Ellis Stratakos

Ellis G. Stratakos (* 1903 ; † January 1961 ) was an American jazz trombonist and band leader of New Orleans jazz . He is considered one of the first American jazz musicians of Greek origin.

Live and act

Ellis Stratakos grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi and played the snare drum in a local band. Before 1920 he moved to New Orleans, where he attended African American jazz clubs ; around 1921 Stratakos formed his first band, the New Orleans Louisiana Jazzers . In October 1924 he played as a trombonist in New York with Johnny DeDroit , on whose recordings for OKeh he participated ("Eccentric"); further recordings with his band were made in January 1925 (" When My Sugar Walks Down the Street "). In New Orleans, he directed the Pine Hills Orchestra and the Hotel Jung Orchestra , to which Irving Fazola also belonged, for a time. In early 1929 he recorded the two tracks " A Precious Thing Called Love " and "Weary River" for Vocalion ; in his band played John Hyman (alias Johnny Wiggs , cornet), Howard Reed (cornet), John Reininger, Joe Loyacano (alto saxophone), Eddie Powers (tenor saxophone), Joe Wolfe (piano), Fred Loyacano (guitar, vocals), Dave Fridge (tuba) and Von Gammon (drums). In the field of jazz he was involved in three recording sessions between 1927 and 1929. In 1919 he led a short-lived orchestra in which 18-year-old Louis Prima also played. In the 1930s he continued to work with his own formations (with Ray Bauduc , among others ). T. were also broadcast by radio. From the 1940s he worked in Gulfport outside of the music business.

Web links

• Ellis Strakatos at Allmusic (English)
• Ellis Stratakos at Discogs (English)
• Ellis Stratakos with orchestra on live broadcast (contemporary photography)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information from Find a Grave
2. ^ ^{A b c} Greek-American Jazz Musicians in the Twentieth Century in GQS
3. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed October 26, 2016)
4. ↑ Garry Boulard: Louis Prima . 1999, p. 15
5. ↑ Fortgrafien his bands  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.