KID ORY

On the Hot Club de Belgique's initiative, we will soon greet one of the most prestigious figures in the history of jazz music, and it is a most unique happening in several respects. First, it is the first time Kid Ory has agreed to cross the golden bridge that has been built for him across the Atlantic, following his ever increasing sales figures in Europe. Second, it is also the first time Belgian jazz lovers will cheer a seventy years old musician. Third, even more significant, Kid Ory is the only bandleader to ever have had within his band Joe Oliver (whom he dubbed "King"), Louis Armstrong (who made his debut in his orchestra), Sidney Bechet, Jimmie Noone, Albert Nicholas, Papa Mutt Carey, Johnny Dodds, Ed Garland (the latter three were part of his first band, almost fifty years ago...), Barney Bigard, Bud Scott ("and his old guitar, always smoking a big cigar"), Luis Russel, Zutty Singleton, Henry Allen, among others...

Kid Ory also played in King Oliver's orchestra, Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven, the New Orleans Wanderers, Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. With all these bands he committed to wax a flurry of recordings among the most beautiful of jazz history.

As you can see, this great trombone player has played with the best jazz musicians and contributed to many of their bands. It is then quite impossible to tell his biography in just a few lines. Just remember this : born on 25 December, 1886, in La Place, Louisiana, he was playing the trombone in New Orleans in 1905, led a prodigious life during the golden age of jazz and vanished during the 1930 crisis, when he retired under the California sun to raise chicken.

He came back in 1942, after Pearl Harbor, thanks to Orson Welles who featured him in his jazz radio programme. Glory striked at once...

Kid Ory managed from then on to give a unique character to the different groups he led, thanks to his powerful personality.

So what is this marvelous musician's secret ?

Gifted with a dynamism similar to that of Lionel Hampton, the Kid plays the trombone in a style - the famed "tailgate style" - half melody and half rhythm, giving thus his solos a most powerful swing.

As the New Orleans style allows him to play alternatively solos and ensemble impros, he is heard all throughout his records and I always enjoy his tasty and varied punctuations.

The band he leads today, purely New Orleans, lines up the faithful Minor Hall (who already played with him back in 1912), Wellman Braud (a half forgotten bass player nowadays, but who played on numerous jazz records with Armstrong, Bechet, Ellington, Mezzrow and Jelly Roll), Cedric Haywood on piano, Philip Gomez on clarinet and Alvin Alcorn, the excellent trumpet player on Kid Ory's latest record, out about one year ago.

Bandleader, musician, singer, composer of hit tunes (Muskrat Ramble), Kid Ory is coming to us.  Hang in there, my friends, the music is going to swing...

Robert Latour