I have known Sid Bailey for many years and the starting point was the small contributions that I could make on Sid´s fantastic Ory Discography. The idea of forming a Kid Ory website had been growing slowly between Sid and me. Not until recently I felt ready to go ahead and the starting point was the purchase of a iMAC computer and the use of the iweb program, both being amazing tools for its purpose.

Louis Iosub delivered a lot of information to our archive and he was invited as a regular member. Louis is a great researcher and we are happy to have him aboard.

Recently we invited the world famous Kid Ory researcher to our archive - John McCusker - and we are very proud that he agreed to join us.

Kid Ory is the great jazz pioneer who had been given too less credit and too less exposure in the media in my mind. Of course the literature is full of descriptions of various aspects on Ory´s life but we felt there is no comprehensive homepage which is devoted to nice reading, interesting photos, movies, maps and information.

In my mind, the  trumpet player  formed the style of the band at a given time period, with supervision of Ory.

Carey was the master of the old New Orleans style where collective improvisation was the characteristic style.

Then Blakeney, Buckner and Alcorn came along and introduced a more hot and expressive style with trumpet solos.

Marsala joined the band mainly on the Verve records and followed the tradition of the hot style.

In my personal mind, Allen was the ultimate trumpet player for the band and he introduced a breathtaking mixture of New Orleans and Swing to the band. There seemed to be no limit for Allen´s creativity and he dragged Ory along on that trail.

Finally Jefferson closed the circle by turning back to the more collective New Orleans style.

Several other trumpet players, like Armstrong, made guest appearances with the band and of course took over the command as usual.

Suggestions and comments are welcome at

christer@fellers.se

I first became aware of Christer Fellers as the trumpet player with Stockholm's Imperial band.  Back in the sixties this band gained cult status in Sweden featuring as it did then clarinettist Orange Kellin and pianist Lars Edegran both of whom are now well known New Orleans residents.

Christer contacted me through the now sadly defunct “Footnote” magazine and provided me with invaluable help back in 1996 when I was first compiling the Kid Ory discography “Greatest Slideman Ever Born”.

Since then we have kept in touch by letter and E-mail and I arranger for him to come to England where he played a short tour with my band along the South Coast jazz clubs. In 2004 Christer organised a reciprocal visit for me to come to Sweden and present a power-point lecture to the Swedish Bunk Johnson Society. After the talk we played together again, and also later at a very enjoyable session at the Stampen jazz club in Stockholm.

When he came up with the idea of a website dedicated to Kid Ory, I was delighted to help and I willingly donated all my photos, posters and cuttings to his on-line scrapbook. 

It is now seventeen years since I compiled that discography, which is now long out of print, so I felt the time was ripe for a rewrite. I have incorporated the new material, issues and information that has come to light since then, and by omitting the EP, LP, and Cassette listings, I adopted a different layout. Incorporating nine appendices and utilising the now available colour printing I have printed the fourth edition of “Greatest Slideman Ever Born”. This is now available for £20.00 plus packing and postage, by contacting me at:

Sid Bailey, 35 Edgehill Way, Portslade, East Sussex, BN41 2PU England.

Or on line at richardsbailey@talktalk.net.

Finally I would like to thank Christer for his enthusiasm, skill on the computer and  hard work that has made this site what it is now. I look forward to other enthusiasts of Kid Ory's music opening their files, and sharing their collections and information with him.

I received my first Kid Ory record back in the late sixties, when I was in my teens. It was the Kid Ory favorites LP and it turned me on to Kid Ory. Still, it took me another 20 years before I bought my next Kid Ory records. When I found those two CDs in the bargain bin of my local supermarket, I could not resist. They turned me on for the second time, and New Orleans Creole jazz started blowing again in my home. From then on, I had to collect every other Kid Ory record I could find. I also tried to gather information about his career, the bands he played in and the sidemen who played in his bands. These were difficult to find. I became increasingly frustrated, even more so as there was no website devoted to the Kid. That is until Christer and Sid created this site. I soon began flooding them with questions, which they kindly answered, which in turn prompted more searches. Soon, files also started to go back and forth, until Sid and Christer invited me to join their team of devoted Woodlanders.

I am glad and honoured to be part of this project and to be able to both increase my knowledge about Kid Ory and his bands, and to make it available to any and every music fan willing to investigate them.

If anyone wants to get in touch and share info or more, please feel free to do so, wether in english or french, at  louis.iosub@laposte.net

Finally, a personal note : I have been a wannabe drummer for 40 years. Now that I' ve resigned my job, I may find some time to practice and become able to hold a simple rhythm within the next few years. That is, when I finish converting the attic, and turning the wasteland around the house into a well tended garden.

I first became interested in Kid Ory in 1994 when I found his baptismal certificate at St. Peter's Church in St. John the Baptist parish. I have researched his life since then compiling oral history and vital statical data including the census, death and birth records and tax assessments.    In 2000 Babette Ory entrusted me with Ory's unpublished biography. By combining the research with the stories I was able to place dates and places for major events in Ory's life. The result is my upcoming book, "Creole Trombone: The Early Life of Kid Ory."

Louis, Christer and Sid have been a big help and Sid's discography was at my side throughout.

I am happy to join the site.