Hardy, Emmett (Louis)

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Hardy, Emmett (Louis)

Hardy, Emmett (Louis), early jazz cornetist; b. New Orleans, June 12, 1903; d. there, June 16, 1925. He never recorded, but his name lives on due to word-of-mouth and his supposed influence on the young Bix Beiderbecke. Both parents were musicians. He began on piano and guitar, then played cornet from age of 12. At 14 he began playing in Jack “Papa” Laine’s Band. Later he worked with Norman Brownlee’s Orch. He left New Orleans in a band accompanying variety artiste Bea Palmer. He left this band in Davenport, Iowa, and joined Carlisle Evans’s Band on the S.S. Capitol for eight months (1919). He returned to New Orleans and led his own band, then joined Tony Catalino’s Band on S.S. Sydney. He moved to Chicago to augment the New Orleans Rhythm Kings at Friars’ Inn, but after a dispute with the local musicians’ union he returned to New Orleans. He later played briefly with Norman Brownlee’s Orch., and was then inactive for the last year of his life. He suffered from tuberculosis, which led to his early death.

—John Chilton Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter

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Hardy, Emmett (Louis)

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