Picou, Alphonse (Floristan)
Picou, Alphonse (Floristan)
Picou, Alphonse (Floristan), seminal early jazz clarinetist, composer; b. New Orleans, La., Oct. 19,1878; d. there, Feb. 4,1961. He was gigging from about the age of 16, during the late 1890s played in the Lyre Club Symphony Orch., and with Oscar DuConge, Bunk Johnson, Dave Peyton, Wooden Joe Nicholas, and Manuel Perez. Between 1900 and 1915, he worked with the Excelsior Brass Band and Freddie Keppard’s Olympia Band; he played briefly in Chicago with Manuel Perez at the Arsonia Cafe (c. 1917), returned to New Orleans, worked for John Robichaux, the Golden Leaf Orch., and Tuxedo Brass Band. Composed tunes for King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. Played regularly until 1932, then returned to his original trade as a tin-smith. More active from the early 1940s, and in the late 1940s worked with Papa Celestin. Made records with Kid Rena and Papa Celestin featuring the famous clarinet solo from the march, High Society, which he had originally adapted from the piccolo part that was published in 1902. He led a small group in the 1950s and made special appearances with the Eureka Band in the late 1950s, but was mainly active in helping his daughter manage the various properties that he owned in New Orleans. He died at his daughter’s home above Picou’s Bar; his funeral was one of the most elaborate ever seen in the city.
—John Chilton/Lewis Porter