Kid Rena

Henry "Kid" Rena (August 30, 1898 – April 25, 1949)

Rena may have taken lessons from Manuel Perez as a youngster. He and Louis Armstrong played in the same waif's home band, and when Armstrong joined the band on the S.S. Capitol, Rena was named his replacement in Kid Ory's band in 1919. The recordings are widely regarded as the first recordings of the revival of the New Orleans style in the 1940s.

The records were released on Delta Records, a label only used to release these eight recordings as four singles. Later, Circle Records acquired the masters, and the material was reissued by Riverside Records as albums. In the 1990s the material, alongside some previously unreleased rehearsal recordings, appeared on compact disc from American Music Records.

Rena never recorded again; he was an alcoholic, and failing health led him to stop playing in 1947. He died two years later, at the age of 50.