Before the rise of Miff Mole, Jimmy Harrison, and especially Jack Teagarden in the late 1920s, Edward “Kid” Ory was the most important influence on other jazz trombonists. His “tailgate” style featured him using his horn to play rhythmic bass lines and harmonies in the front line of freewheeling New Orleans jazz bands, behind the trumpet and clarinet.
While the trombone had been used as a comic foil in vaudeville where it slid all over the place and made humorous sounds, Ory was quite serious about his own playing. Once he had developed his style in the early days, he stuck throughout his career to the percussive role of the trombone, seeing no reason to “modernize” or alter his approach. Since he was a master at what he played and he had his own personal voice on his instrument, why he should try to copy other musical trends?
New Orleans
Kid Ory was born on Dec. 25, 1886, in La Place, Louisiana. He was very interested in music from an early age, performing with a singing group as a youth, and then a band in which the youngsters played homemade instruments. He started on the banjo when he was ten, soon switching to valve trombone and eventually permanently to slide trombone. During Ory’s first visit to New Orleans in 1905, his playing impressed Buddy Bolden so much that Bolden offered him a job. But due to family obligations (he had agreed to stay in La Place suppor
