Editing Alcide Nunez

{{Short description|American jazz clarinetist (1884-1934)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Alcide Nunez <!--DO NOT make false "correction" to "Núñez"; he and his family did not spell it the Spanish way-->
| image           = NPort001.jpg
| caption         = Nunez in 1918
| birth_name      = Alcide Patrick Nunez
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1884|3|17}}
| birth_place     = {{nowrap|[[St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana]], U.S.}}
| death_date      = {{death date and age|1934|9|2|1884|3|17}}
| death_place     = [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, U.S.
| genre           = Jazz
| occupation      = Musician
| instrument      = Clarinet
| years_active    = 1902–1934
}}

'''Alcide Patrick Nunez''' (March 17, 1884 – September 2, 1934),<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1843}}</ref> also known as '''Yellow Nunez''' and '''Al Nunez''', was an American [[jazz]] clarinetist. He was one of the first musicians of New Orleans to make audio recordings.

== Biography ==
Alcide Patrick Nunez was born in [[St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana]], United States.<ref name=" Branley2014">{{cite book| author= Branley, Edward J. |title= New Orleans Jazz|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=obyEAwAAQBAJ&q=alcide+nunez&pg=PA63| date=2014|publisher= Arcadia| page=63|isbn=9781439642665}}</ref><ref name="hurrican">[http://www.hurricanebrassband.nl/Musician%20alcide%20nunez.htm Alcide Nunez] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415065234/http://www.hurricanebrassband.nl/Musician%20alcide%20nunez.htm |date=2012-04-15 }}. (2010) Hurricanebrassband.nl. Retrieved 22 December 2011.</ref> His parents were Victor Nunez and Elisa Nunez Chalaire and were of [[Isleños in Louisiana|Isleño]] and [[French Creole people|French Creole]] descent respectively. The family moved to New Orleans when he was a child.<ref name="hurrican"/>

He grew up amid the [[Marigny, New Orleans|Marigny]]<ref name=" Branley2014"/><ref name="hurrican"/> and [[Bywater, New Orleans|Bywater]] districts of New Orleans. For a time, Nunez lived at 1340 Arts Street in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans. Nunez joined to several bands in which played guitar, although switched to clarinet about 1902. He soon became one of the top hot clarinetists in the city. By 1905 he was a regular in [[Papa Jack Laine]]'s band, in addition to playing with [[Tom Brown (trombonist)|Tom Brown]] and sometimes leading bands of his own. Nunez could play several instruments, but mainly played the clarinet. In addition, he was able to improvise variations on the songs he heard. Before he was able to make music a full-time profession, Nunez worked for a while driving a mule-drawn wagon with fellow musician [[Chink Martin|"Chink" Martin Abraham]].<ref name="hurrican"/>

In early 1916, he went north to Chicago with Stein's Dixie Jass Band, which was to become famous as the [[Original Dixieland Jass Band]], but Nunez left the band shortly before they made their first recordings.<ref name="hurrican"/><ref name=" Branley2014"/> In 1917 the Dixieland Jass Band achieved great success with their recording of the instrumental "[[Livery Stable Blues]]" under the direction of [[Nick LaRocca]]; however, Nunez and Ray Lopez filed copyright for a sheet music version of the tune before LaRocca. Nick LaRocca and the band sued Nunez for $10,000. In the end the lawsuit was thrown out without decision; the judge denied that any "musicians" who could not read written music could be said to have written anything.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alcide "Yellow" Nuñez (1884-1934)|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/alcide-yellow-nunez-1884-1934/ |website=Red Hot Jazz Archive |date=2 November 2020 |accessdate=2 November 2020 }}</ref>

After some time playing with Tom Brown's band in Chicago, he went to New York City with [[Bert Kelly (jazz musician)|Bert Kelly's]] band.<ref name="hurrican"/> [[Pee Wee Russell]] announced in Chicago and New York that Nunez was the greatest jazz clarinetist in the world. Nunez became Kelly's bandleader. After playing with Kelly through 1918, at the start of 1919 Nunez helped form the band the [[Louisiana Five]], led by drummer [[Anton Lada]]. They became one of the most popular bands in New York and recorded for several record labels. In early 1920 Nunez worked with the New York dance band of [[Harry Yerkes]] but in the same year returned temporarily to the Louisiana Five, touring the United States.

In 1922, after Bert Kelly replaced him with [[Johnny Dodds]], he returned to Chicago to lead the house band at [[Kelly's Stables (Chicago)|Kelly's Stables]], one of the city's top nightclubs and played with the band of Willard Robison. Soon thereafter Nuñez began to lose his teeth, impairing his ability to play clarinet. He returned to his family in New Orleans, but after getting dentures he regained his ability to play the clarinet. He joined the policy department to join the [[Police band (music)| Police Band]]. During this time, Nunez was also part of "The Moonlight Serenaders" band and of several dance bands that played in New Orleans. He remained in New Orleans until his death.<ref name="hurrican"/>

== Personal life ==
Nunez married three times, had one child with his second wife and three children with his third. For a time in 1921, he settled in Baltimore, where he bought a large house.<ref name="hurrican"/> He died  of a heart attack on September 2, 1934. His Great grandson Robert Victor Nunez III is the principal tuba player with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra of New Orleans, Louisiana since 1991. Robert also plays traditional jazz in and around New Orleans and has performed in Germany, Switzerland, and Azerbaijan.<ref name="hurrican"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Alcide Nunez}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/infrogmation/ANunez.html |title=Alcide "Yellow" Nunez |accessdate=2003-02-13 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050529203034/http://www.geocities.com/infrogmation/ANunez.html |archivedate=2005-05-29 }}  extensive multi-page biography.

{{Original Dixieland Jass Band}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez, Alcide}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1934 deaths]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:American jazz clarinetists]]
[[Category:American people of Spanish descent]]
[[Category:Dixieland clarinetists]]
[[Category:Louisiana Creole people]]
[[Category:Louisiana Isleño people]]
[[Category:Original Dixieland Jass Band members]]