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KID ORY Vol. 2 'Ory's Creole Trombone' Original Recordings 1945-1953 Kid Ory was a New Orleans jazz pioneer who was considered the most important trombonist...
KID ORY Vol. 2
'Ory's Creole Trombone' Original Recordings 1945-1953
Kid Ory was a New Orleans jazz pioneer who was
considered the most important trombonist in
1915. As with some of the more fortunate of the
early New Orleans legends, he survived into the
1920s, moved up North and appeared on some
famous recordings. Unlike most of his
contemporaries, Ory had a very busy later career,
making a full comeback during 1944-45 and
leading one of the most popular New Orleans
jazz groups of the next fifteen years.
Edward 'Kid' Ory was born 25 December
1886 in La Place, Louisiana. He first started
playing music on banjo when he was ten, soon
began doubling on valve trombone and
eventually settled on the slide trombone. Ory
visited nearby New Orleans several times early
on, moving to the Crescent City in 1912 when he
was already 25. He quickly established himself as
one of the city's top bandleaders, heading a
series of groups during the next seven years that
featured many of the major players in town
including cornetist King Oliver, his successor
Louis Armstrong, and clarinettists Johnny Dodds,
Sidney Bechet and Jimmie Noone. During this
period Ory's 'tailgate' style of trombone was
considered definitive. He used his horn to play
rhythmic bass lines and harmonies behind the
trumpet and clarinet, defining how the trombone
would be used in traditional New Orleans and
dixieland ensembles from then on.
In 1919 Ory moved to California, taking
some top New Orleans players with him and
helping to introduce freewheeling jazz to San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland. With Mutt
Carey on cornet, Ory recorded two numbers in
1922 as the leader of a band called Spike's Seven
Pods Of Pepper Orchestra; these are considered
the earliest recordings by a black New Orleans
jazz band. In 1925 he relocated to Chicago and
during the remainder of the decade appeared on
an impressive assortment of classic recordings in
such bands as Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, King
Oliver's Dixie Syncopators, Johnny Dodds and
Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. Even after
the rise of more modern trombonists, most
notably Miff Mole and Jack Teagarden, Ory's was
considered the definitive New Orleans style.
With the rise of the Depression and the collapse
of the recording industry, job opportunities
began to become scarce after 1930. Ory moved
back to Los Angeles, freelanced for a bit and then
in 1933 dropped out of music altogether to help
his brother run a chicken farm. He hardly played
music at all for a decade and, since he turned 55
in 1942, it would not have been surprising if he'd
never returned to the music scene.
However things turned out much different.
New Orleans jazz made a comeback in the 1940s
and there was an audience who wanted to hear
the older surviving jazz pioneers. One of the fans
of the music was actor-director Orson Welles
who was hosting a radio show during the era and
wanted to feature an authentic sounding New
Orleans band during a five-minute slot in each
program. Kid Ory's name was suggested and
since he had regained his former form during a
stint with clarinettist Barney Bigard's group, Ory
was enlisted to put together a band. As it turned
out, the radio show was the perfect launching
band for Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band for their
weekly feature was considered the highlight of
the show. Soon Ory was playing regularly in Los
Angeles clubs and appearing on records again.
'Ory's Creole Trombone' has twenty of Kid
Ory's finest recordings of the 1945-53 period.
This is very easy music to enjoy, filled with
colorful ensembles and personable solos. It
could be called dixieland, New Orleans jazz or
just plain happy high quality music.
The first ten selections have Mutt Carey, who
like Ory had come out of retirement, joining his
old boss in the front line. With former Jelly Roll
Morton clarinettist Darnell Howard aboard for
the first seven numbers, the well-integrated band
swings hard on Maryland, My Maryland, Wilbur
Sweatman's Down Home Rag and 1919 Rag (a
song that they successfully revived) on the 8
September 1945 session. The music probably
sounds similar to the jazz played in New Orleans
when Ory left in 1919 except that there is more
space for solos. It is certainly light years away
from the big swing bands or the new bebop
music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie that
was emerging that same year.
The 3 November 1945 date has the same
personnel performing four dixieland standards.
Original Dixieland One-Step was from the
repertoire of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
and Ory's Creole Trombone was one of the two
numbers recorded by Ory in 1922 and was also
previously recorded by the trombonist with Louis
Armstrong's Hot Five. Maple Leaf Rag was the
greatest hit of the ragtime era (and nearly the
only rag to become a standard) and Weary Blues
had been immortalized by Louis Armstrong's Hot
Seven, a band that Ory missed playing with.
