Ever heard of Langston Wesley Curl? Probably not.
But he was a useful musician in the mid-Twentieth Century. Curl, who was born in Virginia in 1899, became a fine trumpet-player in New York and Detroit and appeared on many records - notably those made by McKinney's Cotton Pickers.
But he withdrew eventually from the music scene, switched to a different career, and lived to the age of 92.
He was also a composer. And I'm particularly interested in his simple but very effective 16-bar tune called 'Tight Like This', which uses catchy repeated minor-key arpeggios. Even Louis Armstrong liked and recorded this one.
But I was first attracted to the tune when I heard Tuba Skinny playing it.
You can hear them doing so BY CLICKING HERE.
Or you can watch them in a more recent performance BY CLICKING HERE.
