The Reading Life: John McCusker interview with Susan Larson on Oct. 2, 2012, WWNO 89.9
“Ory didn’t die in some hotel in the Delta, unknown and forgotten,” McCusker told OffBeat. “The guy retired to Diamondhead, in Hawaii. He knew his business. He knew his strengths and he played to them at all times.”
Preview: Satchmo Summer Fest, July 31, 2012, Gambit
Gambit writer Matthew Hose previews Satchmo SummerFest 2012, highlighting the scholarly part of the annual homage to Louis Armstrong and noting that Armstrong owed his early success to Kid Ory. As a featured seminar speaker, John McCusker talked about the relationship between the two men.
Armstrong “learned stylistic direction and modeled himself into a professional,” McCusker told Gambit. ”He doesn’t play in other people’s bands; he played in Ory’s band. That made it all the more ironic that [Ory is] best known as a sideman.”
