Johnny St. Cyr[ needs IPA] (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966) [1] was an American jazz banjoist and guitarist. For banjo his by far most used type in records at least was the six string one. On a famous “action photo” with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers he is holding a four string banjo, a Paramount Style A. There is, however, no verified information if he ever used such an instrument on records.[ citation needed]
St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised Catholic. [1] [2] He played for several leading New Orleans bands before moving to Chicago in 1923. [3] He is best remembered as a member of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. [4] He also played with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. [1] He composed the standard "Oriental Strut", [5] known for its adventurous chord sequence.
During the 1950s, he performed and led a group named Johnny St. Cyr and His Hot Five and recorded with Paul Barbarin and George Lewis. [1] From 1961 until his death in 1966, at the age of 76, St. Cyr was the bandleader of the Young Men from New Orleans, [4] who performed at Disneyland. [4] He died in Los Angeles, California, [3] and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Los Angeles. [3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2355. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ "Interview" (PDF). musicrising.tulane.edu. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ a b c Johnny St. Cyr at AllMusic, accessed 2010-11-13.
- ^ a b c Johnny St. Cyr (1890–1966), Red Hot Jazz Archive. Accessed 2020-09-01.
- ^ "Hot Fives, Vol. 1 - Louis Armstrong | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
External links
- Works by or about Johnny St. Cyr at Internet Archive
- Jazz As I Remember It, St. Cyr's autobiography
- Johnny St. Cyr at Find a Grave
- Johnny St. Cyr discography at Discogs
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- 1890 births
- 1966 deaths
- American jazz bandleaders
- American jazz banjoists
- American jazz guitarists
- American banjoists
- African-American banjoists
- African-American guitarists
- Burials at Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles
- 20th-century American musicians
- Guitarists from Louisiana
- American male guitarists
- 20th-century guitarists
- 20th-century American male musicians
- American male jazz musicians
- Jazz musicians from New Orleans
- New Orleans Wanderers members
- Red Hot Peppers members
- Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five members
- Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven members
- Southland Records artists
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- Converts to Methodism from Roman Catholicism
- American jazz guitarist stubs