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* September 7 1912 New Orleans, La
† July 10 2003 New
Orleans, La
Instrument: trumpet
Brother of clarinet and saxophone player Oliver. Alvin's son
Samuel also played with the Imperial.
Alvin Alcorn, a traditional jazz trumpeter who played with New
Orleans musical greats from A.J. Piron to Kid Ory and
George Lewis during a
career that spanned most of the 20th century, died July 10 at Memorial Medical
Centre. He was 90.
Mr. Alcorn's trio, also including a guitar and string bass,
strolled among the customers at Commander's Palace for many years and is
credited with starting the tradition of the New Orleans jazz brunch. "With the
soft music he played, he could do that, because it was not disturbing to the
diners," his daughter Andrea Naundorf said. "He played a sweet trumpet," said
Dick Allen, a jazz historian who knew Mr. Alcorn since 1949. "But he also
played lead. You don't play lead without that power."
Mr. Alcorn explained his success this way: "I always try to
reach the public when I'm playing. I try to make the people feel happy."
Alvin E. Alcorn Sr. was born in New Orleans on Sept. 7, 1912,
and lived here most of his life. He began making music at an early age. His
older brother Oliver, who played clarinet and saxophone, used to rehearse with
friends around the house, and trumpeter
George McCullum sr. gave young Alvin
lessons. "I started gigging around the city," Mr. Alcorn recalled years later.
"I played with Armand Piron and with the
Henry Allen Sr. and the Excelsior brass
bands, passing for (being older). I went in the musicians' union when I was 15
years old. That put me in a category where I could work with some of the finer
musicians." Mr. Alcorn was active in the union for many years, serving as a vice
president of the segregated union for black musicians and later on the executive
board of the integrated union. His first job on the road was with Clarence Desdune's Joyland Revellers, joining the band in Omaha, Neb., for a summer on
McCullum's sr. recommendation. Returning to New Orleans, he began working with
several groups, including A.J. Piron, and spent a year playing at a dance hall
with Captain John Handy's band. In 1931, Mr. Alcorn married Lulsbia Joseph, whom
he had met while attending Thomy Lafon Elementary School. They had seven
children. In 1932, Mr. Alcorn went to San Antonio to join the Don Albert Band, a
large swing band that travelled around the country and made several recordings.
Within a short time, Albert turned over the first trumpet's chair to Mr. Alcorn,
who had become known for the beauty of his tone and for never missing or
cracking a note -- a reputation that stayed with him, jazz historians Clive
Wilson and Paige Van Vorst said.
Returning to New Orleans in 1937, Mr. Alcorn played the summer
season on the steamer President with Piron, then joined the Sidney Desvigne
Orchestra, with which he stayed for several years. His colleagues there included
well-known musicians such as Louis Cottrell, Louis Barbarin, Waldren "Frog"
Joseph and Louis Nelson. In 1951, Mr. Alcorn began playing at the Paddock Lounge
on Bourbon Street with Papa Celestin's band, an engagement that led to his
collaboration with trombonist Kid Ory. "We went to the Beverly Cavern on the
West Coast for a month, replacing Ory," he recalled. "Toward the end of our
stay, Kid Ory came into the club and asked me to join his band right away. He'd
asked me back during the war, but I couldn't go at that time." Mr. Alcorn spent
four years with Ory, taking part in many recording sessions and a European tour
and appearing in the film "The Benny Goodman Story." Back in New Orleans once
again, Mr. Alcorn was in demand for the rest of his life, working with Albert
"Papa" French at Dixieland Hall, George Lewis at Preservation Hall and Cottrell
at Heritage and Economy halls and Crazy Shirley's.
He also went on several more overseas tours and recorded with
his trio, Lewis and other bands before retiring about 1990. Mr. Alcorn's wife
died in November at 88. Survivors include four daughters, L. Alva Willis of Los
Angeles, Luticha A. Perkins of River Ridge, Andrea A. Naundorf and Alcornette A.
August; a sister, Elnora Knott; 16 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. A
funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Peck United Methodist Church, 3631
Washington Ave., with many jazz musicians and the Society Brass Band
participating. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Providence
Memorial Park.
Source:
http://www.jazzworld.btinternet.co.uk/alcorn.htm
According to Wilbert Tillman the
first job in which Alvin Alcorn played with the Excelsior Brass Band, was the
funeral of baritone horn and trombone player Gus Metcalf. If the memory of
Alvin Alcorn was write, this took place in 1929.
Sources
(internet):
Sources (brassband history):
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