James ‘Rosy’ McHargue; Played in Jazz Bands Into His 90s

James Eugene “Rosy” McHargue, a jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer and composer who performed until recently, has died at 97.

McHargue, who played with the bands of Benny Goodman and Kay Kyser, died Monday at his home in Santa Monica, according to jazz writer Floyd Levin.

A longtime friend, Levin said McHargue was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1996, but was treated successfully with chemotherapy at that time.

McHargue joined far younger musicians on April 6, 1997, in Fullerton to play at his 95th birthday celebration, sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Club of Southern California. Among the tributes was a letter from another well-known saxophonist, President Clinton.

Ten years earlier, Times columnist Zan Thompson heard a drop-in performance by McHargue and wrote:

“He blew into that saxophone with his lungs--which must have the strength of a furnace bellows--and the silver notes hung in the air like Japanese lanterns. It was such a treat, everyone howled like timber wolves and laughed at the same time.”

Born in Danville, Ill., McHargue studied piano with his mother and as a teenager took up the clarinet and the C melody sax, which Levin said has not been manufactured since 1929.

The young reed man started playing with bands in Chicago, including the Novelty Syncopators. Only 15, he got his permanent nickname from singing a Hawaiian song, “When Rosy Riccoola Do Da Hoola Ma Boola.”

McHargue made his first recording, “Wow Wow Blues,” in Chicago in 1922. He next replaced Benny Goodman in the Seattle Harmony Kings, and with them recorded “Breezin’ Along With the Breeze” in 1925, playing alto and baritone saxophones.

After touring with the Ted Weems band from 1935 to 1942, McHargue settled in Los Angeles and worked with Eddie Miller, with Goodman’s band, and with Pee Wee Hunt and Red Nichols. He played a memorable clarinet solo on Hunt’s highly successful 1948 recording of “12th Street Rag.”

After 1950, McHargue organized his own bands and performed at clubs around Southern California. He also appeared on a television show, “Dixie Showboat,” and recorded such albums as “Dixieland Jazz,” “Jazz Potpourri” and “Dixieland Contrasts.”

When he wasn’t playing or cuing other musicians, McHargue sang, delighting audiences with long-forgotten lyrics to such early jazz favorites as “Oh, What a Night for Love,” “Indiana,” “Has Anybody Seen My Gal,” “Doin’ the Raccoon,” “My Canary Has Circles Under Her Eyes,” “She Looks Like Helen Brown,” “I’ll See You in C-U-B-A” and the novelty tune that gave him his nickname.

In the 1970s and 1980s, McHargue played regularly at the now-defunct Sterlings nightclub in Santa Monica and in the 1990s at clubs in the San Fernando Valley with the Valley Dixieland Jazz Club. He performed in the annual SoCal Jazz Fest, sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Club of Southern California.

A widower, McHargue left no immediate survivors. No funeral services are planned.