Wilton Crawley

Wilton Crawley. (b. July 18^th, 1900. Smithfield, Virginia. U.S.A.). Jazz Clarinetist,songwriter & vaudivillian.

Crawley and his brother Jimmy Crawley first formed a band when his family moved from Virginia to Philadelphia. During the 1920s, he appeared as a novelty artist in the vaudeville tradition.

Between 1927 and 1930, recordings were made for OKeh and Victor Records , in which Crawley recorded their own compositions. The recordings featured well-known jazz musicians such as Paul Barbarin , Lonnie Johnson , Red Allen , Pops Foster , Jelly Roll Morton , Luis Russell , Eddie Heywood and Eddie Lang. After recording with Morton Crawley moved in the early 1930s to England; After the death of his father and his friend Eddie Lang, he had personal problems that interrupted his career.

His best-known pieces include Crawley Clarinet Moan, She's Forty With Me, Put a Flavor to Love, Futuristic Blues and Irony Daddy Blues .

According to Eugene Chadbourne , Crawley's strangely reminiscent style is reminiscent of later sound experiments by Anthony Braxton , but Crawley's play has more in common with clarinetists like Mickey Katz , who played with Spike Jones , and rock music artist Arthur Brown .