Thomas James Ladnier (May 28, 1900 – June 4, 1939) was an American jazz trumpeter. With a full and rough intonation, greatly influenced by the playing of King Oliver, he was the first of the trumpeters of the second generation of New Orleans jazz to achieve his own rigorous and austere sound. A specialist in blues and in accompanying female vocalists, he was a highly regarded musician in his time. Hugues Panassié – an influential French critic, jazz historian, and renowned exponent of New Orleans jazz – rated Ladnier, sometime on or before 1956, second only to Louis Armstrong.
Ladnier was born in Mandeville, Louisiana – located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, with New Orleans on the opposite shore. Beginning 1914, Ladnier performed in Mandeville's Independence Band at the Dew Drop Dance Hall, led by clarinetist Isidore Frick. Trumpeter Bunk Johnson sometimes played with this band and gave young Ladnier lessons. In 1917, Ladnier moved with his mother to Chicago and worked in the stock yards.
Ladnier married Daisy Mathews on February 1, 1920, in Chicago. Around 1921, he became a professional musician. He played for some time in St. Louis with Charlie Creath. Beginning in 1923, he played in Chicago and made many recordings for Paramount Records with pianist Lovie Austin, accompanying blues singers Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Alberta Hunter.
For some time, Ladnier played with his inspiration, King Oliver. He emulated Oliver's freak style on the solo in "Play that Thing" with Ollie Power's Harmony Syncopators in September 1923. On March 13, 1923, in Chicago, Ladnier's mother, Willie Ladnier died from a gunshot at a party quarrel.
Ladnier joined pianist Sam Wooding in 1925 for an extensive tour of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Russia. This orchestra recorded in Berlin. He returned to New York and became the hot soloist for the Fletcher Henderson orchestra from 1926–1927. He returned to the Sam Wooding Orchestra for another tour of Germany, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, and France, then left in January 1929 to work freelance in Paris.
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| Ladnier in white suit with Sam Wooding's Orchestra |
A short tour with dancer Harry Fleming brought him to Spain, where he met dancer Louis Douglas and joined him in November 1929 in Paris, acting as orchestra leader. He again free-lanced in Paris until summer 1930 when he joined the Noble Sissle dance band, performing in Paris and London.
Tommy Ladnier’s recordings with Paramount Records earned him the name “The Praying Cornet.” During this period, he developed a more direct style inspired by Louis Armstrong, which he later refined into a forerunner of the swing style. Ladnier’s use of syncopations was outstanding and his intensity sometimes overwhelming. In his last recordings his playing is more simplified. Ladnier was a true jazz improviser whose varied playing can be heard in the many alternate take recordings. Tommy Ladnier also learned during his European years that skin colour was not so important there and he loved the “colour-blind” Frenchmen.
He returned to U.S. at the end of 1930 and stayed with Sissle until January 1932. The Sissle orchestra made some recordings in London and New York. Back in America in 1932, Ladnier and Sidney Bechet formed the New Orleans Feetwarmers. During the Depression, they tried to run a tailor shop in Harlem, but neither was interested in business. Ladnier left New York and played in the east, sometimes giving trumpet lessons. For a year, he lived in Stamford, Connecticut.
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| Mezzrow, Panassie & Laddnier |
At age 39, Ladnier, died unexpectedly of a heart attack June 4, 1939, while staying at Mezz Mezzrow's apartment at 1 West 126th Street, which was a six-story, 48-unit residential building in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. It fell upon Mezzrow to take care of Ladnier's belongings and bury him. The memorial service was on Friday, June 9, 1939. Ladnier was buried at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, Staten Island, an African American cemetery.
Despite efforts by Mezzrow and friends, the grave remained unmarked for nearly 69 years until a marker carved from Nero Granite was engraved by Bob Sprauge and was placed on site by Bob Lang in 2008.
(Edited from Wikipedia & blackpast org.)