Wilbur De Paris

Wilbur DeParis earned recognition less as a standout soloist than as a strong ensemble musician and a pivotal bandleader who sustained New Orleans jazz through the 1950s. He began on alto horn, took up C-melody saxophone for work with A.J. Piron in 1922, and soon made the trombone his permanent instrument. In 1925 he led his own group in Philadelphia; subsequent engagements placed him in the orchestras of Leroy Smith in 1928, Dave Nelson, Noble Sissle, Edgar Hayes, Teddy Hill from 1936 to 1937, the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and Louis Armstrong from 1937 to 1940. Although overshadowed by his brother, the gifted trumpet soloist Sidney DeParis, Wilbur performed with Roy Eldridge’s big band and with Duke Ellington between 1945 and 1947, then recorded alongside Sidney Bechet in 1949 and 1950. His defining moment arrived in 1951 when he assembled a band for an engagement at Ryan’s that featured both his brother and clarinetist Omer Simeon. Under the name Wilbur DeParis’ New New Orleans Jazz Band the group moved beyond Dixieland standards to interpret marches, pop tunes, and hymns as buoyant, swinging jazz. Throughout the 1950s the ensemble produced a steady stream of spirited recordings for Atlantic—now long out of print—while serving as the house band at Ryan’s from 1951 to 1962 and undertaking a tour of Africa in 1957. DeParis continued to direct ensembles until his death, although his final recordings date from 1961.