Alvin Alcorn

Alvin Alcorn delivered straightforward yet often outstanding trumpet work alongside Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band from 1954 to 1956, sessions captured by Good Time Jazz and later reissued through the Original Jazz Classics series. An assured ensemble leader with a pleasing tone, he moved fluidly between restraint and force, driving groups toward climactic peaks. Instruction in music theory from his brother shaped his formative period, which remained lively despite scant surviving documentation. In New Orleans he freelanced, appearing with Armand J. Piron's Sunny South Syncopators from 1930 to 1931, then joined Don Albert's Texas-based swing band for tours spanning 1932 to 1937; the single recording date from those years yielded no solos from him. From 1937 onward he remained active in New Orleans, performing with ensembles directed by Paul Barbarin, Sidney Desvigne, Oscar Celestin in 1951, and Octave Crosby. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1954 to work with Ory produced four albums widely regarded as the strongest of his output. Upon his return to New Orleans in 1956, Alcorn maintained steady engagements with local bands through the 1980s and made several European tours, one of them alongside Chris Barber in 1978. All subsequent recordings, aside from a Verve session with George Lewis, appeared on small labels and suffered from inconsistent sound quality as well as the trumpeter's waning powers, yet his contributions with Kid Ory secure his standing as a New Orleans legend.