View source for Kid Ory

{{short description|American jazz trombonist (1886–1973)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Kid Ory
| image             = Kidory.png
| caption           = 
| background        = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name        = Edouard Ory
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1886|12|25}}
| birth_place       = [[LaPlace, Louisiana]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1973|1|23|1886|12|25}}
| spouse            = Elizabeth<ref name="louisianadigitallibrary.org">{{Cite web|url=https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/lsm-jaz%3A1102|title=Edward "Kid" Ory with his wife|website=Louisianadigitallibrary.org|access-date=September 16, 2025}}</ref>
Barbara
| death_place       = [[Honolulu]], Hawaii, U.S.
| instrument        = Trombone
| genre             = {{hlist|[[Jazz]]|traditional Creole}}
| occupation        = {{hlist|Musician|composer|promoter}}
| years_active      = 1910–1966
| label             = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], [[Okeh Records]], Exner, [[Crescent Records|Crescent]], [[Good Time Jazz Records|Good Time Jazz]], [[Verve Records|Verve]]
| past_member_of    = {{hlist|Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra|Louis Armstrong's [[Hot Five]]}}
}}
[[File:KidOryHouseJacksonAveNOLAFrontMatchingTruck.JPG|thumb|House on Jackson Avenue, New Orleans, Ory's residence in the 1910s]]

'''Edward''' "'''Kid'''" '''Ory''' (December 25, 1886 &ndash; January 23, 1973)<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=309/310}}</ref> was an American [[jazz]] composer, [[Trombone|trombonist]] and [[bandleader]]. One of the early users of the [[glissando]] technique, he helped establish it as a central element of [[Music of New Orleans#Jazz|New Orleans jazz]].

He was born near [[LaPlace, Louisiana]] and moved to New Orleans on his 21st birthday, to Los Angeles in 1910 and to Chicago in 1925. The Ory band later was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making radio broadcasts on ''[[The Orson Welles Almanac]]'' program in 1944, among other shows. In 1944–45, the group made a series of recordings for the [[Crescent Records|Crescent]] label, which was founded by [[Nesuhi Ertegun]] for the express purpose of recording Ory's band.

Ory retired from music in 1966 and spent his last years in [[Hawaii]] where he died from a heart attack.

==Early life==
Ory was born in 1886 to a [[Louisiana French]]-speaking family of [[Creoles of color|Black Creole]] descent, on [[Woodland Plantation (Laplace, Louisiana)|Woodland Plantation]] in [[LaPlace, Louisiana|Laplace]], now the site of the [[1811 Kid Ory Historic House]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hasselle |first=Della |date=February 25, 2016 |title=For sale: Plantation built in 1793, untouched since '04, complete with rich history, original beams, fireplaces |url=https://www.nola.com/news/article_f916d2bd-e026-5e5f-b265-951bd96fc9db.html |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=NOLA.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=1811KidOryHistoricHouse_2021>{{cite web| title=1811 Kid Ory Historic House| date=2021| url=https://www.1811kidoryhistorichouse.com/|website=1811kidoryhistorichouse.com| access-date=2021-01-15}}</ref> Ory started playing music with homemade instruments in his childhood, and by his teens was leading a well-regarded band in southeast [[Louisiana]]. He kept LaPlace as his base of operations because of family obligations until his twenty-first birthday, when he moved his band to [[New Orleans]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>

Ory was a [[banjo]] player during his youth, and it is said that his ability to play the banjo helped him develop "tailgate", a particular style of playing the trombone with a rhythmic line underneath the trumpets and [[cornet]]s. His use of [[glissando]] helped establish it as a central element of New Orleans Jazz.<ref name = smithsonian/>

When Ory was living on Jackson Avenue, he was discovered by [[Buddy Bolden]], playing his first new trombone, instead of an old Civil War trombone. Ory's sister said he was too young to play with Bolden.

== Career ==
He moved his six-piece band to New Orleans in 1910.  Ory had one of the best-known bands in New Orleans in the 1910s, hiring many of the great jazz musicians of the city, including the cornetists [[Joe "King" Oliver]], [[Mutt Carey]], and [[Louis Armstrong]], who joined the band in 1919;<ref>[http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/tbacig/studproj/is3099/jazzcult/20sjazz/musicians.html "Jazz Greats of the 1920s"] [[University of Minnesota Duluth]]. Retrieved 11 June 2013.</ref> and the clarinetists [[Johnny Dodds]] and [[Jimmie Noone]].

