Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Emanuel Sayles was born on January 31, 1907 in Pensacola, Florida and played violin and viola as a child, then taught himself banjo and guitar. After high school he relocated to New Orleans and played with William Ridgely’s Tuxedo Orchestra. Following this he worked with Fate Marable, Armand Piron and Sidney Desvigne on Mississippi riverboats.
In 1929 he participated in recordings with the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight, then moved to Chicago in 1933, where he led his own group and worked often as an accompanist on blues and jazz recordings with Roosevelt Sykes and others.
Returning to New Orleans in 1949 Emanuel played with George Lewis and toured Japan in 1963-64. He also played with Sweet Emma Barrett, and Punch Miller in Cleveland in 1960, then back to Chicago to play in the house band at Jazz Ltd. Club from 1965-67. Returning once more to New Orleans in 1968, he played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Sayles recorded as a sideman with Peter Bocage, Kid Thomas Valentine, Earl Hines and Lewis Cottrell, and as a leader recorded extensively as a leader in the 1960s for GHB, Nobility, Dixie and Big Lou record labels. Emanuel Sayles, master banjoist, passed away on October 5, 1986.
