Klarinet Archive - Posting 000624.txt from 1995/03

From: edgar pearlstein <e_p@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Alphonse Picou
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 20:52:46 -0500

: I was wondering if anyone could tell me about the great New Orleans
: clarinettist Alphonse Picou. I'm interested in any biographical

There is a paragraph on Alphonse Picou in Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia
of Jazz. He was born in 1878 in New Orleans, and did a lot of playing
before there was much jazz recording. Pretty well retired in 1932, but
came back to play with Kid Rena in 1940 and Papa Celestin in 1947.
Apparently he was still alive when Feather's book was written. The
copyright year is 1960. His address was given as: Picou's Bar &
Restaurant, 1601 Urselines Avenue, New Orleans.
The Jazz Record Book shows a group of eight sides recorded in 1940 with
Kid Rena, by Delta Records (Panama, High Society, Clarinet Marmalade,
Milneburg Joys, Get It Right, Weary Blues, GEttysburg MArch, and Low Down
Blues.) These same sides, apparently, are on an LP: Kid Rena's Jazzband,
Circle L409. Feather's book has him on an LP: New Orleans Legends,
Riverside 119. The old Folkways Jazz series, volume 3, has Kid Rena's
Gettysburg March. I have a 78 rpm record of Celestin with Picou: High
Society and When the Saints Go Marching In. I didn't find any reference
to recordings before 1940.
.