When Wendell Eugene was 13 years old, his brother, Homer, gave him his first trombone. By the time he was 15, he was a member of the musicians’ union. For close to 80 years, Eugene kept blowin’ the trombone with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Kermit Ruffins. New Orleans native Wendell Albert Eugene died on Tuesday, November 7 at the age of 94.

“He never forgot how to play that horn,” says trumpeter/vocalist Gregg Stafford, who early on worked with Eugene in trumpeter Teddy Riley’s brass ...