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I Been Down in the Circle Before Black Music, Topicality and Social History

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I Been Down in the Circle Before Black Music, Topicality and Social History I Been Down In The Circle Before Black music, topicality and social history John Cowley 6 March 2007 Mississippi River levee system (Mississippi State) Laconia Circle (shown in red) is a circular levee that encloses Snow Lake (at the end of Arkansas Highway 85) and Laconia. It is positioned on a bend of the Mississippi River between the river and White River Bottom, just above the confluence of the White and Mississippi Rivers Levee Maintenance (1) Hand propulsion of wheelbarrows (wheelers) / “wheeling”— wheel barrowing Levee Maintenance (2) Teamsters called “muleskinners” transported ballast to the levees, and handled mule driven carts and scoop scrapers The Lowrence Brothers operated along both sides of the Mississippi River, upstream and downstream from Memphis, Tennessee. One brother is associated with Henry Truvillion’s Shack Bully Holler Isum, Sampson Pittman, recalled seven brothers but mentions only six: Charley, Lawrence, Eddie, Clarence, Blair and Ike; presumably the seventh was Isum? Memphis Slim (Leroy) mentioned three brothers by name Isum, Bill and Charley Bill making the total we know about, eight. The Lowrence family A little extra information concerning three of the family can be gleaned from entries in the Memphis City Directory. Edward M. Lowrence resided in Memphis between 1928-1931, his occupation listed as either “levee contractor” or, simply, “contractor.” Lucy D. Lowrence, as his widow, has an entry in 1933. Blair Lowrence lived in Memphis between 1929 and 1935. Designated “levee contractor’ except in 1930 he is shown as a “planter’; in 1931 no occupation is stated. William Tate Lowrence, listed as a “levee contractor” in 1925, does not appear again until 1928 when he is also shown as a “ levee contractor.” He is designated as a “contractor” in l929 and 1930, the latter year, his final entry. Sampson Pittman in Detroit Sampson Pittman resided in Blytheville, Arkansas before moving north to Detroit and almost certainly worked on the Arkansas levees. He probably moved north with the Frazier family who came from Memphis, Tennessee. Alan Lomax’s field session was held at the Frazier’s residence, on Russell Street, in Detroit Sam Manning, ‘Lure Of “The Numbers”’ “Deep Harlem” [2]: ——— Trinidad Guardian, 27 June 1929, p. 8 ——— Daily Gleaner (Jamaica), 13 July 1929, p. 34 The Policy “Dream” Bumble Bee Slim (centre with guitar), behind him (left to right) are Bill Gaither and Honey Hill NEW ORLEANS MARDI GRAS Each Mardi Gras half a dozen marching clubs parade before The Henry Allen Brass Band (Mardi Gras 1926). the Rex parade. (One of these, the Jefferson City Buzzards, has The snare drummer is Ramos Matthews. In the rear paraded for more than eighty years.) Starting out in uptown is the leader on bass drum. At the right, face hidden New Orleans early on Mardi Gras and always accompanied by by music, is Louis Dumane a band, the costumed members strut and sway their way through crowded streets. This is a marching club on Mardi Gras, 1925 New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton Depicted here in New York City, New York, U.S.A., in 1939 in his youth Morton had been a “Spy Boy” for a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tribe (a territorial / occupational masquerade band) ‘On Mardi Gras in New Orleans it is traditional for Negroes [sic] to dress as Indians; they have done so for nearly century’ [Lyle Saxon,, Edward Dreyer and Robert Tallant, comps., Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1945] A parallel tradition, in which black people dressed in elaborate Native American costumes, developed in Trinidad Carnival Trinidad stick fighting Kalenda Two stickmen one of African the other of East Indian descent . They are dressed in the popular 19th century negre jardin costume, reserved for Carnival Tuesday, when opponents fought one another to detach the fol, a decorative heart - shaped piece fastened by eye hooks to the chest. Photograph taken in the early 1990s on the Perseverance Estate, Chaguanas, Trinidad. Victor Talking Machine Co. record local Trinidad music in September 1914 Mirror (Trinidad), 28 August 1914, p. 7 When the Victor Company visited Trinidad to make recordings of local music in 1914, the objectives of their team were announced in the local press. Their Recording Log gives details (but no titles for the songs) Victor Talking Machine Company Recording Log, Trinidad, 1914 Trinidad stick fighting Kalenda Jules Sims: Native Trinidad Kalenda [Bagai Sala Que Pocheray Moin] (Victor 67377) The vocal and chorus were traditional, the bamboo (or tamboo bamboo) accom- paniment had replaced the drum, banned in the 19th century Recorded in Port-of- Spain, Trinidad, 11 September 1914 Port-of-Spain Gazette, 2 March 1916, p. 5 Jazz Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 5, March 1950, p. 6 CYRIL BLAKE’S