1886
Kid Ory is born in La Place, Louisiana, and plays the banjo as a young man. In 1911 moves to New Orleans where he is soon playing with Joe Oliver and Louis Armstrong, and leads his own band. Medical advice forces a move in 1919 to sunnier California where, in 1922, his band is the first all-black New Orleans style jazz band to be recorded.

1942
Ory returns to professional musical activity with Barney Bigard, and by 1943 is again leading his own group.

1944-73
His career becomes highly successful following weekly radio broadcasts on a show hosted by Orson Welles. Successful residencies, much touring and cameo roles in film all follow, and in 1954 he opens his own club in Los Angeles. He retires in 1966, but the showman can not resist the odd appearance or two in the few years before his death in 1973, although only as a singer.

1925
Kid Ory moves to Chicago with King Oliver and also records and plays with Louis Armstrong, Ma Rainey, Dave Peyton, Jelly Roll Morton and others. With Armstrong he records the famous Hot Five and Seven tracks.

1933-42
Big band jazz is now at the forefront, the swing era underway, and Ory retires from music to work on his brother's farm and in a railroad office.