George Girard (October 7, 1930 – January 18, 1957) was a

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

. He was known for his great technical ability, playing in a style that combined traditional New Orleans

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

jazz with the

big-band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

-style trumpet, and a member of the Basin Street Six. Girard was born in

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Jefferson Parish () is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, Louisiana, Gretna, its largest community is ...

. In highschool he studied music under

Johnny Wiggs Johnny Wiggs (born John Wigginton Hyman, July 25, 1899 - October 10, 1977) was a jazz musician and band leader. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Wiggs started his music career on the violin. He soon adopted the cornet and moved ...

and became a professional musician immediately after graduating in 1946. He played and toured with the bands of

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and Phil Zito before cofounding the band The Basin Street Six, made up mostly of friends he had grown up with, including clarinetist

Pete Fountain Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. (July 3, 1930 – August 6, 2016), known professionally as Pete Fountain, was an American jazz clarinetist. Early life and education LaFontaine was born to Pierre, Sr. and Madeline, in a small Creole cottage-style fr ...

. The band got a regular gig at L'Enfant's Restaurant in New Orleans, as well as regular

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

broadcasts over WWL. The band started receiving favorable national attention, but Girard was dissatisfied with it and broke up the band in 1954 to found his own band, George Girard & the New Orleans Five which included trombonist Bob Havens, drummer Paul Edwards, and bassist Bob Coquille. Girard landed a residency at the Famous Door in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

, recorded for several labels, and got a weekly broadcast on CBS's affiliated local radio station WWL. The broadcasts, from O'Dwyer's on Jefferson Highway, were recorded and made available through the AFRTS. Girard had ambitions to make a national name for himself (and according to many fellow musicians the musical ability to do so), but became ill and had to give up playing in 1956. Girard died from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

islandnet.com - ''Dixielandjazz - Early Pete Fountain, George Girard, Plus Bobcats Marches''
/ref> in New Orleans on January 18, 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, George Dixieland trumpeters American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Jazz musicians from New Orleans 1930 births 1957 deaths Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United States 20th-century American trumpeters 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Basin Street Six members