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* 1895 White Castle La. (1887)16
† Jul 4, 1931 New Orleans La.
Born as: Joseph Crawford
As a brass band musician he played with:
Buddie Petit,
Tuxedo Brass Band
Buddie Petit was, at the height of his powers, considered
one of the greatest of the New Orleans cornet players. Although he never
recorded, many of the second and third generations of Crescent City jazzman
revered him and got their professional start in his many bands.
Petit was born Joseph Crawford in 1895 in White Castle, a small town about one
hundred miles west of New Orleans. His father died while he was still a young
man and his mother decided to move to New Orleans around the turn of the
century. Soon after arriving she married trombonist Joseph Petit. Buddie took
his stepfather’s surname and, to avoid confusion with Petit Sr, changed his
first name to Buddie.
He began playing music shortly after moving to New Orleans, presumably after
hearing his stepfather, learning from one of jazz's most infamous characters,
Bunk Johnson. Many of the later day New Orleanian trumpeters like
Lee Collins
and Punch Miller recalled Petit’s style as modeled very closely on Bunk’s.
By age 20, Petit’s reputation as a solid player was firmly established and in
1917 Petit and trombonist Frankie Dusen headed west for Los Angeles to join
Jelly Roll Morton’s band. The experience was apparently not a great one, and
Petit returned to New Orleans refusing to tour outside of the gulf coast again.
Buddie continued to lead successful dance and brass bands for the next several
years and, unusual for a band leader, always played second cornet. Collins did
recall that during funeral processions on the way back from the cemetery Petit
would take solos. One of Louis Armstrong earliest band experiences was playing
second-line cornet in one of Petit’s marching bands.
During the later part of his life, Buddie seems to have been relatively inactive
in music and died in 1931. Louis Armstrong was one of the pall-bearers at
Petit’s funeral. Unfortunately, there are no known recordings featuring the
great cornetist. i1
"Played for a while on the
riverboats and lake steamers about 1931 and died, according to accounts, from
the effects of overeating at a July 4 picnic"16
 1916
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