|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
New Orleans was a bustling city, a port of commerce located at the mouth of the Mississippi River. As such, it drew a large and varied population. In the late 1800's New Orleans was divided. There was the uptown, or American Section, west of Canal Street, mostly recently freed Black slaves, and the downtown, or French Section, east of Canal Street, mostly Whites and Creoles. The Creoles were musically trained in the European tradition. John Robichaud was the most popular orchestra leader in town. The blacks, from uptown, often studied music with Creole instructors.
In 1894, all that changed. Very restrictive racial segregation laws were instituted, insuring the segregation of even the Creoles. In 1897, the city council passed legislation that restricted all prostitutes and brothels to a 38 square block area, that came to be known as the the Storyville district, or just "the district" to the locals. There were even two Storyvilles, Uptown side "Back O' Town", west of Canal, was for Blacks, while the downtown side, east of Canal Street was for Whites.
There are many thoughts on the origin of the word "Jazz", but it seems to have come from "the district". My personal favorite explanation is; apparently "ladies of the evening" were taken to wear jasmine on their person. When approaching a prospective client they would ask if he was looking for a little "Jass" or Jasmine. At Storyville's peak, there were about 2000 prostitutes peddling their wares. The brothels, saloons, cabarets, and gambling joints, of "the district" employed every type of musician and musical group, from ragtime pianists, string trios, often with a washboard or kazoo, to brass bands. This music started filling the music halls and was in constant demand at dances until finally "playing hot" became known as "playing jass". Many dance hall posters advertising "Jass Music" had the "J" erased, by fun loving youngsters, so that they read "ass music". To eliminate this, dance hall owners switched to spelling "Jass" with z's, thus the word "Jazz".
According to historians, the legendary Buddy Bolden, a cornet player born in 1878, was the first jazz musician. The old-time musicians say that Buddy Bolden was "the first musician to start the big noise in Jazz." They say he'd shine his cornet "til it glistened like a woman's legs". Then he'd put his horn out the window and say to his band, "Let's call the children home". He would blow and his children would come running. It has also been said, "his trumpet could be heard all over New Orleans, and even across the river in Algiers".
Other evidence of early Jazz was produced by "Papa" Jack Laine's band in New Orleans about 1885 when it was noted that he played with a "ragged time," which meant the musicians were playing variations on the tempo to make it "swing." Irishman "Papa" Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band was the training ground for many of the musicians, white, black and creole, who went on to pioneer Jazz in their own ensembles. Louis "Papa" Tio, a contemporary of "Papa" Jack Laine's, was a native New Orleanian of Mexican and Creole descent. He was a consummate clarinetist, and a consummate clarinet teacher as was his famous brother, Lorenzo Tio, Sr., and even more famous nephew, Lorenzo Tio, Jr. Together, the Tio family influenced a generation of young musicians, opening them up to syncopated Latin rhythms. Papa Tio taught, among others, the great Sidney Bechet, and the Baquet brothers, Achille and George. George Baquet founded the Excelsior Brass Band, composed of black musicians. He also played with the creole-of-color bands, such as Manuel Perez's Imperial Orchestra and the Original Creole Orchestra. He worked with Buddy Bolden and recorded with Jelly Roll Morton. Achille Baquet was an excellent saxophonist as well as clarinetist. He played mainly with white bands: in New Orleans, with "Papa" Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band, and in New York, with Jimmy Durante's Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Achille's choice to play music, passant blanc (passing for white), was not unusual for the time. Besides Achille on clarinet, "Papa" Jack Laine's band included Dave Perkins on trombone, another blue-eyed musician of black descent, who also played with Buddy Bolden. Although it's not certain if Bolden ever played with Laine, it's safe to say that he heard and was influenced by Laine, just as Laine was most likely influenced by Bolden.
From 1910 to 1917, night spots in Storyville, New Orleans' red light district, became the ideal environment for jazz. Bands usually consisted of a cornet or trumpet, a trombone, a clarinet, a banjo or guitar, a tuba or upright bass, and drums. The earliest jazz groups, instead of a drum set, often used a washboard to provide the rhythm. These were usually played with brushes or picks, or as Baby Dodds played them with thimbles.
"Tom Anderson's Cafe" was a major musical center of Storyville at Basin and Iberville Streets. Just a few doors up was the "Mahogany Hall", now best remembered for the jazz tune Mahogany Hall Stomp. Other well known clubs included; "Funky Butt Hall", and the "Come Clean Dance Hall".
Early musicians that worked with, and learned from Buddy Bolden include; Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson, Frankie Dusen and Clarence Williams. These musicians are certainly not the best known Jazzmen, but their ideas are still being used and elaborated on to this day. Most of these men could not make a living with their music and were forced to work other jobs to get by. The next group of New Orleans Jazz musicians formed small bands, that took the music of the older men and improved it, creating a faster, more elaborate, commercially successfull, Jazz. This music became known as "Hot Jazz", because of the break neck speeds and amazing improvisation that these bands produced.
