Andy Kirk

Who was Andy Kirk?

Andrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era.

Kirk grew up in Denver, CO, where he was tutored under the wing of Wilberforce Whiteman, Paul Whiteman’s father. He started his musical career playing with George Morrison's band, but then went on to join Terrence Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy. In 1929 he was elected leader after Holder departed. Renaming the band to Clouds of Joy, Andy Kirk also relocated the band from Dallas, Texas, to Kansas City, Kansas. Although officially titled as the Clouds of Joy, the band has also been known to be called the Twelve Clouds of Joy due to the number of musicians in the band. They set up in the Pla-Mor Ballroom on the junction of 32nd and Main in Kansas City and made their first recording for Brunswick Records that same year. Mary Lou Williams came in as pianist at the last moment, but she impressed Brunswick's Dave Kapp, so she became a regular member of the band. The pianist she replaced, Marion Jackson, did not take well to this but otherwise Kirk's band would be fairly stable with the incorporation of Williams.