Waldren "Frog" Joseph (September 12, 1918 – September 19, 2004) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

player from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Career

Joseph played in a variety of styles over his career but was best known as a performer of traditional New Orleans jazz, a style carried by

Preservation Hall Preservation Hall is a jazz venue in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. The building is associated with a house band, a record label, and a non-profit foundation. History of the jazz hall In the 1950s, art dealer Larry Borenstein ...

ensembles. His first job as a teenager was playing

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

, and trombone on an excursion boat on

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

, and he went on to tour with a range of musicians including Joe Robichaux, Sidney Desvigne, and Lee Allen. Joseph also recorded with R&B artists such as Big Joe Turner,

Earl King Earl Silas Johnson IV (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003),
known as Earl King, was an American singer, guit ...

Smiley Lewis A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...

, and

Dave Bartholomew David Louis Bartholomew (December 24, 1918 – June 23, 2019) was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Originally ...

. In the traditional vein, he recorded and toured with New Orleans bandleaders like

Paul Barbarin Adolphe Paul Barbarin (May 5, 1899 – February 17, 1969) was an American jazz drummer from New Orleans. Career Barbarin grew up in New Orleans in a family of musicians, including his father, three of his brothers, and his nephew (Danny Barker) ...

Louis Cottrell, Jr. Louis Albert Cottrell Jr. (March 7, 1911 - March 21, 1978) was a Louisiana Creole jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was the son of the influential drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell ...

, and

Papa French Albert "Papa" French (November 16, 1910 – September 28, 1977) was an American jazz musician, banjo player, and band leader in New Orleans. He was a banjo player in the Original Tuxedo Bras ...

. Late in his life he was a member of the Original Camelia Band led by

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

er Clive Wilson.

Personal life

Joseph was the father of seven children, including

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was designed to be easier to play than ...

player

Kirk Joseph Kirk Joseph (born 1961) is a jazz sousaphone player from New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph, Kirk Joseph began playing the sousaphone while a student at Andrew Bell Middle School, and took part in his first profess ...

and trombonist Charles Joseph.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Waldren 1918 births 2004 deaths Jazz musicians from New Orleans American jazz trombonists Male trombonists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trombonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American people