Big Boy Goudie

Who was Big Boy Goudie?

Frank "Big Boy" Goudie was an American jazz trumpeter, alto and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist.

Goudie was born in Youngsville, Louisiana, 150 miles west of New Orleans in the area of the state known as Cajun country, where he lived until age 8. His family then moved to New Orleans, where he began playing cornet, possibly studying with Bunk Johnson. He became proficient enough to find work with local bands such as Papa Celestin's Original Tuxedo Band and the Magnolia Band - two top bands in New Orleans at that time. He began studying clarinet and tenor saxophone, which would eventually become his primary instruments.

Goudie's arrival in New Orleans circa 1907 meant he had a tantalizing front-row seat to the blossoming of early jazz. Musicians such as King Oliver, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Freddie Keppard, Jimmie Noone and a host of others, were in their prime and working at many venues throughout the city, in everything from duos, to six-piece jazz bands, to brass bands. Goudie may even have worked with, or crossed paths with, a young man close to his age, blowing up a storm on cornet - Louis Armstrong.