Among the many musicians to follow in the path established by Bolden, and then carry this new music to Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Memphis, Los Angeles, and other parts of the nation and the world, are Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Honore Dutrey, Henry "Red" Allen Jr., Papa Celestin, Baby Dodds, "kid" Ory, Albert Nicholas, Jimmy Noone, and a young virtuoso cornet player named Louis Armstrong which was discovered, and coached by Joe Oliver. Armstrong soon grew to become the greatest Jazz musician of his era and eventually one of the biggest stars in the world.
[The New Orleans Jazz Artist list contains these and other early New Orleans Jazz Artist biographies]
New Orleans was the only place in the New World where slaves were allowed to own drums. VooDoo rituals in Congo Square, the center of VooDoo drumming and dancing in New Orleans, were well attended by the rich and the poor, by blacks and whites. It was in New Orleans, where the bright flash of European horns, and the dark rumble of African drums, along with the syncopated rhythms of the Caribbean Islands, came together like thunder and lightening. The early Jazz musicians took that sound and put it together with the popular music of the day, music they heard in churches, bandstands, and theatres, and they created a new music. It made people feel free and alive. It made people want to get up and dance. And they danced to the birth of a new American music called Jazz.
These small jazz bands played the best dance halls in "the district", however they also played on the street corners, especially
after Storyville was "shut down" by the Naval Authorities in 1917. "Cutting contests" between various "kings" would take place in the streets and squares of the city, where they would attempt to outplay each other, notes being their only weapons. An interesting story of such a contest is relayed in an article by Len Weinstock.
"The Night They Crowned King Oliver" In an attempt to simplify and explain the concept of New Orleans, or Dixieland Jazz, as it was later to be called; the cornet or trumpet player (usually the leader) generally set the tempo for a tune, and established the manner, style, and dynamics, to suit his own taste. The trombone player supported the melody with appropriate phrases, much as a tenor voice would support the lead, often using the 'slide' tones, or glissandos, only possible on the trombone (refered to as 'tail-gate style'). The clarinetist improvised on the chords, usually with long notes in the upper register and series' of very fast notes, creating a sound that would weave the trumpet and trombone parts together. The piano worked the down beat with the left hand, and the upbeat chords with the right hand. The banjo (or guitar) player, provided a steady, usually on the beat, or sometimes syncopated chord accompaniment. New Orleans drummers used very large and resonant bass drums and employed the press roll on the snare drum, with cymbals and wood block as accessories. The driving force for the downbeat was provided by the 4/4 or walking bass line of the tuba or upright string bass.
The earliest New Orleans "hot" players in first two decades of the century thought of their music as ragtime. This music was for the most part learned and played by ear, though some players had formal music training. The early repertory consisted of tunes such as Tiger Rag and Don't Go Way Nobody. Other tunes were probably taken from southern tradition such as Make Me a Pallet On The Floor and My Bucket's Got A Hole In It. Sprituals and church music contributed Just a Closer Walk with Thee and When the Saints. While certain pieces that have become "New Orleans standards" such as High Society and Panama were nationwide hits.One of jazz's earliest recordings was made in was made in 1917 by the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band", originally of New Orleans.
To quote from an article of
As Jazz developed nobody thought it was important enough to write down every fact for posterity. Jazz had no Herodotus. As a result, we are left with many recordings (without which we would be totally in the dark) and a rich legacy of legend and myth, some factual, some loosely based on fact and some purely the figment of some ones imagination. A fine example of classic Jazz folklore is pianist Richard M. Jones' account of the night Joseph Oliver was crowned 'King of New Orleans Jazz'. Interestingly, many other eyewitness accounts of these events are in close agreement with those quoted here. In 1916 Oliver was employed in Abadie's cabaret in the Storyville of New Orleans, playing to small audiences while the then "King" of trumpets, Freddie Keppard, was packing them in at Pete Lala's across the street. According to Jones: "Keppard was playing in a spot across the street and drawing all the crowds. I was sitting at the piano and Joe Oliver came over to me and commanded in a nervous harsh voice 'Get in B-flat'. He didn't even mention a tune just 'Get in B-flat'. I did, and Joe walked out on the sidewalk, lifted his horn to his lips, and blew the most beautiful stuff I ever heard. People started pouring out of the other spots to see who was blowing all that horn. Before long our place was full and Joe came in, smiling, and said 'Now that son-of-a-bitch won't bother me no more'. .....From then on, our place was full every night."
The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation 1996
Nobody played it like they played it in New Orleans, a city already used to feeling jubilant, and expressing its jubilation. A city where you could dance down the middle of the street, in the middle of the daytime, in the middle of the week, and instead of people wondering why you weren't at work, they'd be wondering how they could join you. The glory of New Orleans is that it's still that way today. Everyone loves a parade. Everything is touched by the joyous anarchy called New Orleans Jazz. And everybody's middle name is "Celebrate."
Other pages of this site
All That Jazz main page
New Orleans Jazz