Johnny St. Cyr

Johnny Alexander St. Cyr (born April 17, 1890 in New Orleans , † June 17, 1966 in Los Angeles ) was an American banjo player and guitarist .

Life

St. Cyr started out as a child with a homemade guitar. In 1905 he appeared with his own trio, then alternating with his profession as a plasterer as a banjoist and guitarist in the bands of Armand J. Piron , Martin Gabriel (1913-14) and in the most respected brass bands of New Orleans ( Superior , Olympia Brass Band , Original Tuxedo Jazz Band ). Between 1917 and 1919 he played a self-made six-string guitar banjo with Louis Armstrong on Mississippi River steamers in Fate Marables Band.

In 1923 he went to King Oliver in Chicago . From 1925 to 1927 he was regularly involved in the recordings of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven , but also in the recordings of Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers , Freddie Keppard and other famous musicians of Chicago jazz . He played in the 1920s in Dreamland Orchestra of Doc Cook . In 1930 he returned to New Orleans, worked as a plasterer and only played occasionally, e.g. B. in the groups of Paul Barbarin and Alphonse Picou . In 1955 he moved to Los Angeles and worked full-time as a musician again. From 1961 until his death he directed the Young Men from New Orleans in Disneyland , in which Barney Bigard also played. He also recorded with Barbarin, Lil Hardin Armstrong , Jimmy Noone , Kid Ory , Louis Nelson and Luis Russell .

Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .

personal data
SURNAME	St. Cyr, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	St. Cyr, John Alexander (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American banjo player and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 17, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH	New Orleans
DATE OF DEATH	June 17, 1966
Place of death	los Angeles