By Hal Smith

Edward Ory was born on Christmas Day, 1886 on a sugar plantation in LaPlace, Louisiana, northwest of New Orleans. Starting on homemade instruments, he graduated to banjo, and finally valve trombone.

Kid Ory organized a band of his own in LaPlace, and brought it into New Orleans not long after his encounter with Buddy Bolden. Ory quickly began to receive calls for the band to play at picnics, funerals, and dances.

Ory's Woodland Band gained an enviable reputation for playing music that appealed to dancers, with careful dynamics that made the band a pleasure to hear. Ory looked youthful, dressed well, and was personable on the bandstand. He became known as Kid Ory, but musicians nicknamed him 'Dut,' Creole for dude. Around 1910, he switched permanently from valve trombone to the slide version.

In time, Ory began to hire musicians such as Joe Oliver, Thomas ‘Mutt’ Carey, Johnny Dodds, Freddie Keppard, Manuel Manetta, Johnny St. Cyr, Ed Garland, Pops Foster, and Jimmie Noone. He was responsible for crowning Joe Oliver ‘King.’

When Oliver left New Orleans to work in Chicago, Ory hired Oliver’s young protégé Louis Armstrong, buying him a cornet and giving the young musician his first professional job. Kid Ory’s band advertised dances on horse-drawn wagons, and eventually on trucks.

Aboard the wagons, to avoid hitting any of the other musicians with his slide, Ory stationed himself near the tailgate. His simple, staccato playing, coming from that position, may be the reason that style of trombone is often called ‘tailgate.’

In 1919, a dispute with a business partner resulted in a series of police raids on dances where Ory’s band played. Fearing that the situation might escalate to physical violence, Ory and his wife moved to California in the summer of 1919. Within a short time of his arrival, Ory was established as one of the premier bandleaders in the state. His band, including Mutt Carey and Ed Garland from New Orleans, played engagements from dances to off-screen mood music for silent movies. The band played at the Cadillac Café, then the Dreamland in Los Angeles. There, Ory became acquainted with the Spikes Brothers, who published music and ran music venues. They also claimed composer rights to the early hit song “Someday, Sweetheart,” although Jelly Roll Morton disputed that.

When the band returned to Los Angeles, the Spikes Brothers convinced Ory to make records. Thus, the first jazz recording by an African-American band was committed to wax in the spring of 1922. In addition to Ory, the band included Mutt Carey on cornet, Dink Johnson on clarinet (filling in for Wade Whaley), Fred Washington on piano, Ed Garland on string bass, and Ben Borders on drums. Ory’s original composition “Ory’s Creole Trombone” was among the songs recorded, and included vocal accompaniments to Ruth Lee and Roberta Dudley. The records were issued first on the Nordskog label, then on the Spikes’ own Sunshine label, resulting in two different band names: Spikes’ Seven Pods of Pepper and Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra. Also in 1922, Ory’s band broadcast on station KWH in Los Angeles. This may have been the first time an African-American band played jazz on a live broadcast.

Though Ory and his musicians continued to play at parties and other functions, their main source of income came from playing at taxi dance halls. At these establishments, male patrons would pay a hostess for the privilege of dancing with her for one very short tune. This was unfulfilling for a jazzman of Ory’s stature, and he was more than ready to relocate when King Oliver and Louis Armstrong encouraged him to come to Chicago.

