Louis Nelson

Louis Nelson Hall ( born September 17, 1902 in New Orleans, † April 5, 1990 in New Orleans ) was an American jazz trombonist in New Orleans Tailgate style.

Life

Nelson grew up in Louisiana in Napoleonville. His mother had studied at the Boston Conservatory and was a math teacher, his father a doctor. He played in a local band, got married in 1922 and moved to New Orleans. In the 1920s he played among others with Buddy Petit, Kid Rena, Chris Kelly, Papa Celestin and His Original Tuxedo Orchestra and with Kid Howard. 1928 his wife died ( with whom he had two children), and he joined band of Sidney Desvigne. With it, he played among others in front of white audiences in the New Orleans Country Club and Southern Yacht Club ( and two evenings only for black audience ) and on the Mississippi steamboat SS Capitol. In the Great Depression, he was in a band of government Works Progress Administration and the Second World War in a Navy band. From 1945 he played in the band of Kid Thomas Valentine, which gave him greater notoriety. However, he had to assume even more odd jobs to keep himself afloat. In 1949 he made ​​his recording debut with Big Eye Louis Nelson, Johnny St. Cyr and others.

He played from 1961 to Preservation Hall Orchestra in New Orleans ( and named after band of Billie Pierce and Dee Dee Pierce ), which he continued until shortly before his death as the result of a car accident ( hit and run ). He played twice a week with Kid Sheik and Sundays with his own bands. Nelson was the last surviving musicians from the original Preservation Hall band.

He also played in the Dixieland Hall on Bourbon Street, toured with New Orleans musicians in the world (for example, with George Lewis 1963), and made ​​numerous recordings. He came in many documentaries about New Orleans to speak and taught classic New Orleans jazz in schools.