Joe Loughmuller

Joe Loughmuller (December 29, 1926-1981) was a jazz drummer and singer. He was born in Indiana, but raised in Mississippi, before settling in Seattle, playing drums in many jazz bands, including, a fourteen year gig with the Great Excelsior Jazz Band.
With the Great Excelsior Jazz Band he recorded two EP records, and four LP albums.
Early life
Loughmuller was raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, by his mother and stepfather. His stepfather was a Methodist minister, who took Joe to camp meetings, and also to the Parchman Prison Farm, where Loughmuller witnessed black prisoners in work gangs singing field hollers. After being discharged from the army he moved to Seattle, working for the Post Office. In Seattle he was the first white member of the black musicians union # 493. #493 merged with the white musicians union #76 in 1958, ending segregated musician unions in Seattle.
Great Excelsior Jazz Band
Loughmuller played with the Great Excelsior Jazz Band from 1967 until his death in 1981. Their first regular venue was the A & B Tavern in Renton. Later they played concerts for the Seattle Jazz Society in Ballard. Live recordings featured on various albums were from the Jolly Trolly Tavern, Seattle, and Skippers Tavern on Eastlake East in Seattle. The bass player Mike Duffy felt the band approximated a type of jazz played by territory bands that crossed the country between the wars, roughly 1920 to 1940. He said "They had their own stlye, a kind of rough charm."
Discography
* The Great Excelsior Jazz Band, Ray Skjelbred - Summer Session 1969 ASP Records (7) ASP 2 1972
* Hot Jazz From The Territory The GREAT EXCELSIOR JAZZ BAND Voyager Recordings SERIAL#: VRLP 202S 1976
* The Great Excelsior Jazz Band - Roast Chestnuts Label: Voyager Recordings (2) - VRLP 203-S, Voyager Recordings (2) - VRLP 203S 1979
* Remembering Joe The GREAT EXCELSIOR JAZZ BAND Voyager Recordings SERIAL#: VRLP 204-S 1981
RECORDING PERSONNEL: Bob Jackson ; Ham Carson ; Ken Wiley ; Bob Gilman ; Jake Powel ; Skip McDaniel ; Mike Duffy ; Joe Loughmuller

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