Sayles, Emanuel (Rene; aka Manny)

Sayles, Emanuel (Rene ; aka Manny ), early jazz banjoist, guitarist, singer; Donaldsonville, La., Jan. 31, 1907; d. New Orleans, Oct. 5, 1986. His father, George (c. 1880–c. 1955), was a guitarist with New Orleans’s Silver Leaf Orch. (1898–1918) but then retired from music making except for occasional gigs in the 1920s. Emmanuel first studied violin and viola with Dave Perkins, then taught himself banjo and guitar. Sayles attended high school in Pensacola, Fla., for two years, then moved to New Orleans, where he joined William Ridgley’s Tuxedo Orch. During 1928, he worked with Fate Marable on the riverboat S.S. Capitol, recorded with the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight (1929), and then returned to riverboat work with Armand Piron and Sidney Desvigne. Sayles moved to Chicago in 1933, where he led his own small group and played for many leaders, including bassist John Lind-sey; Sayles also recorded with Roosevelt Sykes. He returned to New Orleans in 1949, where he continued to play regularly. In the 1960s, he worked in Cleveland with Punch Miller (1960), then joined George Lewis and toured Japan with him (1963–64). In 1964 he toured with pianist Sweet Emma Barrett. In 1965, Sayles returned to Chicago to work as house musician at Bill Reinhardt’s Jazz Ltd. Club. Three years later, he was back in New Orleans, where he played regularly at Preservation Hall as well as at other local clubs. He undertook several tours from the late 1960s on, including trips to Australia (1971) and Russia (1979), both with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; he also toured Europe in the early 1980s. He remained active in New Orleans until his death.

—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter