Alphonse Picou
African American jazz clarinetist (1878–1961)
Alphonse Floristan Picou (October 19, 1878 – February 4, 1961) was an important very early American jazz clarinetist, who also wrote and arranged music. He was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Early life and education
Alphonse Picou was born into a prosperous middle-class Creole of Color family in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. His parents were Alfred Picou and Clotilde (Serpas) Picou, who also had other children: Cecilia, Willie, Feriol, Joseph, and Philomene Picou.
Career
By the age of 16, he was working as a professional musician on both the guitar and clarinet, but then concentrated on the latter instrument. As his family frowned on music being a person's sole trade, Picou trained and worked as a tinsmith, including putting the copper sheeting on church steeples. Soon Picou was so much in demand as a clarinetist that he made most of his living from music.
He played classical music with the Creole section's Lyre Club Symphony Orchestra. He also played with various dance bands and brass bands, including those of Bouboul Fortunea Augustat, Bouboul Valentin, Oscar DuConge, Manuel Perez, Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, the Excelsior Brass Band, the Olympia Brass Band and others. The light-skinned Picou, with majority European ancestry, sometimes worked with white bands as well in his youth, including at least on occasion with Papa Jack Laine.
“Alphonse Picou” enters the record as african American jazz clarinetist (1878–1961). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alphonse, Picou and African can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Alphonse Picou” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alphonse, Picou and African provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2651106. VIAF identifies the subject as 73425373. The Library of Congress control number is no93022663. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1878 and 1961.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alphonse Picou”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alphonse Picou primary sources, Alphonse Picou archive and Alphonse research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alphonse Picou”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alphonse Picou” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.