Johnny St. Cyr (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966) was an American jazz

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

ist and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

. 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, probably tenor. There is, however, no verified information if he ever used such an instrument on records. St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised Catholic. He played for several leading New Orleans bands before moving to Chicago in 1923. He is best remembered as a member of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven bands.Johnny St. Cyr (1890–1966)
Red Hot Jazz Archive, accessed 2020-09-01. He also played with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. He composed the standard "Oriental Strut", 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. From 1961 until his death in 1966, St. Cyr was the

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...

of the Young Men from New Orleans, who performed at Disneyland. He died in Los Angeles, California, Johnny St. Cyrat AllMusic, accessed 2010-11-13. and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Los Angeles.

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''Jazz As I Remember It''
St. Cyr's autobiography * * 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 {{US-jazz-guitarist-stub

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