Johnny St. Cyr

Johnny St. Cyr[needs IPA] (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966)[1] was an American jazz banjoist and guitarist. For banjo his by far most used type in records at least was the six string one. On a famous “action photo” with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers he is holding a four string banjo, a Paramount Style A. There is, however, no verified information if he ever used such an instrument on records.[citation needed]

St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised Catholic.[1][2] He played for several leading New Orleans bands before moving to Chicago in 1923.[3] He is best remembered as a member of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven bands.[4] He also played with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers.[1] He composed the standard "Oriental Strut",[5] known for its adventurous chord sequence.

During the 1950s, he performed and led a group named Johnny St. Cyr and His Hot Five and recorded with Paul Barbarin and George Lewis.[1] From 1961 until his death in 1966, at the age of 76, St. Cyr was the bandleader of the Young Men from New Orleans,[4] who performed at Disneyland.[4] He died in Los Angeles, California,[3] and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Los Angeles.[3]

  1. ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2355. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ "Interview" (PDF). musicrising.tulane.edu. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Johnny St. Cyr at AllMusic, accessed 2010-11-13.
  4. ^ a b c Johnny St. Cyr (1890–1966), Red Hot Jazz Archive. Accessed 2020-09-01.
  5. ^ "Hot Fives, Vol. 1 - Louis Armstrong | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved October 12, 2021.