(December 4th 1892 - February ? 1986)

Born in New Orleans in 1892 Johnny De Droit was a popular cornetist from the old school of New Orleans musicians predating that of Louis Armstrong. He was a contemporary of Johnny Bayersdorffer and Sugar Johnny Smith and performed exclusively at classy hotels and restaurants around the city. Johnny De Droit's "New Orleans Orchestra" cut sides for an Okeh field recording unit in 1924 and traveled to New York to record the following year.