He continued to record with the Hot Five through 1926, while he was playing full-time with King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators. Oliver’s band recorded as well, and Ory’s contributions to “Snag It,” “Jackass Blues,” “Wa Wa Wa,” “Sugar Foot Stomp,” and others are inestimable. As if the recordings with Armstrong and Oliver were not enough to ensure Ory was known as the greatest New Orleans trombonist, he also recorded with Lil’s Hot Shots (the Hot Five under an assumed name) and the New Orleans Wanderers/Bootblacks (the Hot Five again, with George Mitchell replacing Armstrong on cornet, and Joe Clark added on alto sax). Ory’s trombone playing with these bands is exhilarating on “Drop That Sack,” “Flat Foot,” “Perdido Street Blues” and “Papa Dip.” And if a listener needs even more evidence that Ory was truly the ‘King of the Tailgate Trombone,’ one only needs to listen to the 1926 recordings by Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers. Led by Morton, a true genius as composer, arranger and pianist, this storied ensemble included George Mitchell on cornet, Omer Simeon on clarinet, Johnny St. Cyr on banjo and guitar, John Lindsay on string bass, Andrew Hilaire on drums, and of course Ory. The trombonist’s ensemble and solo work on “Black Bottom Stomp,” “Smoke House Blues,” “Grandpa’s Spells,” “Doctor Jazz,” “The Chant,” and others assure Ory’s place in the top rank of jazz trombonists.

Ory returned to Chicago and was still able to work with some good groups. He also recorded with the Chicago Footwarmers: Johnny and Baby Dodds, Natty Dominique, Jimmy Blythe, and pioneer New Orleans bassist Bill Johnson. Although the Footwarmers’ records are not as memorable as the Hot Five, Wanderers, Bootblacks, or Red Hot Peppers, numbers like “Brush Stomp” show that Ory was still at the top of his game over 30 years after starting his professional career. In 1929, Mrs. Ory made it clear to the Kid that she wanted to return to California. The music scene in Chicago was not the same as when the couple first arrived, so Ory agreed to return to the Golden State.

In 1943, jazz impresario Rudi Blesh brought pioneer trumpeter Bunk Johnson to San Francisco for a concert. It was a success, and Blesh planned to present another Bunk Johnson concert. Bunk contacted Ory in Los Angeles and asked him to assemble a group for the occasion. Ory picked Mutt Carey on trumpet, Wade Whaley on clarinet, Buster Wilson on piano, Frank Pasley on guitar, Ed Garland on bass, and Everett Walsh on drums. San Francisco revivalists Pat Patton, Turk Murphy, Clancy Hayes and Al Zohn, among others, also performed before the main concert and during the intermission. Despite a little bit of tension regarding who would lead the band, the concert went well and was especially beneficial to Ory in re-introducing him to the hot jazz fraternity.

Ory’s re-entry into the music business attracted the attention of record collectors and hot jazz fans in the Los Angeles area. One of these was Marili Morden, who operated the Jazz Man Record Shop. When she heard that actor Orson Welles was interested in using a New Orleans band on his radio broadcasts, she recommended Ory’s group. Once again, Ory rounded up Carey, Wilson, and Garland and added Jimmie Noone on clarinet, Bud Scott on guitar, and Zutty Singleton, one of New Orleans’ greatest drummers. The band was a smash hit on their first broadcast and Welles brought them back again and again. Before one of the programs, Noone suddenly passed away. Wade Whaley filled in on clarinet and the band improvised a slow blues in tribute to Noone, “Blues For Jimmie,” which became a staple in Ory’s repertoire.

The exposure on Welles’ radio program led to recording sessions for labels like Crescent, Jazzman and Exner. A number of excellent clarinetists worked with the band (Omer Simeon, Albert Nicholas, Darnell Howard, Barney Bigard, Archie Rosati and Joe Darensbourg), but after drummer Minor Hall joined the band in 1945, the rest of the personnel was stable for almost two years. Ory’s Creole Dixieland Band became one of the most popular groups of the Great Revival.

As jazz scholar Clint Baker points out, Ory’s actual notes were unpredictable. In a single performance, Ory might double the melody being played by the trumpet, jump to the traditional trombone counterpoint line, then play a phrase from a long-forgotten stock arrangement, play more trombone parts, blow a long, sliding phrase that did not match the melody or chords, then wind up by once again doubling the lead. Almost all of Ory’s solo choruses were worked out in advance. Sometimes he just stated the melody. Other times he played the counterpoint part as a solo, or some combination of melody and counterpoint, dressed up with plenty of staccato phrasing and glissandos.

