GEORGE GUESNON

      "Creole" George Guesnon (GAY-NO) was born in New Orleans in 1907. He first starting on the ukulele and then learned to play the banjo tuned like a ukulele.   John Marrero, the banjoist with Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra, was George's first banjo teacher that taught him the tenor banjo. George eventually went on to replace Marrero in Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra.
        Over the years, Guesnon played and recorded with many of the New Orleans' greatest artists, they included George Lewis, Kid Thomas, Jim Robinson, Louis Nelson, and Jelly Roll Morton.
     Guesnon was also an accomplished composer and songwriter. Drummer Alex Bigard once said of George, "He works hard and fills a band with fire, heart and drive. In my book he's the greatest, the perfect chord master and the only guy I've ever known down here in New Orleans who could take a solo on anything in any key."

George Guesnon, with Kid Thomas' Trio
American Music Recordings
AMCD-87