Tony Almerico

American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader. Born : August 16, 1905 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Died : December 05, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This trumpeter, bandleader, disc jockey, and just all-around champion of New Orleans jazz comes from the Italian side of that city's musical equation. Almerico was part of the important frontl ine of Italian jazz players, a list that also includes fellow cornet men Joseph Bonano and Peter Lacaze and trombonists Giuseppe Alessandra and Baroque Dominic. Almerico began his musical studies in Jesuit high school, and professionally cut his teeth on the dime-a-dance scene. He began leading his first band in 1936, following nearly a decade of intense sideman work. This included groups such as Slim Lamar & His Southerners, which recorded for in both Memphis, TN and Camden, NJ in the late '20s, and Mart Britt & His Orchestra. Tony Almerico ran a Dixieland club on the corner of. Rue Royale and Canal Street called the Parisian Room. The club was designed to revive an interest in Dixieland and hot jazz and that it did. Arrangements were made with Tony Almerico whereby the NOJC sponsored Sunday afternoon sessions at the Parisian Room , 116 Royal St., a huge dancehall leased by Tony. The club became an immediate success. Through his tours, radio shows, records and the Parisian Room, Tony Almerico became more than a local celebrity. He was the subject of several national magazine articles, many of them lauding his contribution to the revival of Dixieland music in New Orleans