Jazz enthusiasts Harold Drob and Gene Williams, who had promoted and recorded Bunk Johnson, became great fans of the Ory band. They brought the group to San Francisco late in 1946 and set up a series of concerts for them at the Green Room in C.I.O. Hall, the site of the Bunk Johnson concerts just a years before. Though the concerts were not a financial success, they cemented the band’s position as one of the top Revival groups. Musicians such as Turk Murphy, Bob Helm, and Bob Mielke attended several of the presentations. The well-blended front line and especially the swinging rhythm had a lasting effect upon musicians like Ellis Horne. He recalled, “When I heard the Ory band, that changed my views on rhythm forever!”

At the time, Ory was under contract to Columbia, so he was bound to refuse any requests for an unauthorized live recording. He relented just enough to play short versions of the songs on Williams’ list, minus the usual vocals by band members. Williams was able to record “Stormy Weather,” “Jealous,” “Yes, Sir! That’s My Baby,” “Star Dust,” “Whispering,” “My Buddy”(as a waltz), “Sioux City Sue,” “Song Of The Islands,” “River of the Roses,” “Oh! Lady Be Good,” “Perdido,” and “C-Jam Blues” before the fans hounded Ory to play the Dixieland songbook. It would be another ten years before Ory recorded anything outside of the small selection of tunes requested endlessly by his fans.

Though the Green Room concert series came to an abrupt end, Ory’s third visit to the Bay Area paid dividends when the band received invitations to perform at other clubs. One of the venues was Club Venus. This engagement took place after Mutt Carey left the band and his replacement, Andrew Blakeney, was unable to travel due to his day job. Ex-Yerba Buena Jazz Band trumpeter Bob Scobey filled in for part of the engagement, as did Jack Minger, a young hornman who eventually became an integral part of several jazz and swing bands in the East Bay.

Ory’s group also played at two establishments owned by and catering to African-Americans: Harold Blackshear’s Café Society and the New Orleans Swing Club. Some writers have stated that the band also performed at the Dawn Club, but the club was off-limits to African-American musicians at that time. Ory was surely aware of Lu Watters’ contributions to the Revival, which helped the Creole Dixieland Band to share the limelight with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. There is a photo from this era showing Kid Ory and Ed Garland embracing. It is signed by Ory: “To our GOOD THING – Lu Watters.”

Back in Los Angeles, Ory’s group performed on the soundtrack of the film Crossfire. They are not seen onscreen, but their versions of “Shine” and “Winin’ Boy Blues” are highlights of the production. They played concerts at Carnegie Hall and also at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Both concerts were poorly attended due to poor planning and publicity. In 1948, Ory landed a regular engagement at the Beverly Caverns. Not only did this venue attract large crowds, but the band also broadcast frequently, making even more people aware of the 'Ory Sound.'

Beginning in 1948, Kid Ory’s Creole Dixieland Band was one of the featured groups at the Dixieland Jubilee. These events, presented by Gene Norman and Frank Bull, continued well into the 1950s. At the first jubilee, held at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, Ory’s group garnered more applause than any of the other bands, including Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars. In subsequent years, they appeared alongside the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Muggsy Spanier, Eddie Condon, Pete Daily’s Chicagoans, Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats, Wingy Manone, George Lewis’ New Orleans Stompers, Charles Lavere, Red Nichols and his Five Pennies, Bobby Hackett, and many other world-class performers.

In the early ‘50s Ory received an invitation for the band to perform for two weeks at Club Hangover in San Francisco. The band made such a hit that owner Doc Daugherty extended the engagement to six weeks. Ory’s band became one of the most popular groups in the Club Hangover rotation.

Band personnel continued to shift during this period. The various combinations are documented on recordings on the Good Time Jazz label. Ory signed with them after his contract with Columbia ran out. Guitarist Julian Davidson and bassist Morty Corb, heard on the Good Time Jazz recordings, were not regular members of the band. Ory had not used a guitar on his engagements since Bud Scott died, but he admired the solid rhythm played by Davidson, a CBS staff musician. Corb, a superb bassist, had an impressive resume of jazz and studio credits. He worked for Ory for the first time in a 1950 Columbia session, after Ed Garland was injured in an auto accident. Corb came to the rescue again in 1953, when Garland was involved in a second accident. Both Davidson and Corb would join Ory in the studio over the next few years.