CALYPSO SERENADERS with Lord Kitchener Recording at Parlophone Studios Left to right: Cyril Blake, Lord Kitchener, Neville Boucarut, Freddy Grant, Fitzroy Coleman and “Dreamer” (Reuben François) LYTTELTON AND BLAKE BANDS IN BIG MARDI GRAS CELEBRATION Melody Maker (UK), 11 February 1950, p. 1 On Tuesday, February 21, the Humphrey Lyttelton office, in co-operation with Denis Preston, are to present something new in dance-band entertainment. It is an evening dance entitled “Mardi Gras — New Orleans to Port of Spain,” which will combine the music of Humphrey Lyttelton and his Band with that of Cyril Blake and his Calypso Serenaders and Trinidadian singers Lord Beginner and Lord Kitchener. The date, Shrove Tuesday, is an important one in the Mardi Gras or Festival of New Orleans and the West Indies. And it is believed that this will be the first time that the carnival his been celebrated on this scale in England. The dance takes place from 7 till 11 p.m. at the Royal Hotel, Woburn Place, London, W.C., and admission will be by ticket only. In Mardi Gras tradition, the evening will be climaxed by parade of bands and dancers. Tickets can be obtained from the Lyttelton office, 7, Denmark Street, W.C.2, or from jazz clubs (price 5s). *** Mardi Gras, which has been described as “the greatest free show on earth” is a carnival during which (in New Orleans) some half-million people express their festive feelings before the Lenten period of fasting. The famous Mardi Gras parades begin on the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday and end on the evening of Ash Wednesday. Jazz Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 6, May 1950, pp. 6-7 Mardi Gras from New Orleans to the Port of Spain Mirror (Trinidad) 8 March 1905, p. 11 THE CARNIVAL The second day of the Carnival, was, as is customary, marked by a larger number of maskers and a greater crowd of spectators than on the first day. Park street was the great rendezvous and the centre of attraction, the tram transfer station being particularly crowded. The usual bands were out in great numbers, a particularly pretty one being “The Sweet Morning Bells” attired in old gold and white, and including in the numbers “kings” and “queens” and numerous other crowned notabilities. Mr. H. Valére’s band of yellow and black masqueraders was very conspicuous on both days. It was accompanied by an excellent band of music, and it was evident from the turn-out that neither pains nor money bad been spared in connection with the get up. The Venezuelan soldiers—mostly of the feminine persuasion—in the colours of the Republic and headed by several generals and a bugler, performed marches and. counter-marches and other drill movements with far more precision than is usually associated with General Castro’s war-worn warriors. .... The Police kept excellent order and appeared to act with the greatest forbearance. One of the features of the afternoon was the throwing of four and confetti among friends. La India offered a prize to the best dressed band of Indians, and consequently there were large numbers of savage warriors in the streets. The majority were painted an aggressive red, but one effected blue as their distinguishing tribe badge. ... Port-of-Spain Gazette, 8 March 1905, p. 5 Close of the Carnival The two days of general merrymaking which constituted the officially recognised period of the carnival of 1905 came to a close at a late hour last night; and so far as could be ascertained up to a late hour from various districts, seems to have passed off without any serious disturbances. A fair number for free fights, with the usual consequences of a more than customary list of casualties at the Colonial Hospital, as will be seen from our report elsewhere to-day, has of course occurred; but in general even of these, the police consider there have been fewer than were expected this year. .... Another complaint lay in the direction of the carnival songs. Although it is not expected that the effusions of the carnival bands should excel in literary attainment, yet in many past instances they have abounded with at least some degree of originality and local pointedness: which cannot fairly be said to have been the case with those under review. Despite the labours of months devoted to the various bands to the practising of what is known in the masquerade world as “calypsos” the entire carnival muse seemed to have degenerated in to meaningless fragments of verse, occasionally broken by the refrain of “one bois” – a sentiment which we learn found its origin with a masquerade celebrity on being defeated in the course of stick fighting. .... Port-of-Spain Gazette, 9 March 1905, p. 4 Corbeau Town v Belmont CLOSING SCENES IN THE POLICE COURT At the City Police Court yesterday, Deputy Inspector-General Swain prosecuted Charles Daniel, Adolphus Downs, Thophilus Alexander Charles Cummings, and John de Freitas under the Peace Preservation Act of 84 for having been included in a band on the 7th of March, more than nine of whom had been armed with sticks.
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