{{Listen
| filename    = Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra - Ory's Creole Trombone.flac
| title       = "Ory's Creole Trombone"
| description = A 1921 recording of "[[Ory's Creole Trombone]]"
}}
In 1919, he moved to [[Los Angeles]]<ref name="aar" />&mdash;one of several New Orleans musicians to do so at the time&mdash;and he recorded there in 1922 with a band that included Mutt Carey, the clarinetist and pianist [[Dink Johnson]], and the string bassist [[Ed Garland]]. Garland and Carey were long-time associates who would still be playing with Ory during his 1940s comeback. While in Los Angeles, Ory and his band recorded two instrumentals, "[[Ory's Creole Trombone]]" and "Society Blues", as well as a number of songs. They were the first jazz recordings made on the West Coast by an African American jazz band from [[New Orleans, Louisiana]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> His band recorded with [[Nordskog Records]]; Ory paid Nordskog for the pressings and then sold them with his own label, "Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra", at Spikes Brothers Music Store in Los Angeles.

In 1925, Ory moved to [[Chicago]], where he was very active, working and recording with Louis Armstrong, [[Jelly Roll Morton]], Oliver, Johnny Dodds, [[Bessie Smith]], [[Ma Rainey]], and many others.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> He mentored [[Benny Goodman]] and, later, [[Charles Mingus]]. He was said to have attempted to take trombone lessons from a "German guy" who played in the Chicago symphony, but Ory was turned away after a few lessons.  The Chicago symphony has three German trombonists listed as former members in 1925, Arthur Stange (principal), Arthur Gunther, and Edward Geffer.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=103}}</ref> Ory was a member of the original lineup of Louis Armstrong's [[Hot Five]] which first recorded on November 12, 1925.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=165}}</ref> His composition "[[Muskrat Ramble]]" was included in the Hot Five session in February 1926.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=210}}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] Ory retired from music and did not play again until 1943.<ref name = smithsonian>''Coda for the Kid'' by Jim Beaugez Smithsonian magazine January–February 2021 issue Pages 16-20</ref> In 1941, he was a pallbearer at the funeral of [[Jelly Roll Morton]] in [[Los Angeles]], California.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Bury Jelly Roll Morton on Coast |journal=[[DownBeat]] |date=August 1, 1941 |volume=8 |issue=15 |page=13 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_down-beat_1941-08-01_8_15/page/13/mode/1up |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref> He ran a [[chicken farm]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=418}}</ref> From 1944 to about 1961, he led one of the top New Orleans–style bands of the period. His sidemen during this period included, in addition to Carey and Garland, the trumpeters [[Alvin Alcorn]] and [[Teddy Buckner]]; the clarinetists [[Darnell Howard]], [[Jimmie Noone]], [[Albert Nicholas]], [[Barney Bigard]], and [[George Probert]]; the pianists [[Buster Wilson]], [[Cedric Haywood]], and [[Don Ewell]]; and the drummer [[Minor Hall]]. All but Buckner, Probert, and Ewell were originally from New Orleans.

[[File:CrescentRecord.jpg|thumb|[[Nesuhi Ertegun]] founded his first label, [[Crescent Records]], to record Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band. (Crescent Number 1, August 1944)]]
The Ory band was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making popular 1940s radio broadcasts that began with weekly spots on ''[[The Orson Welles Almanac]]'' program (from March 15, 1944).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu/Home/RadioGoldin_Records?searchString=Radio%20Almanac&type=Programs |title=Radio Almanac |publisher=RadioGOLDINdex |access-date=2014-02-09 |archive-date=2018-09-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915215501/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Radio%20Almanac |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1944OrsonWellesRadioAlmanacpart1 |title=Orson Welles Almanac—Part 1 |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2014-02-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1944OrsonWellesRadioAlmanacpart2 |title=Orson Welles Almanac—Part 2 |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=2014-02-10}}</ref> In 1944–1945, the group made a series of recordings for the [[Crescent Records|Crescent]] label, which was founded by Nesuhi Ertegun for the express purpose of recording Ory's band.<ref name="Ertegun">[[Nesuhi Ertegun|Ertegun, Nesuhi]]. Liner notes for ''Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band''. [[Good Time Jazz Records]] L-10 and L-11, 1953, also issued with Good Time Jazz Records L-12022, 1957.</ref>