In the front line, Andrew Blakeney left the band in 1949, and was replaced by the brilliant Teddy Buckner. Buckner stayed until 1953, followed by Rico Vallese, then New Orleanian Alvin Alcorn. Clarinetist Joe Darensbourg also departed in 1953. Pud Brown, Bob McCracken, Albert Burbank, and George Probert, who had just left Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band, followed Darensbourg in fairly rapid succession. After Lloyd Glenn quit, his first replacement was pianist Harvey Brooks, who had worked with Ory in Los Angeles in the ‘20s. Brooks’ tenure was cut short due to alcoholism.

While playing at the Hangover, Ory may have been exposed to one of the rotating intermission pianists, a young Baltimorean named Don Ewell. Ewell made a dramatic entry into the world of Traditional Jazz in 1946, when he played with Bunk Johnson at the Stuyvesant Casino. He also made trio recordings with Johnson, and with Albert Nicholas and Baby Dodds. Ewell’s playing in 1946 was closer to Jelly Roll Morton’s than any other Traditional Jazz pianist. His piano work continued to show the Morton influence at Club Hangover, but by the early ‘50s, Ewell had also developed a distinct style of his own reflecting the influences of James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Jess Stacy, Joe Sullivan, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and South Side Chicago blues pianists.

The musicians also frequently played ‘handoffs’ between solos, the horns playing the last two bars of a chorus into the first two bars of the next one. This was similar to the ‘explosion’ heard on records by Chicago bands of the ‘20s. The band emphasized extreme dynamics, dropping the volume low enough to hear the conversations at the bar, then launching fireworks on the last chorus, with Ory sliding over the top of it all.

Another of the band’s signature elements was absent from all the broadcasts—vocals. A nationwide ‘cabaret tax’ on nightclubs during the 1950s meant that venues were forced to add a hefty 20 percent to patrons’ checks if they had singers or allowed dancing. Clubs that featured instrumental music only, with no dancing, were exempt from the tax. Obviously, Doc Daugherty chose the most cost-effective option. Although Ory’s hoarse Creole patois was not heard on the Club Hangover broadcasts, he sang plenty on the sessions for Good Time Jazz.

Though the band performed frequently at Club Hangover, Los Angeles was still their base of operations. Good Time Jazz’s Lester Koenig hired Ory’s group for parties and they continued to play at the Beverly Caverns and other venues around Southern California. In 1954, Ory divorced his first wife and married Barbara GaNung, following a long-running affair. The couple’s daughter, Babette, was born the same year, making Ory a father for the first time at age 67. According to numerous musicians, fans and researchers, Barbara Ory soon took control of Ory’s management and advised him about with whom he should socialize, and which musicians were not to be trusted.

Although George Probert left the band at the end of 1954, it was because he was offered a high-paying job at Disney Studios and also with the Firehouse Five Plus Two. Phil Gomez, fresh from Muggsy Spanier’s band, replaced Probert. He was enthusiastic about Ory’s music, learned the repertoire quickly and played brilliantly. He was beyond criticism. Don Ewell left shortly after Gomez’s debut. New Orleans pianist Lionel Reason, who had also been playing intermissions at Club Hangover, was his replacement. Reason played a splashy, meandering style and occasionally experienced difficulties in holding the tempo. His approach was the mirror image of Ewell’s precise swing.

The most dramatic change to the rhythm section occurred after Ed Garland, Kid Ory’s longtime friend and bassist, became a target of Mrs. Ory’s wrath. Relations between Garland and the Kid deteriorated to the point where ill will exploded into a fistfight on the Club Hangover bandstand. Ory hit Garland with a brass mute, but Garland managed to get in a punch that knocked Ory off the narrow bandstand. Doc Daugherty broke Ory’s fall, but the trombonist suffered broken ribs and an injured back. Firehouse Five trombonist Ward Kimball, substituted for Ory while the leader recovered from his injuries. Garland quit the band immediately, but it is worth noting that Doc Daugherty may not have held him entirely responsible for the fight since Garland continued to work at the club in the first version of Earl Hines’ Dixieland All-Stars. Years later, a musical acquaintance asked Don Ewell, “What was it like, working with Kid Ory?” Ewell’s laconic response: “Ask Tudie,” Ed Garland’s nickname.

