The path of Creole multi-instrumentalist Frank "Big Boy" Goudie (b. 1899 Lafayette, LA 1899 – d. 1964 San Francisco, CA) parallels the history of Jazz itself: origin in Louisiana, migration to Europe, transition to Swing, integration with Latin music, the New Orleans revival and the introduction of Bop. Big Boy played saxophone, trumpet and clarinet in New Orleans, Texas, Mexico, Argentina, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Switzerland, Berlin and San Francisco.
Curiously, Goudie has remained almost completely overlooked by Jazz History until now, barely mentioned in the music chronicles. Yet mounting evidence firmly places him at the heart of a European Golden Age of Jazz and Swing. All of the music offered below was recorded in France or Paris between the two world wars, excepting the premier of an unrecorded waltz composed by Goudie.
Clip A – Introduction 1 and 1939 recordings
A Big Life
Goudie (pronounced “goody”) was tall and handsome, a cultured gentleman with advanced musical skills, fluent in French and Portuguese. He was large and broad with a massive frame, at least six feet