The same edition of the Creole Jazz Band in
1946 with Barney Bigard succeeding Howard
performs some unusual material. Joshua Fit The
Battle Of Jericho has a very familiar melody
though it has rarely been played in a jazz setting;
Helen Andrews and banjoist Bud Scott have the
vocals. Blues singer Trixie Smith's The World's
Jazz Crazy, Lawdy So Am I will sound familiar to
dixieland fans for it is the same song as "Ballin'
The Jack." Creole Bo Bo is a childlike tune
written by Kid Ory and his wife Cecile that has a
resemblance to "Mary Had A Little Lamb" but
with some extensions and a vocal by Ory in
French.
Although the Kid Ory group only had one
record date during 1947-49, its popularity
actually grew during this period and the Creole
Jazz Band was now thought of as one of the top
representatives of vintage New Orleans jazz.
With the exception of the leader and
drummer Minor Hall, the sextet's personnel had
changed completely by 1950 but the band's style
stayed consistent. The biggest change was that
the relatively primitive cornetist Mutt Carey had
been succeeded by the powerful Louis
Armstrong-inspired trumpeter Teddy Buckner.
Joe Darensbourg was in Bigard and Howard's
place (filling a similar role) and Ory always
played in his own unique style. The band, driven
by Buckner, performs joyous versions of At A
Georgia Camp Meeting and Mahogany Hall
Stomp, and even tears into the pop song The
Glory Of Love which has a highly expressive
vocal by Lee Sapphire. Later in the year, the
contrast and blend between Buckner and Ory
(who really sings through his horn) during the
first chorus of Go Back Where You Stayed Last
Night before another winning Lee Sapphire vocal
is memorable while Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula has
some percussive slap tongue clarinet by
Darensbourg.
The final five selections feature the 1953
version of Ory's band, with Buckner and clarinettist
Bob McCracken being strong assets. The
biggest addition was the great stride pianist Don
Ewell, who added a powerful lift to the rhythm
section and was arguably the band's finest
soloist. These standards are all given the Kid
Ory treatment and even though South Rampart
Street Parade, St. James Infirmary, Aunt
Hagar's Blues, Duke Ellington's Creole Love Call
and Milenburg Joys were recorded many times
through the years, the Ory band made them
sound lively, fresh and just a little unpredictable.
Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band continued
making enjoyable records into 1961 and the
trombonist did not officially retire until he
moved to Hawaii in 1966. He passed away on
23 January 1973 at the age of 86, one of the
most beloved of the New Orleans jazz pioneers
and one whose music still sounds very much
alive today.
Scott Yanow - author of nine jazz books including Jazz
On Film, Swing, Classic Jazz (on the 1920s), Trumpet
Kings and Jazz On Record 1917-76
Maryland, My Maryland (more info)
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Maryland, My Maryland - 2:41
Down Home Rag (more info)
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Down Home Rag - 2:51
1919 Rag (more info)
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1919 Rag - 3:04
Original Dixieland One-Step (more info)
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Original Dixieland One-Step - 2:56
Ory's Creole Trombone (more info)
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Ory's Creole Trombone - 3:06
Maple Leaf Rag (more info)
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Maple Leaf Rag - 3:05
Weary Blues (more info)
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Weary Blues - 3:16
Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho (more info)
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Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho - 2:55
The World's Jazz Crazy, Lawdy So Am I (more info)
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The World's Jazz Crazy, Lawdy So Am I - 3:18
Creole Bo Bo (more info)
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Creole Bo Bo - 2:44
At a Georgia Camp Meeting (more info)
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At A Georgia Camp Meeting - 3:01
The Glory Of Love (more info)
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The Glory Of Love - 2:38
Mahogany Hall Stomp (more info)
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Mahogany Hall Stomp - 2:55
Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night (more info)
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Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night - 3:19
Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula (more info)
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Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula - 3:06
South Rampart Street Parade (more info)
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South Rampart Street Parade - 3:25
St. James Infirmary (more info)
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St. James Infirmary - 3:15
Aunt Hagar's Blues (more info)
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Aunt Hagar's Blues - 2:56
Creole Love Call (more info)
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Creole Love Call - 3:21
Millenburg Joys (more info)
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Millenburg Joys - 3:12