Kid Ory was back in action by the summer of 1955, when the band appeared in the movie The Benny Goodman Story. Ory, Gomez, Reason, Hall, trumpeter 'Red Mack' Morris and possibly Rudy Patay on bass are seen and heard onscreen. In addition, Ory speaks with actor Barry Truax, who was portraying the teenaged Benny Goodman. One of the movie’s highlights is when the real Benny Goodman joins in with Ory’s band on the soundtrack for “Original Dixieland One-Step.”

Alvin Alcorn was back in the lineup when the band performed at the eighth annual Dixieland Jubilee, which had moved to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, on October 15, 1955. Shortly thereafter, another personnel change came when Ory hired the great New Orleans bassist Wellman Braud. He recorded with the band for Good Time Jazz at the end of November, with Julian Davidson once again added on guitar. Ory’s Good Time Jazz albums from the 1950s include his reminiscences about the early years of jazz in New Orleans, as well as “The Ory Creole Cookbook,” his Creole recipes for Crawfish Bisque, Shrimp Jambalaya, Creole Gumbo Filé and world-class red beans and rice.

In 1956, Ory made an important change to the rhythm section, replacing Lionel Reason with Cedric Haywood. Haywood was a veteran who had worked with blues bands in Texas with Lionel Hampton and Sidney Bechet, swing tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, and modern jazz musician Cal Tjader. A skilled musician, he became indispensable to Ory. Musician Richard Hadlock described Haywood’s role with the band as “part concertmaster, part sideman, diplomat and final authority on harmony.” The band, with its new rhythm section, appeared on Bobby Troup’s Stars of Jazz television program in June. At the same time, Ory’s contract with Good Time Jazz was about to expire, so Lester Koenig scheduled a recording blitz for the band to amass as much material as possible for future release. Clarinetist Phil Gomez remembered, “Four or five nights a week, for three weeks in a row, the band would go over to the studio on Melrose Avenue after their nightly appearance at the Beverly Caverns. Koenig, the band and an engineer would record until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning … We recorded so much, I would say … that there was probably enough material for about eight to ten albums.”

The results were issued on a two-LP set titled Kid Ory! Favorites! One additional track, “Creole Song,” was released on GTJ’s This Kid’s The Greatest, which also included leftover tracks from 1954 sessions. The band sounds inspired but relaxed as they play a well-worn repertoire of Dixieland standards. Alcorn, Ory, and Gomez play many outstanding solos as well as ensemble parts. The rhythm swings easily, but kicks the proceedings into high gear when necessary. Cedric Haywood’s solid rhythm and groovy beat sound wonderful. Guest guitarist Julian Davidson added even more punch to a rhythm section that was already formidable.

Back in San Francisco, Ory’s great 1956 group disbanded. Whether it occurred suddenly or gradually is difficult to pinpoint since no live or commercial recordings have turned up from the time Ory returned to the U.S. until his next recording for Verve. Ory did not have a regular working group when he appeared at the Dixieland Ragtime Jamboree in San Francisco on March 3, 1957. The trombonist took along the indispensable Cedric Haywood on piano and filled out the band with musicians from the San Francisco Symphony.

On July 4, Ory was scheduled to appear as a special guest with Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars at the Newport Jazz Festival, together with Jack Teagarden. However, earlier in the day Armstrong and producer George Wein had a volatile disagreement over the programming for Armstrong’s set. This resulted in Armstrong proclaiming, “No one hangs on my coat tails.” As a result, Ory and Teagarden were in limbo until Wein added them as guests with Henry ‘Red’ Allen’s band. There is a live recording of the set, but it is certainly not one of Ory’s more memorable performances. It is surprising that Armstrong would treat Ory so poorly, considering the trombonist basically had given Armstrong his start in music and never failed to praise him extravagantly when interviewed. Fortunately, they were reconciled and maintained a warm and friendly relationship until the end.

