Lauderic Caton was a Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

ian guitarist. He was an early proponent of the use of electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 in Britain, particularly in 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...

 music.

Caton was an autodidact on guitar, which he played professionally from age 17. He was also proficient on saxophone, double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, and banjo. After spending time in Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

 and Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

, he moved to Europe in 1938, playing in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 with Martiniquan musician Oscar Alemán

Oscar Aleman

Oscar Marcelo Alemán was an Argentine jazz guitarist.He was a singer, dancer, entertainer, and guitarist...

 and then in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 with Ram Ramirez

Ram Ramirez

Roger J. Ramirez was a Puerto Rican born jazz pianist and composer. He was a co-writer of the song "Lover Man ".-Discography :* Ram Ramirez: Live in Harlem...

, Jean Omer, Harry Pohl, and Jamaican Joe Smith

Joe Smith

Joseph Leynard Smith is an American professional basketball player who last played at power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA....

. While in Antwerp he played with Gus Clark and Tommy Brookins.

Caton, influenced by Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie Johnson

Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos...

 and Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian

Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

, first began using an amplifier

Amplifier

Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...

 in May 1940. He played in England with Don Marino Barretto and led a house band

House band

For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...

 at Jig's Club. He worked with Cyril Blake

Cyril Blake

Cyril "Midnight" Blake was a Trinidadian jazz trumpeter.Blake moved to England about 1918, where he played in a British group called the Southern Syncopated Orchestra...

, Johnny Claes

Johnny Claes

Octave John "Johnny" Claes was a racing driver from Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain.-Early life and jazz career:...

, Bertie King

Bertie King

Albert "Bertie" King was a Jamaican jazz and mento musician.King, a saxophonist, was born in Panama, and raised in Kingston, where he attended Alpha Boys' School; where he was taught by Sister Mary Ignatius Davis, a remarkable woman who nurtured the talents of many of the leading Jamaican...

, Harry Parry

Harry Parry

Harry Owen Parry was a Welsh jazz clarinetist and bandleader.Parry was born in Bangor, Wales. He played cornet, tenor horn, flugelhorn, drums, and violin as a child, and began on clarinet and saxophone in 1927. After moving to London in 1932, he played with several dance bands, including Percival...

, Dick Katz

Dick Katz

Dick Katz was an American jazz pianist and arranger. He freelanced throughout much of his career, and worked in a number of ensembles. He co-founded Milestone Records in 1966 with Orrin Keepnews....

, and Coleridge Goode

Coleridge Goode

Coleridge George Emerson Goode is a former British Jamaican-born jazz bassist most noteworthy for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a key figure in Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet throughout its eight year existence as a regular unit...

. Late in the 1940s he played with Ray Ellington

Ray Ellington

Ray Ellington was a popular English singer, drummer and bandleader. He is best known for his appearances on The Goon Show from 1951 to 1960...

 and Ray Nance

Ray Nance

Ray Willis Nance was a jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer.Nance is best known for his long association with Duke Ellington through most of the 1940s and 1950s, after he was hired to replace Cootie Williams in 1940...

, playing under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Lawrence Rix for legal reasons. Later in his life he also taught and built custom amplifiers.

Lauderic Caton was buried in Trinidad, as his wishes were carried out by his "adopted daughter" Dr. Ariel Rosita King.

Sources