Guitarist and banjo player Johnny St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 17, 1890. He played in several of the “name bands” in his hometown during the early 20th century before moving to Chicago in 1923. St. Cyr is best-known for his time as a member of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. He also was a member of Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers and composed the traditional jazz standard Oriental Strut.

Riding the wave of the traditional jazz and Dixieland revivals after World War II, Johnny St. Cyr led his own group, Johnny St. Cyr and his Hot Five, throughout most of the 1950s. From 1961 until his death in 1966 St. Cyr led a band called The Young Men of New Orleans which performed regularly at Disneyland. He passed away in Los Angeles on June 17, 1966 and is buried in that city.

Here is a link to Johnny St. Cyr playing solo guitar. The recording was made by Alan Lomax as a part of his Jelly Roll Morton project for the United States Library of Congress in 1938:

"ORIGINAL JELLY ROLL BLUES"