Kid Rena

Kid Rena ranks among New Orleans’ earliest trumpet figures whose skills have slipped almost entirely from public awareness. He shared membership in the Waif’s Home Band with Louis Armstrong and stepped into Armstrong’s chair in Kid Ory’s group during 1919. Whereas Armstrong eventually left the city, Rena spent nearly his entire life in New Orleans, making only a handful of visits to Chicago in the 1920s. He directed his own ensembles, organized the Pacific Brass Band, and appeared regularly as a featured player with the Tuxedo Brass Band. Active until 1947, he stopped performing only when failing health compelled retirement. Rena entered a studio just once, in 1940, and the poorly engineered sides captured him in markedly diminished form—sounding more like an eighty-two-year-old than the forty-two-year-old he actually was—leaving later listeners little reason to recall his name, even though fellow musicians of his day rated his ability highly.