Late Guitarist Snoozer Quinn Celebrated at Louisiana State Museum

The Louisiana State Museum and the Tulane University Department of Music present “The Search for Snoozer Quinn” from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, March 18 at the U.S. Mint located at 400 Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans. This event celebrates the discovery and preservation of materials related to the great Louisiana jazz guitarist Eddie “Snoozer” Quinn who died in 1949. Free and open to the public, the event will feature a reception with live music by guitarist John Rankin, a short lecture and an exhibition of photographs, instruments and other mementos, as well as the debut of never-before-seen film footage of Quinn.

Called by the late banjoist/guitarist Danny Barker “the best of all time,” Quinn (1907-1949) was a virtuoso violinist, banjoist and guitarist from Bogalusa, La. who played with renowned musicians like Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman and the Dorsey brothers. He had an important role in the development of jazz guitar; he has been called a missing link between country blues guitarists and early jazz soloists like Eddie Lang and George Van Eps.

Following an opening reception featuring live jazz guitar music, a short presentation on Quinn will be offered by Kathryn Hobgood Ray, Quinn"s great-grand-niece and a graduate student in the Department of Music at Tulane. A major focus of her presentation will be on the recovery of materials housed in the archives at the Louisiana State Museum.

This event is being co-sponsored by the Louisiana State Museum and the Department of Music at Tulane with support from the Friends of the Cabildo and the National Film Preservation Foundation. A cash bar reception will help raise funds for the ongoing preservation of films and sound recordings in the museum"s jazz collection.

For more information, visit http://snoozerquinn.com. For interviews, contact Kathryn Hobgood Ray at 504-865-5229 or khobgood@tulane.edu