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Ory and his group appeared at the Beverly Cavern in Los Angeles. In 1958, he purchased the [[Tin Angel (San Francisco)|''Tin Angel'']] nightclub in San Francisco from Peggy Tolk–Watkins, and he renamed it ''On-The-Levee''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2018-08-09 |title=Tin Angel - On the Levee |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/tin-angel-on-the-levee |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection - Spotlight at Stanford |publisher=Stanford University |language=en}}</ref> The nightclub closed in July 1961, and in 1962 the building was demolished due to the creation of the [[Embarcadero Freeway]].<ref name=":1" />

==Personal life==
Ory retired from music in 1966,<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> and spent his last years in [[Hawaii]], with the assistance of [[Trummy Young]]. Ory died of pneumonia and a heart attack in Honolulu.<ref name="aar" /> He was buried at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]], California.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bahn |first1=Paul G. |title=The archaeology of Hollywood : traces of the golden age |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=9780759123793}}</ref> 

He had no children with his first wife, Elizabeth. He had a daughter, Babette, with his second wife, Barbara, in 1954.<ref name="louisianadigitallibrary.org" /> Ory was Catholic, baptized at St Peter Church in [[Reserve, Louisiana]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Young|first=Zachary|date=2012-08-01|title=OffBeat Magazine|url=http://www.fellers.se/Kid/Off_Beat.html|access-date=2020-12-30|website=Fellers.se}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Kid Ory Bass Drum at 1811 Kid Ory Historic House, LaPlace, Louisiana 04.jpg|thumb|Bass drum used by drummer [[Minor Hall|Ram Hall]] in Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band, with front head painted promoting the band, on display at [[1811 Kid Ory Historic House]], [[LaPlace, Louisiana]]]]
In 2021, the [[1811 Kid Ory Historic House]] opened on the site of [[Woodland Plantation (Laplace, Louisiana)|Woodland Plantation]] in [[LaPlace, Louisiana]], which is in the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana|National Register of Historic Places of the United States]]. The museum is dedicated both to the [[1811 German Coast uprising]] of enslaved people and to Ory.<ref name=1811KidOryHistoricHouse_2021/><ref>{{cite web| publisher=[[Country Roads (magazine)|Country Roads]]| title=The Kid Ory House: From Jazz to the 1811 Slave Revolt, LaPlace's new museum explores a broad scope of Southern history| authorlink=Alexandra Kennon|author=Kennon, Alexandra| date=May 24, 2021| url=https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/history/the-kid-ory-house/| access-date=2021-01-15}}</ref>

