Any group that gets to make nearly 100 records for the Columbia label over a three-year period would probably be happy. The Happy Six, however, join an enduring if not overwhelming number of musical ensembles whose names come right out and announce emotional ecstasy. One of many projects organized by bandleader Harry Yerkes, the Happy Six were active from 1920 through 1923, and should not be confused with the somewhat later rockabilly outfit Uncle Hix His Happy Six. There was also a historic traditional Chinese music ensemble whose translated name was "Happy Six." Continuing use of the "H" word in rock includes the Happy Flowers from the noise rock scene and art rock legends Slapp Happy.

If the discussion turns from band names to actual music, bandleader Yerkes can perhaps take a bow for one of the earliest examples of a concept later known as jazz fusion. The combination of traditional jazz with pop music elements in this case involved mixing together players from New Orleans with virtuosos from the New York City recording studio scene. Thus, clarinetist Alcide Yellow Nuñez and trombonist Tom Brown brought their New Orleans jazz feel to arrangements involving amazing musicians such as percussionist George Hamilton Green and multi-instrumentalist Elmer Grosso, both bandleaders in their own right.

The repertoire literally travels all over the place in the Happy Six's six-story stack of sides, available in the dusty midsts of used 78 piles or from the meticulous league of collectors known as "Victrola dubbers." Listeners may choose to begin their journey By the Pyramids, as this ensemble did when assembling for a New York recording session in the fall of 1920. Then it might be Goodbye Shanghai, Hawaiian Smiles, Kentucky Home, Louisiana, My Sunny Tennessee, and South Sea Isles before finally Wandering Home. Fidelity is hardly an issue with so much wandering around, Yerkes and associates pledging equal loyalty to Dolly (I Love You), My Little Bimbo Down on Bamboo Isle, Stella, Peggy Dear, and Siam Soo. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi