Tom "Kid" Albert (December 23, 1877 – December 12, 1969) was a

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 major ...

violinist, trumpeter and band leader from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He began his musical career in the 1890s working with the bands violinist Johnny Gould, with "Big Eye"

Louis Nelson Delisle "Big Eye" Louis Nelson Delisle (January 28, 1885 – August 20, 1949) was an American early twentieth-century Dixieland jazz clarinetist in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He also played double bass, banjo, and accordion. Early life and e ...

on clarinet. From 1908 to 1949 he led his own band and also became one of the founding members of the

Eureka Brass Band The Eureka Brass Band was a brass band from New Orleans, active from 1920 to 1975, that recorded prolifically for Atlantic Records, Pax, Alamac, Folkways, Jazzology, and Sounds of New Orleans. The group's membership varied at any given time, u ...

Biography

Tom Albert was born on a plantation field in

Plaquemines Parish Plaquemines Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Plaquemine'', Louisiana French: ''Paroisse des Plaquemines'', es, Parroquia de Caquis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish ...

, on December 23, 1877. He later relocated to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

sometime in his early childhood, settling in the Algiers neighborhood. Tom lived in a run-down shack on Saux Lane, an impoverished strip nearby the Naval station. He initially played the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

before learning how to play the violin. He was taught basic methods for each instrument by

Jimmy Palao James Palao (February 19, 1879 – January 8, 1925) was an American jazz musician. Early life Palao was born in Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 19, 1879. His parents were Felix Palao and Clotile Rebecca Spriggs. Jimmy had violin ...

. Soon after he mastered the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

and the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. The first band Albert was in was his own which included

Papa Celestin Oscar Phillip Celestin (January 1, 1884 – December 15, 1954) better known by stage name Papa Celestin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Life and career Celestin was born in Napoleonville, Louisiana, to a Creole family, son of a s ...

and

Manuel Manetta Manuel "Fess" Manetta (October 3, 1889 – October 10, 1969) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. Early life Manetta was born in New Orleans (district of Algiers) on October 3, 1889. He was of African and Italian descent."Subversive Sounds: ...

. In 1920, he founded the

. During the earlier years, Albert's band played in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

with Henry Red Allen Sr. Band. In his late thirties, Albert moved across the river to the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...

and reformed his band, branding it ""Kid Albert Band." The band then began performing in several halls around the city, mostly in the Storyville and Treme sections. For a decade, kid Albert Band played alongside

pioneers

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Kid Thomas Valentine Kid Thomas (1896–1987), born Thomas Valentine, was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Kid Thomas was born in Reserve, Louisiana and came to New Orleans in his youth. In the early 1920s, he gained a reputation as a hot trumpet man. Sta ...

and other small brass bands but never recorded. In 1949 Albert retired from the bands and died on December 12, 1969, at the age of 91.

References

{{Reflist 1877 births 1969 deaths American male jazz musicians 19th-century American male musicians 20th-century American male musicians American jazz violinists