==Partial discography==
* 1922-45 ''The Chronological'' (Classics, 1999)
* 1945-50 ''The Chronological'' (Classics, 2001)
* 1944-45 ''Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band'' (EPM, 1997) Jazz Archives
* 1947 ''Kid Ory at the Green Room, Vol. 1'' (American Recordings, 1992)
* 1947 ''Kid Ory at the Green Room, Vol. 2'' (American Recordings, 1992)
* 1948 ''Kid Ory Live'' ([[Vault Records|Vault]], 1968)
* 1949 ''Live at the Beverly Cavern'' ([[504 Records|504]] Recs, 2000)<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web |title=Kid Ory {{!}} Album Discography {{!}} AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kid-ory-mn0000087734/discography |access-date=21 September 2016 |website=AllMusic}}</ref>
* 1949-52 ''Edward Kid Ory and His Creole Band at the Dixieland Jubilee'' (Dixieland Jubilee, 1978)  Reissued  as ([[GNP Crescendo Records|GNP Crescendo]], 1997)
* 1950 ''Kid Ory The Great New Orleans Trombonist'' (CBS, 1956)
* 1950 ''Kid Ory and His Creole Dixieland Band'' ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]])
* 1951 ''At the Beverly Cavern'' (Sounds)
* 1953 ''Kid Ory Plays The Blues'' (Storyville, 1985)
* 1953 ''Live at Club Hangover, Vol. 1'' (Dawn Club)
* 1953 ''Creole Jazz Band at Club Hangover'' ([[Storyville Records|Storyville]])
* 1953-56 ''This Kid's the Greatest!'' (Good Time Jazz, ) 
* 1954 ''Live at Club Hangover, Vol. 3'' (Dawn Club)
* 1954 ''Live at Club Hangover, Vol. 4'' (Dawn Club)
* 1954 ''Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band''  ([[Good Time Jazz Records|Good Time Jazz]])
* 1954 ''Creole Jazz Band'' (Good Time Jazz)
* 1954 ''Kid Ory's Creole Band/Johnny Wittwer Trio'' ([[Jazz Man Records|Jazz Man]])
* 1955 ''Sounds of New Orleans, Vol. 9'' (Storyville)
* 1954 ''Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band'' (Good Time Jazz, 1956)
* 1956 ''The Legendary Kid'' (Good Time Jazz)
* 1956.06 ''Favorites'' (Good Time Jazz/Vogue, 1958) Reissued many times available in CD
* 1956 ''Kid Ory in Europe'' ([[Verve Records|Verve]],)
* 1957 ''Dance with Kid Ory or Just Listen (Verve,1960)''
* 1957 ''Song of the Wanderer'' (Verve, 1958)
* 1957 ''The Kid from New Orleans: Ory That Is''
* 1957 ''The Original Jazz'' (Verve, 1961)
* 1959 ''Plays W.C. Handy  (Verve, )''
* 1957 ''Kid Ory Sings French Traditional Songs'' (Verve)
* 1959 ''In Denmark'' (Storyville, 1998)
* 1959 ''At the Jazz Band Ball'' (Rhapsody)
* 1960 ''Dixieland Marching Songs'' (Verve)
* 1961 ''Storyville Nights'' (Verve)

'''With [[Red Allen]]''' 
* 1957 ''[[Red Allen, Kid Ory & Jack Teagarden at Newport]]'' (Verve)

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
* <ref name="aar">{{Cite web | url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/kid-ory-tailgate-trombonist-composer | title=Kid Ory, 'tailgate' trombonist & composer | work=African American Registry | access-date=2011-09-28 }}</ref>
}}

==Sources and further reading==
* {{cite book | last=Marcus | first=Kenneth H. | title=Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of a Music Culture, 1880-1940 | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | publication-place=New York | date=2004 | isbn=978-1-4039-6419-9}}
* {{cite book | last=McCusker | first=John | title=Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz | publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi | publication-place=Jackson, Miss | date=2012-08-11 | isbn=978-1-61703-626-2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Kid Ory}}
*[https://syncopatedtimes.com/kid-ory-1886-1973/ Kid Ory] at the Red Hot Jazz Archive
*[https://archive.org/details/AfrsJubilee Jubilee] (Armed Forces Radio Network) at the Internet Archive; program #250 recorded between July and September 1947 includes Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band performing "[[Muskrat Ramble]]" (7:05–10:30)
* [http://www.fellers.se/Kid/1944-45_Orson_Welles.html 1944 Orson Welles Broadcasts] at the Kid Ory Archive
* [http://www.fellers.se/Kid/1945_Jade_Palace.html 1945 Jade Palace] at the Kid Ory Archive
* [http://www.allmusic.com/album/kid-orys-creole-jazz-band-1944-1945-the-legendary-crescent-recording-sessions-mw0000272559 Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band: 1944–1945 The Legendary Crescent Recording Sessions] at [[AllMusic]] ([[Scott Yanow]])
* [https://syncopatedtimes.com/profiles-in-jazz-kid-ory/ Profiles in Jazz: Kid Ory] by [[Scott Yanow]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ory, Kid}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:African-American jazz musicians]]
[[Category:American jazz bandleaders]]
[[Category:American jazz trombonists]]
[[Category:American male trombonists]]
[[Category:Dixieland trombonists]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:People from LaPlace, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Louisiana Creole people]]
[[Category:Vocalion Records artists]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]
[[Category:Okeh Records artists]]
[[Category:Verve Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American trombonists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:New Orleans Wanderers members]]
[[Category:Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five members]]
[[Category:Good Time Jazz Records artists]]
[[Category:African-American Catholics]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]
[[Category:Red Hot Peppers members]]