[Dixielandjazz] Alvin

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Alvin Alcorn, 90, N.O. jazz trumpeter 





Thursday July 17, 2003



>From staff and wire reports 


Alvin Alcorn, a traditional jazz trumpeter who played with New Orleans 
musical greats from A.J. Piron to Kid Ory and George Lewis during a career that 
spanned most of the 20th century, died July 10 at Memorial Medical Center. He was 
90. 

Mr. Alcorn's trio, also including a guitar and string bass, strolled among 
the customers at Commander's Palace for many years and is credited with starting 
the tradition of the New Orleans jazz brunch. 

"With the soft music he played, he could do that, because it was not 
disturbing to the diners," his daughter Andrea Naundorf said. 

"He played a sweet trumpet," said Dick Allen, a jazz historian who knew Mr. 
Alcorn since 1949. "But he also played lead. You don't play lead without that 
power." 

Mr. Alcorn explained his success this way: "I always try to reach the public 
when I'm playing. I try to make the people feel happy." 

Alvin E. Alcorn Sr. was born in New Orleans on Sept. 7, 1912, and lived here 
most of his life. 

He began making music at an early age. His older brother Oliver, who played 
clarinet and saxophone, used to rehearse with friends around the house, and 
trumpeter George McCullum gave young Alvin lessons. 

"I started gigging around the city," Mr. Alcorn recalled years later. "I 
played with Armand Piron and with the Henry Allen Sr. and the Excelsior brass 
bands, passing for (being older). I went in the musicians' union when I was 15 
years old. That put me in a category where I could work with some of the finer 
musicians." 

Mr. Alcorn was active in the union for many years, serving as a vice 
president of the segregated union for black musicians and later on the executive board 
of the integrated union. 

His first job on the road was with Clarence Desdune's Joyland Revelers, 
joining the band in Omaha, Neb., for a summer on McCullum's recommendation. 

Returning to New Orleans, he began working with several groups, including 
A.J. Piron, and spent a year playing at a dance hall with Captain John Handy's 
band. 

In 1931, Mr. Alcorn married Lulsbia Joseph, whom he had met while attending 
Thomy Lafon Elementary School. They had seven children. 

In 1932, Mr. Alcorn went to San Antonio to join the Don Albert Band, a large 
swing band that traveled around the country and made several recordings. 
Within a short time, Albert turned over the first trumpet's chair to Mr. Alcorn, 
who had become known for the beauty of his tone and for never missing or 
cracking a note -- a reputation that stayed with him, jazz historians Clive Wilson 
and Paige Van Vorst said. 

Returning to New Orleans in 1937, Mr. Alcorn played the summer season on the 
steamer President with Piron, then joined the Sidney Desvigne Orchestra, with 
which he stayed for several years. His colleagues there included well-known 
musicians such as Louis Cottrell, Louis Barbarin, Waldren "Frog" Joseph and 
Louis Nelson. 

In 1951, Mr. Alcorn began playing at the Paddock Lounge on Bourbon Street 
with Papa Celestin's band, an engagement that led to his collaboration with 
trombonist Kid Ory. 

"We went to the Beverly Cavern on the West Coast for a month, replacing Ory," 
he recalled. "Toward the end of our stay, Kid Ory came into the club and 
asked me to join his band right away. He'd asked me back during the war, but I 
couldn't go at that time." 

Mr. Alcorn spent four years with Ory, taking part in many recording sessions 
and a European tour and appearing in the film "The Benny Goodman Story." 

Back in New Orleans once again, Mr. Alcorn was in demand for the rest of his 
life, working with Albert "Papa" French at Dixieland Hall, George Lewis at 
Preservation Hall and Cottrell at Heritage and Economy halls and Crazy Shirley's. 


He also went on several more overseas tours and recorded with his trio, Lewis 
and other bands before retiring about 1990. 

Mr. Alcorn's wife died in November at 88. Survivors include four daughters, 
L. Alva Willis of Los Angeles, Luticha A. Perkins of River Ridge, Andrea A. 
Naundorf and Alcornette A. August; a sister, Elnora Knott; 16 grandchildren; and 
18 great-grandchildren. 

A funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Peck United Methodist Church, 
3631 Washington Ave., with many jazz musicians and the Society Brass Band 
participating. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Providence 
Memorial Park. 





Alvin Alcorn