Tommy Ladnier

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Thomas J. "Tommy" Ladnier (* 28. May 1900 in Florenceville in Louisiana ; † 4. June 1939 in New York City ) was an American jazz - trumpet . In his famous, but also notoriously unreliable autobiography Really The Blues , clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow describes him as " second only to Louis Armstrong ". Even if this statement is exaggerated, Ladnier is rightly considered one of the most important stylists of his instrument in traditional jazz.

Live and act

Ladnier was born in Florenceville in the US state of Louisiana, but came to the “cradle of jazz” as a teenager, in other words to New Orleans . Like many young musicians of his generation, he left the city after the closure of the Storyville entertainment district in 1917 to pursue a career in the metropolis of Chicago . There he continued to shape his style based on his role models Bunk Johnson and King Oliver , and took part in recordings for the first time in 1923, u. a. with Ida Cox , Monette Moore , Jelly Roll Morton and Ollie Powers .

Tommy Ladnier (seated far left) together with Sam Wooding and his orchestra in 1925

In the same year moved Ladnier to New York to join the big band of Fletcher Henderson to join. Through this extraordinarily renowned commitment he found his way into the eleven-member band of pianist Sam Wooding in 1925 , which at that time was preparing to accompany the revue Chocolate Kiddies on their European tour. During the Berlin guest performance, the young Alfred Lion , who later founded the style-setting label Blue Note Records , heard the American virtuoso.

In the course of the later 1920s and 1930s Ladnier played alternately in the bands of Henderson, Wooding and Noble Sissle , with whom he repeatedly made guest appearances in Europe . This also resulted in recordings for the Swing label . However, he celebrated his greatest musical (and commercial) successes in the mid-30s with the New Orleans Feetwarmers , which he directed together with saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet .

Tommy Ladnier died of a heart attack in New York at the age of only 39 .

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personal data
SURNAME Ladnier, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ladnier, Thomas J. (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician, trumpeter
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Florenceville , Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1939
Place of death New York City