Luc Chassex sent us the following eyewitness document - and some great photos.

My first contact with jazz music dates back to my earliest childhood. My father, who had spent several years in New York, was a fan of Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, and I remember the first records I bought were 78s by the Hot Five.

In 1951, with 5 friends, we had grounded a small New Orleans jazz band, we called the "Barrel House Jazz Band". My parents had bought me a Couesnon trombone, and payed for a few private lessons, which means that after a few month rehearsing we already played at parties. Jazz was very popular at the time, so we were in great demand on week ends. Kid Ory was by far mon favorite trombone player, and I tried to emulate him.

In 1956, I was 20. I was a student at the Photographer School in Vevey. In November 1956 I was on a training course at the ALLPRESS Agency in Geneva. As soon as I heard that Kid Ory and his band were coming to play I got in touch with the promoter to ask permission to make photos of the concert. He was very cooperative and invited me to have lunch with him and Kid Ory on the day of the concert in Geneva, November 30. Needless to say how happy I was to be able to meet my hero. After lunch I went shopping with Kid Ory in the streets of Geneva. He was a simple, friendly and thoughtful person.

That night I attended the concert and I took pictures at the Victoria Hall. After the concert, I drove Kid Ory back to his hotel. I then developed the films and made a few enlargements which I had promised to give him the next day in Lausanne.

The next day I picked him up at the Hotel Central as we had planned. He liked the photos.

I had been wanting to change my cheap trombone by a better one, and I had convinced my parents that I could use Kid Ory's experience to help me choose one. He accepted without any hesitation to go with me to Rauber Bros, one of the city's music stores. There were 4 or 5 trombones there and before even asking to try them, he pointed at a Holton Collegiate and told me "that is the one you want". It was superb, and I would have picked it be it only for its light beige case, which would draw everybody's attention to me in town... There still was a problem, the price of that marvel made in USA was a bit higher than what my budget would allow. Kid Ory understood the situation at a glance. He took 2 one hundred francs notes from his wallet, saying "it's OK, it's OK".

Two hundred francs were far from nothing at that time, they were not peanuts... Needless to say how that meeting, dating back 55 years today, has left its imprint on me. Warm and generous as your trombone playing, never will I forget you, Kid !