Kid Ory

Edward "Kid" Ory (born 1886 in LaPlace, Louisiana; died 1973 in Honolulu, Hawaii) was a pioneering trombonist and bandleader in the early New Orleans jazz tradition. Ory is credited with defining the "tailgate" style of trombone playing: using rhythmic, sliding smears that provided the harmonic foundation for early jazz ensembles. In 1922, operating in Los Angeles, he recorded with his Creole Jazz Band for the Sunshine label, often cited as among the first issued recordings by a Black New Orleans jazz band. Throughout the 1920s in Chicago, he was a key sideman for Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators. While fundamentally a jazz musician, Ory's work frequently intersected with classic blues, regularly backing vocalists and laying the brass groundwork for the post-war R&B horn sections to come.