Cornet, trombone. Membre of the legendary New Orleans musical family. Merritt Brunies, a New Orleans and Chicago-based traditional jazz bandleader from 1916 to 1918, was the leader of a grroup known as The Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Although this group didn’t record, it was before Jimmy Durante’s New Orleans Jazz Band, formed in New York in 1918. It also predated The Original Dixieland Jazz Band that played in Chicago in 1916, and became the first to record in 1917. Brunies was a cornet player and led the ensemble that took over The New Orleans Rhythm Kings at Friar’s Inn, Chicago after his first group had disbanded. In 1930, he returned to New Orleans and continued playing in several clubs. Brunies moved to Mississippi in 1946 and played in the Brunies Brothers Dixieland Jazz Band throughout his career. Allmusic
