Nanton was one of the great pioneers of the plunger mute. In 1921, he heard Johnny Dunn playing the trumpet with a plunger, which Nanton realized could be used to similar effect on the trombone. Together with Ellington's trumpeter Bubber Miley, Nanton is largely responsible for creating the characteristic Wah-wah, or wa-wa, effect. Their highly expressive growl and plunger sounds were the main ingredient in the band's early "jungle" sound that evolved during the band's late 1920s engagement at Harlem's "Cotton Club". According to Barney Bigard, Nanton "grabbed his plunger. He could use that thing, too. It talked to you. I was sitting there, looking up at him, and every time he'd say 'wa-wa,' I was saying 'wa-wa' with my mouth, following him all the way through." Sensing Nanton's impressive manual dexterity, the jovial alto saxophonist Otto "Toby" Hardwick, ever inclined to tag friends with fitting nicknames, dubbed Nanton "Tricky Sam": "anything to save himself trouble—he was tricky that way."