Kid Ory

Edward "Kid" Ory (1886-1973) was a U.S. jazz trombonist and bandleader. ( see other Kid Ory bands ) Ory was born on 25th December 1886 in Woodland Plantation, near LaPlace, Louisiana. He started playing music with home-made instruments in his childhood, and by his teens was leading a band well regarded in South-East Louisiana. He kept La Place as his base of operations because of family obligations; on his twenty-first birthday he moved his band to New Orleans, Louisiana. He had one of the best-known bands in New Orleans in the 1910s, hiring many of the greats, including King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Mutt Carey, and Louis Armstrong. He moved to California in 1919 and recorded there in about 1921. In 1925 Ory moved to Chicago, where he was very active in recording with Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and others. Ory retired from music in 1933, and didn't play again until 1943. From 1944 to about 1961 he led one of the top New Orleans bands of the period; Alvin Alcorn, Ed Garland, George Probert, and Don Ewell were among some of his sidemen during this period. He returned to California and in the 1940s and 1950s his band was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans style jazz, making popular radio broadcasts (including on the Orson Welles show) and recordings. Ory is also the composer of numbers including "Muskrat Ramble", "Ory's Creole Trombone", and "Savoy Blues". Ory retired from music in 1966 and spent his last years in Hawaii Kai, Hawaii. He died on 23rd January 1973.