THE KAZOO: ROOTS OF AMERICAN MUSIC HISTORY
(Excerpt from “The Kazoo Claims Role in American Music History)

By Kenneth W. Marich, BS, MBA

The kazoo may be small in size but it has played a significant role in the evolution of early American music. With African origins, the kazoo, as we know it today, was invented, patented and popularized in the U.S. Its colorful history started in Georgia in the mid-1800’s and to date it is estimated that tens of millions of kazoos have been sold in the U.S. alone. Some have called the kazoo a toy but the truth is that professional musicians in all genres, from jazz to classical, have used the kazoo in their arrangements and recordings.

The origin of musical instruments spans many centuries. However, most modern day instruments were invented in Europe, Africa and Asia within the last 600 years. America’s contributions have been relatively minor—perhaps the most important one made in the mid-1900’s by American Bob Moog. He invented the Moog synthesizer that unleashed a new breed of unique sounds made with a keyboard. But there is a small tubular wind instrument that claims its birthplace in America too, the modern kazoo.

The kazoo’s distant relative is the “mirliton,” which goes back centuries in Africa. It was made in a variety of shapes and sizes from natural materials such as bone, gourds, bark and animal horns. The photo below is an African mirliton made from a gourd.

The mirliton is basically a hollow tube, open on both ends, with a hole in the middle covered with a thin membrane. Shamans would hum into one of the ends, vibrating the membrane to disguise their voices during tribal ceremonies, as if to make sounds of the spirits. Later, tribal members also used the mirliton as a musical device to play traditional folk music (1).

In the U.S., there is a long-standing legend that an African-American named Alabama Vest invented the kazoo in the 1840’s in Macon, Georgia. Very little was known about Vest. Some say he was a fictional character while others support the story that he was a slave or son of a slave brought to America in the early 1800’s. In his childhood he probably heard the unusual sound of a mirliton and it is hypothesized that his exposure to slave folk music helped him remember the tonal sounds he later recreated with the kazoo.

In Macon, Vest met Thaddeus von Clegg, a German clockmaker who agreed to make the mirliton-like device that Vest had designed. von Clegg made a number of wooden prototypes that Vest played at various occasions and at street fairs. Many folks liked the instrument because they could immediately play it. In 1852 Vest and von Clegg demonstrated their instrument at the Georgia State Fair, and it soon became popular in that region, where it was known as the “Down South Submarine” (2).

This is where the history gets even more uncertain as there is little record of what happened during the next 50 years. In fact, it isn’t even known when Vest’s instrument was named the kazoo. Yet, the emergence of Vest’s hand made kazoo-type instrument resulted in public interest that eventually accelerated the movement toward a patent and mass production.

A traveling salesman, Emil Sorg, came across Vest’s Down South Submarine, most likely in Georgia, in the early 1900’s. Sorg saw the potential business opportunity
and was eager to get the instrument into mass production. He brought the idea of manufacturing metal kazoos to New York around 1912. After several ownership changes, in 1916 the company changed its name to The Original American Kazoo Company (3).


  Above: A band with two men playing playing kazoo (circa 1914).

Today’s kazoo is a wind instrument that has no valves or buttons typical of other brass and woodwinds. It is an open-ended short tube with one tapered end and one wide end serving as the mouthpiece. A third opening on the top is called the turret that houses a thin resonating membrane. The kazoo relies on the voice of the musician to produce the sound. Instead of blowing, the player hums into the kazoo causing the membrane to vibrate. This vibration changes and amplifies the sound of the hum resulting in a raspy, buzzing tonal quality unique to the kazoo. Currently, the majority of kazoos are made of plastic, however, they are also available in metal, wood and glass. Regardless of the material used, all kazoos have a similar sound.

Some of the earliest groups to include kazoo players in the 1920’s and 30’s were the “jug bands.” These groups played folk, country, spiritual, ragtime, jazz and bluegrass music. A must for the typical jug band was a jug player, combined with a mix of homemade instruments that included the kazoo or comb and tissue paper. Other instruments included the washtub bass, mouth harp, cigar box guitar, spoons, washboard, stovepipe, and cans or suitcases for percussion. On occasion, they were accompanied with a harmonica, guitar, mandolin or banjo.

The enthusiasm for the raspy, buzzing sound of the kazoo was not limited to jug bands. One of the most popular jazz/dance bands in the 1920’s and 30’s was the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Whiteman was intrigued with the sound and appointed his trombonist, Jack Fulton, as the orchestra’s official “kazooist.” Apart from bands and orchestras, a vocal group called the Mills Brothers originally started in vaudeville as a kazoo quartet, playing four-part harmony with one of the brothers accompanying on guitar.

There was a revival of jug band music in the 1960’s, as the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band became popular. The newer jug band sounds still feature the jug and kazoo but has expanded the realm of instruments to now include fiddles, tuba, trombone and drums. A national Jug Band Music Society has also been formed to preserve the history and music of the early jug band era.

Over the last 50 years many professional musicians have incorporated the kazoo into their musical genre. Following is a short list of those using the kazoo in their recordings:
- Dion and the Belmonts (Little Diane, 1962)
- Eric Clapton (San Francisco Bay Blues, 1991)
- Peter, Paul and Mary (I’m in Love with a Big Blue Frog, 1967)
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers (Roller Coaster, 1996)
- Simon and Garfunkel (The Boxer, 1968)
- The Beatles (“Lovely Rita,” Sergeant Peppers Album, 1967)
- Barry Manilow (Flight of the Bumble Bee, Manilow Live DVD, Nashville, 2000)
- Carolina Chocolate Drops (Memphis Shakedown, YouTube, 2010)

Today, the buzz goes on, and the kazoo continues to be used in a wide range of popular and classical music. There are now hundreds of kazoo bands that perform and keep America humming, or at least kazooing. And believe it or not there is an ongoing effort to establish January 28 as National Kazoo Day.

There is no doubt that the kazoo has earned a role in the roots of American music history. And always remember, “Kazoo unto others as you would have them kazoo unto you.”

REFERENCES
1. The Kazoo – It’s Physics, History and Importance for Modern Music. Text of speech by Michael Fink of Denmark (www.kazoos.com) 2002.
2. Georgia State Fair 1852, Birthplace of the Kazoo, An All American Instrument, (www.georgiastatefair.org) 2004.
3. Kazoobie, The Kazoo Continues to Hum Along As America’s Most Enjoyed Instrument. Gayle Turim, reprinted from Grit, American Life & Traditions,
Vol. 114, No.22, Sept. 22, 1996.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Marich is a medical research scientist and “Kazoo Master.” He has taught children and adults around the world how to play the kazoo—from the jungles of Peru to the shores of Kauai. For more information contact Ken at kwm7@comcast.net.
***