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Contains Biographical Sketches about many of the originators of this great American art form.
________ Sidney Bechet was a clarinet player for the Southern Syncopated Orchestra and was the first to compose perfectly formed blues on the clarinet.
________ Kid Shiek Colar played with the Eureka Brass Band. From the 20s into the 60s, he paraded through New Orleans' sweltering streets and cemeteries, carrying on a form indispensable to early jazz.
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Authentic New Orleans Jazz Funeral
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________ Percy Humphrey was the leader of the Eureka Brass Band in, New Orleans, for more than 30 years.
________ Willie Humphrey, born in 1900, plugged along in relative obscurity for his first 60 years. Then, in the next 30 he earned international acclaim, touring widely with his band.
________ Jim Robinson was a New Orleans trombonist who had all the technique he needed to say all that he wanted to say. The formal simplicity of his style was widely copied but could never be duplicated.
________ DeDe Pierce, a trumpeter and pianist, who had worked the Decatur Street sailors' dives in the 30s would sing and play his heart out. Because of his blindness he was led to his place on the stage by one of the other musicians while his wife Billie, made her way to the piano.
________ Sweet Emma Barrett remained one of New Orleans' favorite entertainers all her life. She was one of the most unforgettable musicians who ever played New Orleans Jazz. By 1923, pianist and singer Emma Barrett was playing with Papa Celestin and Bebe Ridgley's Original Tuxedo Orchestra. Emma remained with Ridgley until 1936, a period in which she also performed under such well-known leaders as John Robichaux, A.J. Piron, and Sidney Desvigne. Sweet Emma Barrett continued to be asked for long after her passing in 1983.
________ Harold Dejan was the leader of the Olympia, a New Orleans brass band of the 70s and 80s.
________ Alfred Williams was a great New Orleans drummer. though he was known only locally he marched with brass bands from the Tuxedo in 1920 to the Eureka in the early 60s. He worked with many important jazz bands, including those of Sam Morgan, Manuel Perez and A.J. Piron.
________ Booker T. Glass was born in New Orleans in 1888. He performed from 1908 in the city's leading brass and dance bands until his death at the age of 92.
________ George Lewis' style was the soul and fire of the postwar traditional jazz revival. His clarinet playing emanated quiet discipline. He loved playing hymns and remained close to his deeply spiritual mother, Alice Zeno, who had a decisive influence on his character.
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New Orleans Music Series
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________ George Guesnon of whom it was said works hard and fills a band with fire, heart and drive. He was considered, by some, as the perfect chord master and the only guy known in New Orleans who could take a solo on anything in any key.
________ Captain John Handy was born in 1900, he had first played several instruments in a family band, then specialized on clarinet with many of the leading New Orleans names of the 20s. In 1928 Handy took up sax, touring widely, and he continued to play both reed instruments in brass bands. In 1970 he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, He passed away in january 1971.
________ Percy Humphrey led a touring band in the early 70s that included Dave Oxley, Sing Miller and Albert Burbank.
________ Earl Humphrey was the brother of horn men Percy and Willie Humphrey. The work of this front-line triumvirate stemmed from the teaching of their grandfather, James Brown Humphrey, who played a unique role in the earliest years of jazz.
________ Emanuel Paul typified New Orleans sidemen in the breadth of his experience from the 20s on, but was atypical in that he played tenor sax, usually associated with later styles. In brass bands he furthered the shift away from baritone horns to saxophones.
________ Emile Barnes biting sound on clarinet made him a favorite of buffs, who treasure his relatively few recordings. Mile's active career ran for 58 years - from 1908 to 1966.
________ Slow Drag Pavageau was born in New Orleans in 1888. He got his nickname as a noted dancer. Only later, when he was about 39 years old did he take up string bass. From 1943 until his death in 1969 he was world renowned as the pounding, slapping, four-to-the- bar heart beat of the Bunk Johnson and George Lewis ensembles.
________ John Casimir the founder of the highly regarded Young Tuxedo Brass Band, blew his E-flat and B-flat clarinets in the halls and on the streets with a high-pitched wail that is well remembered by New Orleans Jazz enthusiast.
________ Paul "Polo" Barnes was born in New Orleans in 1901. His was a highly musical family. Polo founded a group called the Original Diamond Band, including his cousins Cie Frazier and Lawrence and Eddie Marrero. From 1919 to 1922 he had a job with the hot, well-established Kid Rena band (which included another cousin, Simon Marrero, on bass). in 1923 he joined the Original Tuxedo Orchestra, which along with the group led by A.J. Piron, was New Orleans' leading society jazz ensemble. King Oliver heard Polo's record and sent for him to join his band. That band included such prominent musicians as Kid Ory, Red Allen, Barney Bigard, Omer Simeon, Paul Barbarin and Luis Russell.
________ Papa John Joseph is a true living legend. Bassist John Joseph was born in 1877 and arrived in New Orleans in 1906. He played with cornetist Buddy Bolden, widely thought to have led the world's first jazz band, and worked with his own group in the Storyville district until 1917.
