Roy Palmer 1887

Photo Courtesy Hogan Jazz Archive

Trombonista statunitense (New Orleans, Louisiana, 2.4.1887 – Chicago, Illinois, 22.12.1963). Dei suoi inizi non si ha notizia, se non che aveva suonato la chitarra nella Roseal’s Orchestra (1906) e il trombone nei pochi mesi, tra il 1914 e il 1915, in cui aveva fatto parte delle American Stars di Willie Hightower al Cadillac Club.

Nel 1917 lascia per sempre New Orleans e si reca a Chicago per entrare nell’orchestra di Sugar Johnny Smith al Deluxe Café. Alla morte di Smith il gruppo è assunto in blocco da King Oliver, ma Palmer non va d’accordo col cornettista e si mette in proprio. Negli anni ’20 suona con molte formazioni (Doc Watson, Hughie Swift) e si dedica all’insegnamento: il trombonista Preston Jackson sarà suo allievo.

Ha inciso con Jelly Roll Morton (1924), Johnny Dodds (1927), Richard M. Jones (1929) e, nel 1932, abbandona la professione per impiegarsi in una società petrolifera, la Mazola Oil Company. Nel 1940 apre una lavanderia a Chicago, ma continua a impartire lezioni di tromba e trombone.
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[G.C.]

American trombonist (New Orleans, Louisiana, 2.4.1887 - Chicago, Illinois, 22.12.1963). We do not know of his beginnings, except that he had played the guitar in the Roseal 's Orchestra (1906) and the trombone in the few months, between 1914 and 1915, in which he was part of Willie Hightower's American Stars at the Cadillac Club.

In 1917 he left New Orleans forever and went to Chicago to join the Sugar Johnny Smith orchestra at the Deluxe Café. Upon Smith's death, the group was hired en masse by King Oliver, but Palmer did not get along with the cornet player and went on his own. In the 1920s, he played with many bands (Doc Watson, Hughie Swift) and devoted himself to teaching: trombonist Preston Jackson was his pupil.

He recorded with Jelly Roll Morton (1924), Johnny Dodds (1927), Richard M. Jones (1929), and, in 1932, he left the profession to work in an oil company, the Mazola Oil Company. In 1940 he opened a laundry in Chicago but continued to teach trumpet and trombone lessons.
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[G.C.]