Biography
Santo Pecora navigated an unusually wide range of professional demands during his time on the New Orleans jazz circuit, demands that many contemporaries from the same locale either could not or would not accommodate. Yet even the limited audience attuned to such accomplishments might find greater intrigue, and certainly more humor, in the matter of his name. Born Santo Pecoraro, he shared that exact name with a cousin who arrived roughly four years afterward; the older musician responded by shortening his own surname. The cousin, who retained the full Pecoraro spelling and worked as a percussionist, later appeared alongside Pecora on several tracks that survive on compilation releases.
Pecora began with French horn in childhood before taking up trombone during his teenage years, an instrument far better suited to the emerging New Orleans styles. His professional start is often traced to an orchestra pit in a silent-movie theater, though he had already played informally for leaders such as Johnny De Droit and Leon Roppolo. Early in the 1920s vocalist Bea Palmer brought him along on a national tour, and by the middle of the decade he had joined the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Chicago, with its intense appetite for the new jazz, drew him as it did many musicians from his region, while theater engagements helped occupy the remaining schedule.
In the 1930s Pecora followed the broader national jazz pattern rather than remaining within strictly New Orleans circles by moving into big-band work, yet he continued to champion Crescent City repertoire when he brought Sharky Bonano’s group to New York City in the middle of the decade. He subsequently relocated to the West Coast, where his sharpened abilities prepared him for studio sessions, including reunions with one-armed trumpeter and bandleader Wingy Manone. Returning to New Orleans in the 1940s, Pecora established himself as a bandleader while still collaborating with Bonano, performing on riverboats, and settling into extended club residencies; by the 1960s his preferred venue was The Dream Room.
Pecora began with French horn in childhood before taking up trombone during his teenage years, an instrument far better suited to the emerging New Orleans styles. His professional start is often traced to an orchestra pit in a silent-movie theater, though he had already played informally for leaders such as Johnny De Droit and Leon Roppolo. Early in the 1920s vocalist Bea Palmer brought him along on a national tour, and by the middle of the decade he had joined the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Chicago, with its intense appetite for the new jazz, drew him as it did many musicians from his region, while theater engagements helped occupy the remaining schedule.
In the 1930s Pecora followed the broader national jazz pattern rather than remaining within strictly New Orleans circles by moving into big-band work, yet he continued to champion Crescent City repertoire when he brought Sharky Bonano’s group to New York City in the middle of the decade. He subsequently relocated to the West Coast, where his sharpened abilities prepared him for studio sessions, including reunions with one-armed trumpeter and bandleader Wingy Manone. Returning to New Orleans in the 1940s, Pecora established himself as a bandleader while still collaborating with Bonano, performing on riverboats, and settling into extended club residencies; by the 1960s his preferred venue was The Dream Room.