Yesterday, we were crawling through the shadows with Duke's The Mooche. But if you flipped that original Okeh 8623
record over in 1928, you were in for a serious case of musical whiplash.
From the Crawl to the Sprint
While The Mooche was all about that "lazy gait," the B-side, Hot and Bothered, was Duke and the boys operating at a breakneck speed. I love this track because it features Baby Cox again, but instead of her haunting moans, she’s delivering a high-speed "scat" vocal that holds its own against the brass.
Let's give it a spin:
And dig the 12-string guitar solo by the great Lonnie Johnson! I’m not sure exactly how the pairing came about, but Lonnie sat in for two recording sessions with Duke in 1928, and the results were pure magic.
The Name Game Returns
We have a little more pseudonym shenanigans with a second recording of Hot and Bothered that made the rounds of the budget labels under various band names, including the old stand-by, The Washingtonians (see top of page).
But The Whoopee Makers return on the maroonish-colored shellac of Perfect Records:
There’s no Baby Cox or Lonnie Johnson on this one, but the band is still hot under any name and I'm not bothered!
Bubber’s Final Burn
These sessions were among the last great showcases for Bubber Miley before he left the band. On Hot and Bothered, his trumpet isn't just growling—it’s screaming. It’s the perfect companion to The Mooche because it shows the two sides of the "Jungle" coin: the dark mystery and the frantic heat.
Which fits your Monday mood better: the slow-burning Mooche or the frantic Hot and Bothered?
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