FEATURE

One of the most influential musicians in early jazz, Kid Ory is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist with Greg Poppleton, in a series of broadcasts from 1949 and 1954.

PHANTOM DANCER

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 5 March) and past Phantom Dancers at 2ser.com.
You can hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

KID ORY

Kid Ory was born in 1886 and began playing music on homemade instruments. By his teens he was leading a well-regarded band in southeast Louisiana. He was one of the most influential trombonists of early jazz.

In New Orleans in the 1910s, Ory’s band included such leading jazz stars as King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone and Louis Armstrong.

TAILGATE

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 cornets.

LOS ANGELES

Ory moved to Los Angeles in 1919 and in 1921 recorded the first jazz records there. The Ory broadcasts you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer come from Los Angeles in 1949 and San Francisco in 1954.

BENNY GOODMAN

Ory moved to Chicago in 1925 where he was very active. He worked and recorded with Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. He mentored Benny Goodman and, later, Charles Mingus.

During the Great Depression Ory retired from music and did not play again until 1943. He ran a chicken farm in California. From 1944 to about 1961 he led one of the top New Orleans–style bands of the period which we hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Ory band was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making popular 1940s radio broadcasts, including The Orson Welles Almanac program.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is Kid Ory filmed playing Tiger Rag in 1959 at Salle Pleyel in Paris. Enjoy.

5 MARCH PLAY LIST