Louis Keppard

Afro-French Creole guitarist, alto horn player, and sousaphonist Louis Keppard (1889-1986) was the older brother of cornetist Freddie Keppard. He took guitar lessons from Bud Scott and Willie Santiago. Before 1915 he was the leader of the Magnolia Band, which often worked at Economy Hall in Tremé, but also played with Oscar Celestin and Manuel Perez, as well as performing with the Olympia Band led by his brother. After a brief sojourn playing vaudeville theaters in Chicago in 1917, he returned to New Orleans, playing alto horn with brass bands. In the 1940s Keppard worked as a solo guitarist and with Wooden Joe Nicholas in dance bands and in the 1950s and 60s played sousaphone with the E. Gibson Brass Band and others.