Doc Souchon

'''Edmond "Doc" Souchon''' (October 25, 1897, [[New Orleans]] – August 24, 1968, New Orleans) was an American [[jazz]] guitarist and writer on music. He was a pivotal figure in the historical preservation of [[Dixieland|New Orleans jazz]] in the middle of the 20th century.

Souchon received schooling to become a [[physician]] in [[Chicago]], though he was playing regularly in groups such as the [[Six and Seven Eighths Band]] in the 1910s. He helped oversee a reconstitution of this band in 1945 as a four-piece, and made many recordings of early [[String band (American music)|string band]] tunes through the early 1960s. Alongside this, Souchon recorded with many noted [[Dixieland|New Orleans jazz]] mainstays, such as [[Johnny Wiggs]], [[Sherwood Mangiapane]], [[Papa Jack Laine]], [[Raymond Burke (clarinetist)|Raymond Burke]], and [[Paul Barbarin]].

Souchon was involved early on in the management of the [[New Orleans Jazz Club]], and served as president of the organization early in its existence. He had his own radio program on [[WWL (AM)|WWL]], and edited the journal ''Second Line'' from 1951 until his death in 1968. Aside from his contributions to jazz journals such as ''Jazz'' and ''Jazz Report'', Souchon compiled a photo book with Al Rose entitled ''New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album'', first published in 1967 and subsequently revised in 1978 and 1984.

He helped establish the [[National Jazz Foundation]] in 1942, as well as the [[New Orleans Jazz Museum]] about a decade later. His record collection, which included some 2,000 recordings of New Orleans jazz, was bequeathed to the [[New Orleans Public Library]], and many other music-related materials he collected are now in the possession of the [[Hogan Jazz Archive|William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive]] at [[Tulane University]].

==Discography== * ''[[Doc Souchon and His Milneburg Boys]]'' (1969)

==References== *"Edmond Souchon", ''[[The New Grove|The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz]]''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Souchon, Doc}} [[Category:1897 births]] [[Category:1968 deaths]] [[Category:American jazz guitarists]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans]] [[Category:American music critics]] [[Category:20th-century American guitarists]] [[Category:Guitarists from Louisiana]] [[Category:American male guitarists]] [[Category:20th-century American male musicians]] [[Category:American male jazz musicians]] [[Category:Southland Records artists]]