Emanuel Sayles was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 banjoist chiefly active in the New Orleans jazz

New Orleans Jazz

New Orleans Jazz may refer to:*Dixieland, a style of jazz music*New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park*Utah Jazz, a professional National Basketball Association franchise that was previously based in New Orleans and known as the New Orleans Jazz, in recognition of the jazz music of New Orleans*A...

 scene.

Sayles played violin and viola as a child, then taught himself banjo and guitar. He went to high school in Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

, then relocated to New Orleans and played with William Ridgely's Tuxedo Orchestra. Following this he worked with Fate Marable

Fate Marable

Fate Marable was a jazz pianist and bandleader.Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and learned piano from his mother. At age 17, he began playing on the steam boats plying the Mississippi River...

, Armand Piron, and Sidney Desvigne

Sidney Desvigne

Sidney Desvigne was an American jazz trumpeter.Desvigne played in a large number of noted 1910s and 1920s-era New Orleans Jazz ensembles, including Leonard Bechet's Silver Bell Band, the Maple Leaf Orchestra, the Excelsior Brass Band, and Ed Allen's Whispering Gold Band. He and Fate Marable often...

 on riverboat

Riverboat

A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...

s up and down the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

. In 1929 he participated in recordings with the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight.

Sayles moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1933, where he led his own group and worked often as an accompanist on blues and jazz recordings with Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.-Career:Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on...

 and others. He returned to New Orleans in 1949, playing with George Lewis

George Lewis (clarinetist)

George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.-Ancestry:...

 (with whom he toured Japan in 1963-64) and Sweet Emma Barrett. He played with Punch Miller

Punch Miller

Ernest Miller aka Punch Miller or Kid Punch Miller , was a Dixieland jazz trumpeter.Miller was born in Raceland, Louisiana. He was known in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was based from 1919 to 1927 when he moved Chicago...

 in Cleveland in 1960, then played again in Chicago in the house band at the Jazz Ltd. club from 1965-67. Returning once more to New Orleans in 1968, he played with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall...

.

Sayles also recorded with Peter Bocage

Peter Bocage

Peter Edwin Bocage was a New Orleans jazz musician.Best known as a cornet player, he also played violin professionally, as well as sometimes trombone, banjo, and xylophone...

, Kid Thomas Valentine

Kid Thomas Valentine

Thomas Valentine, commonly known as Kid Thomas was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader.Kid Thomas was born in Reserve, Louisiana and came to New Orleans in his youth. He gained a reputation as a hot trumpet man in the early 1920s. Starting in 1926 he led his own band, for decades based in the New...

, Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...

, and Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Albert Cottrell, Jr. was a Louisiana Creole jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was the son of the influential drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell...

. He recorded extensively as a leader in the 1960s for GHB, Nobility, Dixie, and Big Lou.