Zue Robertson

Who was Zue Robertson?

Zue Robertson was an American early jazz trombonist from New Orleans, LA, highly regarded by his contemporaries and credited by music historian Orrin Keepnews as the trombonist who set the standard for all trombonists who followed.

Robertson began touring with Kit Carson's Wild West Show in 1910 and also worked with the legendary trumpeter Manuel Perez. In 1917 Robertson found himself playing in Chicago with such icons as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, W.C. Handy and Dave Peyton. In 1929 he began playing the organ and piano in New York at the Lincoln Theatre and Lafayette Theatre. In 1932 he moved to California and began playing as a bassist.

Robertson's only known jazz recordings are a pair of sides with Jelly Roll Morton in Chicago in 1923; some fellow musicians said Robertson also anonymously recorded a record of virtuoso trombone figures with a brass band in New York City.