First released in hardcover back in 2012, we are using the occasion of a paperback edition to bring attention to John McCusker's exciting biography of Edward "Kid" Ory. In under 200 pages it follows Ory through several rural Louisiana locales into New Orleans, then off to the West Coast in 1919, and later to Chicago where in several years as a sideman he would be part of the most seminal recordings in jazz.
McCusker is a reporter and he brings a reporters mindset to the story. After years of investigation, he has the good sense to avoid including every little thing and instead spins a nuts and bolts tale you will remember. He drops you into the 1890s rural plantation life of Ory's youth and the teeming streets of turn of the century New Orleans. The days before TV and AC when public parks bubbled with live entertainments.
Ory's tale begins with him and a musically ambitious group of teenagers making their own instruments and playing wherever they could. This band of friends gradually improves until they can acquire ready-made instruments. Ory starts with banjo and eventually settles in on trombone as the hot music around him shifts from strings to brass. On trips to New Orleans, he watches idol Buddy Bolden and other early hot bands play around town. When his own band is ready they move into the city playing everywhere from brothels to society balls.
Despite being full o
