Wilbur C. Sweatman (Brunswick, Missouri, February 7, 1882 – New York City, March 9, 1961) was an African-American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader, and clarinetist.
Sweatman started out playing violin, then took up clarinet instead. He toured with circus bands in the late 1890s, and briefly played with the bands of W.C. Handy and Mahara's Minstrels before organizing his own dance band in Minneapolis, Minnesota by late 1902. It was there that Sweatman made his first recordings on phonograph cylinders in 1903 for a local music store. These included what is reputed to have been the first recorded version of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag"; no copies of these are known to exist today. In 1908, Sweatman moved to Chicago. He became the bandleader at the Grand Theater, and began to attract notice; a 1910 article referred to his nickname, "Sensational Swet."
By 1911, he had moved to the vaudeville circuit full-time, developing a successful act of playing three clarinets at once. An Indianapolis account described his performance there:
Though somewhat diminutive in stature, Wilbur C. Sweatman has a style and grace of manner in all of his executions that is at once convincing, and the soulfulness of expression that he blends into his tones is something wonderful. His first number was a medley of popular airs and "rags" and had everybody shuffling their pedal extremities before it was half over.[1]:69
He wrote a number of rags, 1911's Down Home Rag being the most commercially successful. The song was recorded by multiple bands in America and Europe. Sweatman moved to New York in 1913, touring widely. He was one of the few black solo acts to appear regularly on the major white vaudeville circuits. Around this time he became close friends with Scott Joplin; Joplin's will would name Sweatman as executor of his estate. Joplin's musical papers, including unpublished manuscripts, were willed to Sweatman, who took care of them while generously sharing access to those who inquired. However, as Joplin's music came to be considered passé, such requests were few. After Sweatman's death in 1961, the papers were last known to have gone into storage during a legal battle among Sweatman's heirs; their current location is unknown, nor even whether they still exist.
In December 1916, Sweatman recorded for minor label Emerson Records, including his own "Down Home Rag". Some historians consider these recordings among the earliest examples of jazz on record. Taking note of the commercial success of the Original Dixieland Jass Band and the Original Creole Orchestra, Sweatman abruptly changed his sextet's sound and instrumentation in early 1917. Sweatman's band consisted of five saxophonists and himself on clarinet, a combo which soon signed with Pathé. They recorded rags, as well as some of the hit songs of the day.
Sweatman was the first African American to make recordings labeled as "Jass" and "Jazz". Since Sweatman can be heard making melodic variations even in his 1916 recordings, it might be argued that Sweatman recorded an archaic type of jazz earlier than the Original Dixieland band. In 1917, he became one of the first blacks to join ASCAP.
In 1918, Sweatman landed with major label Columbia Records, where he would enjoy a meteroic success with a wide variety of songs under his own name. His band also delivered several shorter anonymous performances for the label's "Little Wonder" line of 90-second-long budget releases. The Sweatman band's first release, "Regretful Blues"/"Everybody's Crazy" would ship 140,000 copies, in a time when a third as many sales was considered a hit. Sweatman singles shipped over a million copies in 1919 alone. Several more successful releases followed in 1918-19, Sweatman's peak of popularity. His best-selling song was 1919's "Kansas City Blues", which shipped 180,000 copies. However, by 1920, sales were on the wane, perhaps reflecting the ephemeral interest in his novelty style of jazz, and the growing popularity of syncopated big bands such as Columbia's own Ted Lewis.
Sweatman continued to ply his somewhat dated style in live appearances throughout the Northeast. Several notable musicians passed through his band, including Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, and Cozy Cole. Sweatman also continued to record for such labels as Gennett, Edison, Grey Gull, and Victor.
Sweatman frequently played at the well known Harlem club Connie's Inn. He continued playing in New York through the early 1940s, then concentrated his efforts on the music publishing business and talent booking. His earlier compositions provided him a steady income.