Birth name Joseph Crawford Instruments Cornet Associated acts Louis Armstrong Occupation(s) Cornettist Genres Jazz | Origin Louisiana, USA Role Musical Artist Also known as Buddy Petit Name Buddie Petit | |
Died July 4, 1931, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States Similar People Louis Armstrong, Manuel Perez, Lorenzo Tio, Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson | ||
Buddie Petit (born Joseph Crawford, ca. 1890? – 4 July 1931), also spelled Buddy Petit, was an American early jazz cornetist.
His early life is somewhat mysterious, with dates of his birth given in various sources ranging from 1887 to 1897. He was said to have been born in White Castle, Louisiana. His given name was Joseph Crawford, but he was adopted by the trombonist Joseph Petit, whose name he took.
He took Freddie Keppard's place in the Eagle Band (a place earlier held by Buddy Bolden) when Keppard left town. He was briefly lured to Los Angeles by Jelly Roll Morton and Bill Johnson in 1917, but he objected to being told to dress and behave differently from what he was accustomed to and returned to New Orleans. He spent the rest of his career in the area around greater New Orleans and the towns north of Lake Pontchartrain, not venturing further from home than Baton Rouge and the Mississipp Gulf Coast
Okeh Records offered him a chance to record on their 1925 field trip to New Orleans, but Petit held out for more money and was never recorded. Danny Barker and Louis Armstrong said that it was a great loss to jazz history that there are no recordings of Petit.