Nunez, Alcide “Yellow”

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Nunez, Alcide “Yellow”

Nunez, Alcide “Yellow”, pioneering jazz clarinetist; b. New Orleans, March 17, 1884; d. New Orleans, Sept. 2, 1934. Originally a guitarist, he switched to clarinet in 1902 and worked regularly with Papa Jack Laine, Tom Brown. In March 1916, he went to Chicago with drummer Johnny Stein’s band. He left with three other members of that band to form the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. After a dispute with Nick LaRocca he ceased working with the O.D.J.B. on Oct. 31, 1916. He led his own band for a while, then toured in vaudeville with Bert Kelly’s Band, and then joined Anton Lada’s Louisiana Five, appearing on their recordings of 1919–20. During the mid-1920s, he toured with own quartet, and then returned to New Orleans in 1927, where he worked for a while with the local police band.

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