Producer Norman Granz hired Ory for two more Verve recording sessions in the summer of 1957. Before the recording session, Ory asked Cedric Haywood to assemble a band. For the rhythm section, Haywood put together an easy-swinging, Basie-style quartet with guitarist Frank Haggerty, bassist Charles Oden, and drummer Earl Watkins. Granz typically set up a recording session, ordered liquor for the band, and then unless something extraordinary happened, read a newspaper for the duration of the session. Haggerty remembered, “When Norman heard that Basie beat, he put his newspaper down!” Ory, trumpeter Marty Marsala and clarinetist Darnell Howard comprised the front line. Marsala’s brassy tone often recalls that of Teddy Buckner. Howard, a veteran of the 1945 Ory band, had a rich, thick clarinet tone that is the perfect counterbalance to the brass. Ory was in excellent form and the high fidelity recording allows the listener to hear every nuance of his trombone playing.

The band recorded four sessions in August and October of 1957, and the material was issued on four LPs. Only one of the tracks is under four minutes in length (barely, at 3:56). Most of the performances were over five minutes, and several pushed the ten minute mark. The repertoire included many popular songs Ory enjoyed performing, but seldom had an opportunity to play because of fans’ requests. “Sweet Lorraine,” “Ida,” “Baby Face,” “Dinah,” “Someday, Sweetheart,” “Am I Blue” and others are perfect for this musical combination. All the solos are outstanding, except for an occasional bit of high-note grandstanding by Marsala. Frank Haggerty’s George Van Eps-inspired guitar solos are particularly well-played, and Haggerty would appear on several more Ory sessions in the future. Some listeners will miss the distinctive New Orleans rhythm of the earlier groups, but the easy going Kansas City-style rhythm heard on the 1957 Verve dates suited Ory perfectly.

He definitely did not want them to participate in the next recording session for Verve or to play on an upcoming European tour. This time, Ory took no chances. Guitarist Frank Haggerty returned and the incomparable Morty Corb was on bass. Alton Redd, who had recorded with Ory in 1944, came in on drums. Ory had reconnected with one of his favorite clarinetists, Bob McCracken, and brought in the great trumpeter Henry ‘Red’ Allen from New York.

The recording session of fourteen songs was completed in one day. Allen recalled, “I left [New York] at 9:45 in the morning, was recording with Kid Ory by 3:00 and on the air again by 11:30 that night.” The recordings, much like the 1957 sides, sound casual and relaxed and the repertoire included swing standards such as “In The Mood,” “Christopher Columbus,” and “Tuxedo Junction,” alongside traditional jazz numbers like “Come Back, Sweet Papa” and “San.” Somehow, Allen’s eccentric melodic ideas worked alongside the more traditional playing by Ory and McCracken. The only discordant sounds on the recording are the relentless, loud snare drum after-beats played by Redd. Later he claimed that Ory was going deaf and told him to accent the second and fourth beats as forcefully as possible. Whatever his reason for overplaying, it definitely detracts from the smooth rhythm of Haywood, Haggerty, and Corb, and makes the listener wish that Earl Watkins had been hired instead.

The European tour was scheduled for September 19 – November 13, 1959 and would include concerts in Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and England. Frank Haggerty said that Ory asked him to join the band for the tour, but that he was unable to leave his day job. Similarly, Morty Corb was busy in the Los Angeles studios. Ory dispensed with the guitar problem by booking the band as a guitarless sextet. He hired a bassist who had recently played with Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars, Squire Girsback. Not only had Girsback worked with Armstrong, he also played and recorded with Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band, Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band, Turk Murphy’s Jazz Band, and with Bunk Johnson and Wally Rose. Before leaving, Ory shut down On The Levee for the duration of the tour.

