Maurice Durand

Here's a little more about Maurice Durand, Willie Humphrey's co-leader of the Durand-Humphrey band. 

Durand was born in St. Bernard Parish just east of New Orleans in 1893. As mentioned in the previous post, he studied with Professor Jim Humphrey, but was a protégé of Manuel Perez. He often played second cornet with Perez on parades, and he modeled his style after that of the more famous cornetist. It is said that Durand's technique and power were such that Perez dispensed with the hiring of the customary third cornet for brass band jobs when Durand was the second cornetist. Durand played with the Excelsior, Onward, Tuxedo, Imperial, Terminal, and Eureka brass bands (practically all of the great early New Orleans brass bands), as well as dance jobs. According to saxophonist Harold Dejan, 

Maurice Durand had his own little band too, so I played with him too. Durand lived on Deslonde Street in the 9th Ward and used to get all the jobs down St. Bernard Parish. During the day he worked at a broom factory. He played on all the weddings and St. Joseph Day parties. Maurice used to play in the Alley Cabaret by the St. Bernard Market, that's on Clairborne and St. Bernard and in the back was the Alley Cabaret. 

During World War I, Durand was in the army, playing with the New Orleans-based 816th Pioneer Regimental Brass Band, led by cornetist Amos White. The band, which saw service in England and France, already had enough cornetists, so White switched Durand to E-flat clarinet and gave him lessons on the instrument. Sometime during their stint in France, he switched to trumpet - his first time playing that instrument rather than its cousin, the cornet.

Victory Arch, Ninth Ward

Durand's military service earned him a spot on an impressive monument in his old neighborhood. On Burgundy Street in the Ninth Ward's Bywater neighborhood there is a large arch, erected in 1919 "by the people of this the Ninth Ward in honor of its citizens who were enlisted in combative service and in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the triumph of right over might in the Great World War." There is a website on the monument and its history here. There are four brass plaques on the arch, listing the names of all the World War I veterans from the Ninth Ward. Of course, given the year it was erected, the names are separated by race; three of the plaques contain the names of the white soldiers who served, while one honors the "colored" soldiers. Maurice Durand's name is included on that plaque.

Durand became frustrated with the meagre Depression-era wages he was earning as a musician, and gave up playing in 1933. He moved to San Francisco in 1944.

Maurice Durand's name on the Victory Arch

Jazz historian Bill Russell tracked down Durand in 1958, and recorded an interview (see link below). During the interview, Russell persuaded him to play a little trumpet, and Durand consented to play 16 measures of "I'm Confessing." His lip is out of shape, but you can tell that he once had an impressive command of the instrument. That brief glimpse of Durand's playing was included on the CD which accompanies Richard H. Knowles' Fallen Heroes: A History of New Orleans Brass Bands.

Maurice Durand died in San Francisco in 1961. 

Sources: 

William Russell: interview with Maurice Durand, August 22, 1958; Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University. 

Richard H. Knowles:  Fallen Heroes: A History of New Orleans Brass Bands; Jazzology Press, 1996.

Mick Burns: The Great Olympia Band; Jazzology Press, 2001.

The Harold Dejan quote was taken from a brass band history page on the Hurricane Brand Band (Netherlands) website which has now disappeared.