________ Ken Mills originally came to New Orleans to record what had become an esoteric music. With their bold covers and far-out liner notes, his original Icon pressings, such as those of Emile Barnes (clarinet) and Punch Miller (trumpet) became collector's items.
________ Louis Nelson was one of the most enduring - and endearing of the New Orleans Jazzmen. His career at "Mr Larry's Art Store" spanned five decades, from the 50s to the 90s. An independent spirit, he often played under other sponsorship as well, particularly in Europe and Japan.
________ Kid Thomas Valentine is probably the only trumpeter alive who was not influenced by Louis Armstrong. He has always played a rough brand of jazz. He has led his own small groups since shortly after World War I, and from 1936 until the late 50s his was the house band at the Moulin Rouge, a dance hall across the river in Algiers frequented by working-class folks, mostly Cajuns. Asked what he's got that's so special, he says, "I got what people like."
________ Narvin Kimball learned to play with pride and dignity from his father, Henry Kimball who died in 1932. Carefully turned out, sitting very straight and nearing 80, this banjoist, singer, songwriter and bassist presented himself to his public with and air of sweet righteousness. Narvin said, "when I play, I come to work. And when I finish work, I'm ready to leave. I'm one of the first ones there, and I'm one of the first ones to leave. The sole intention is: this is a night's work, and it has to be together."
________ Charlie Hamilton was born in 1904. He played piano for the legendary Evan Thomas's Black Eagle band, circa 1927, but soon gravitated towards larger dance bands. Returning to basic jazz when it regained popularity in the 60s and 70s.
________ Chester Zardis played bass with many of the all-time great New Orleans jazzmen since before World War I. He was still going strong until a few weeks before his death in 1990, three months after his 90th birthday.
________ Frank Parker grew up within the basic New Orleans jazz culture but spent much of his professional career working as a drummer with such rhythm-and-blues artists as Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Johnny Otis. Parker returned to New Orleans and traditional jazz in 1970.
________ Louis Barbarin a "drummers drummer," was considered by some to be even better than his more famous brother, Paul. Having begun before World War I, he played with virtually all the historic New Orleans bands from the 20s to the 80s - notably those of Desvigne Celestin.
________ Dave Oxley was rarely in the spotlight. Yet this fine drummer projected a wonderful enthusiasm and laid down the beat with an assurance gained from decades of experience playing in road shows with such legendary figures as Bessie Smith, Ida Cox and Chris Kelly.
________ Preston Jackson was born in New Orleans but moved to Chicago at the age of 14. From the 20s into the 40s he played trombone with leading northern bands including transplanted New Orleans great's such as Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone. Finally reverting to his roots, Jackson returned to New Orleans.
________ Worthia G. "Show Boy" Thomas, as befits his name and personality, Thomas landed his first job playing for a baseball game in his home town of Napoleonville, Louisiana. From 1929 on he traveled widely with show groups such as the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, the Clyde Beatty circus band and the Jay McShann band from Kansas City. Remaining in New Orleans after 1960, he became known as the trombonist who played the fewest notes.
________ Waldren "Frog" Joseph saw action as trombonist with Joe Robichaux' big band in the 30s and later performed with popular French Quarter outfits such as those of Octave Crosby, Papa Celestin and Paul Babarin. He was featured during the 70s and 80s with Clive Wilson's New Camellia Jazz Band at major hotels and other popular local venues.
________ Jeanette Kimball grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi. As a child she "lived at the piano" and received three lessons a week from a graduate of the New England Conservatory. At the age of 18, she was auditioned by Papa Celestin and was quickly hired. She stayed with Celestin's successful traveling bands until 1935, when she left to rear her children. In the early 50s she rejoined Celestin and remained with the band and its successor, the Papa French band, for 20 more years.
________ Chester Zardis played bass with many of the best-known early New Orleans bands, including those of Kid Rena, Buddy Petit, Chris Kelly, Jack Carey, Kid Clayton, Fats Pichon and Bunk Johnson. His musical memories stretched back to the days he and Louis Armstrong had spent in the Waif's Home as teenagers.
________ Al Lewis as often grumpy as gay, Lewis sang and played banjo in an earthy style. He carried a high reputation among fellow jazzmen who had worked with him for many decades.
________ Manuel Crusto could point to half a century of professional experience playing the clarinet - plus a significant New Orleans jazz lineage.
________ Frank Fields was a versatile and supple bassist. He began his career during the 30s around his home town of Plaquemine, Louisiana. After the war he made a name as the bassist at New Orleans' famous Cosimo recording studio, taking part in hundreds of rock-and-roll recordings with such pioneers as Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Little Richard. Fields was a regular with the Papa Celestin - Papa French jazz band from 1963 into the 70s.
________ Kid Sheik Colar, leader-trumpeter and pianist-singer and Sadie Goodson were married when nearly 80. Both possessed impressive track records with New Orleans bands from the 20s on. Colar had been among the very first regulars at the impromptu sessions at Larry Borenstein's art gallery - the forerunner of PRESERVATION HALL. Goodson was the sister of Billie Pierce. Approaching their ninth decade, Sheik and Sadie were still blasting away prompting a remark by banjoist Johnny St. Cyr. "Jazz rejuvenates a person."
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