Quote Originally Posted by PMB

Probably Danny Barker. He played with Bechet and was one of the first to develop that method of strumming, calling it 'figure-of-eight' or more informally 'rigmarolle'. It seems that Barker was the Barry Harris of New Orleans, acting as a mentor to the Marsalis family, Steve Masakowski (who now owns DB's main guitar) and many others.
Steve Jordan had a similar right hand with the figure of eight motion.