I think the first ragtime jazz band I ever heard was Boo Boo Fortunea. He was the only man at that time who played the slide trombone. It was approximately--well, before 1900. I was still fifteen or sixteen years old then.

He played the trombone and he was a barber at that time. He was living right around the corner from where I lived and he heard me practicing my instrument [clarinet]…

I took lessons for about eighteen months. My teacher's name was Mr Morand. He was a Creole.

[Boo Boo Fortunea invited Alphonse Picou to rehearse with his band]. "What do you want me to do?" I said. "Do you want me to play my instrument? Is there any music?". He said "Music? You don't need none". I said "How am I going to play?". He said, "You're going to come in on the choruses". I said, "All right" and then I tuned up; we all tuned up our instruments. [... Then] I did just what he told me and we got into it, and through with it, and the whole band shook my hand and told me I was great.