paul Mares
Paul Mares
Paul Mares , was an American early dixieland jazz cornet & trumpet player, and leader of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.Mares was born in New Orleans. His father, Joseph E...
and George Brunies
George Brunies
George Brunies, aka Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who came to fame in the 1930s, and was part of the Dixieland revival. He was known as the "King of the Tailgate Trombone"....
up north. For some years he worked with banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
ist/ bandleader Bert Kelly
Bert Kelly (jazz musician)
Bert Kelly was a jazz band leader who owned Kelly's Stables in Chicago's Tower Town in the 1920s. His jazz band is claimed to have been the first to use that term as Bert Kelly's Jazz Band in 1915....
.
In 1918 Kelly brought his "Jass Band", including Ragbaby, Alcide Nunez
Alcide Nunez
Alcide Patrick Nunez was an early United States jazz clarinetist. Also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, he was born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana of an Isleño family and moved to New Orleans in his childhood.He initially played guitar, then switched to clarinet about 1902...
, and Tom Brown (trombonist)
Tom Brown (trombonist)
Tom Brown , sometimes known by the nickname Red Brown, was an early New Orleans dixieland jazz trombonist. He also played string bass professionally....
to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to fill in for the Original Dixieland Jass Band
Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band were a New Orleans, Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz single ever issued. The group composed and made the first recordings of many jazz standards, the most famous being Tiger Rag...
at Reisenweber's Cafe. The Kelly band enjoyed success, and was hired to continue playing, alternating with the Original Dixieland, after that band's return to New York. After the Kelly Jazz Band won greater approval from the crowds at a "Battle of the Bands" Ragbaby found his drum head's slashed, and he took the next train back to Chicago and never again headed east.
Stephens was a regular on the Chicago jazz scene into the 1920s; early in the decade he was reunited with clarinetist Alcide Nunez playing in the house band at the noted jazz venue (and speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
) "Kelly's Stables".
Eddie Edwards recalled Rag Baby "was a magnificent drummer...He inspired you."
His son Joseph Jr. (1909–1974) played jazz at Roma's Cafe in New Orleans, and his grandson Joseph E. Stephens (1929–2004) was also a musician. Both are buried in New Orleans, Joe Jr. at St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery #2 and Joe E. at Jefferson Memorial Gardens.