Not all European jazz fans were pleased with the 1959 Ory touring band. At some point, all of the musicians, including Ory, received negative comments from jazz writers during the tour. Some of the criticism was justified, as Ory, almost unbelievably suffering from stage fright, called some tempos that were too fast for the band to comfortably play. And the overbearing rim-shots by Alton Redd drove more than one writer to distraction. However, the band filled many of the performance venues and inspired a number of fans to surreptitiously record the concerts in Berlin, Manchester, Basel, and Copenhagen.

After returning from Europe, Ory reopened On The Levee and tried mightily to make the operation a success. On at least one occasion, Muggsy Spanier’s band performed at the club, with a lineup that included the great Joe Sullivan on piano. With On The Levee open on weekends only, Ory traveled to Los Angeles on two weekdays in December for two more Verve sessions. The band included Buckner, McCracken, Haggerty, Corb, and Sailes. Cedric Haywood had left the band, so Ory called upon Lionel Reason to handle the piano duties.

The album was titled Dixieland Marching Songs, and the repertoire was an odd mix of marches, spirituals, standards and two originals. The band sounds good, but there were problems that could have been fixed with second takes, such as establishing the right kind of rhythm for certain songs and correcting chord changes.

The following day, the same band recorded an album of French folk songs, children’s melodies and some of Ory’s Creole numbers with a French vocalist added. It is significant that neither of these sessions was ever released by Verve, although Dixieland Marching Songs was assigned a catalog number. Joe Sullivan brought his own group to On The Levee in 1961. It was a hard-driving band, including three ex-Ory sidemen. However, Ory was not able to keep his own band together, or keep the club going.

St. Cyr played well, but was not able to guide and anchor the other rhythm players. Compared to the broad, flowing beat of the 1954 - 56 band and the Kansas City swing of the group that Cedric Haywood put together, the 1961 rhythm sounds nervous and tentative. Even when St. Cyr switched back to guitar, there are still problems in the rhythm section.

Except for the front line work, the Jelly Roll Morton session is painful to hear. Van Eps’ piano is so out-of-place it boggles the mind to think that no one in the band or the control room said anything. If a pianist like Stan Wrightsman or Marvin Ash had been on the date, they would have played Morton’s music with respect, but without losing their own identity. If the rhythm section had included Ray Leatherwood or Phil Stephens on bass, George Van Eps or Allan Reuss on guitar, and Nick Fatool or Jack Sperling on drums, these recordings would been among Ory’s finest. The producer must have been disappointed as well, since the first session remained unissued until Mosaic included it, together with other previously unreleased recordings, on an eight-CD set in 1999.

After the final recording sessions, Kid Ory went into retirement mode. He took the trombone out of the case once a year until 1966 to play with The Young Men From New Orleans at Dixieland at Disneyland. Fittingly, the last time he performed at the event, the band played the opening parade in a horse-drawn wagon, with Ory positioned at the tailgate. During the years when he played at Disneyland, Ory’s daughter Babette remembers Louis Armstrong and Johnny St. Cyr visiting Ory at home. The old friends told endless jokes, reminisced about old times, and ate great quantities of Ory’s Creole cooking.

Recordings made by Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band in San Francisco and while Ory was a Bay Area resident. Listed alphabetically by label:

Note: Above CD includes four complete KCBS broadcasts from Club Hangover: Oct. 2, 16, 23, 30, 1954.

Note: Above CD omits “Mood Indigo” and “Toot, Toot, Tootsie” which were included on the original two-LP Good Time Jazz release.

Note: Above CD includes excerpts from Club Hangover KCBS broadcasts made between 1953 and 1955.

Note: Above CD includes excerpts from Club Hangover KCBS broadcasts made between May 1 and July 17, 1954.

Note: The Upbeat CDs feature Ory’s recordings for the VERVE label. These are also included on the eight CD set of Ory’s Verve recordings released by Mosaic. (See below).

REFERENCES:

AUTHOR'S CONVERSATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING KID ORY

docFor More Information Visit: The Kid Ory Archive (Christer Fellers)