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 ” [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, 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 Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 5, March 1950, p. 6 CYRIL BLAKE’S CALYPSO SERENADERS with Lord Kitchener Recording at 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 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 . The dance takes place from 7 till 11 p.m. at the Royal Hotel, Woburn Place, , 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. The defendants pleaded not guilty, declaring that though they had been in the crowd and, as was customary with them, armed with sticks, they had been mere sightseers and had never contemplated fighting or otherwise disturbing the peace. The Deputy Inspector-General said on Tuesday afternoon he had received information that a large body of men had assembled in the neighbourhood of the Wash House Bridge armed with sticks. He had proceeded thither with a body of mounted men, and had found the crowd there evidently bent on mischief. On his appearance they had begun to move off and he had followed them along Charlotte and Duke-streets. They were armed, a great many of them, with sticks, and they sang a song in which the words “No surrender, No Surrender” were constantly repeated. It was within his knowledge that them was a feud between the men of Corbeau Town and those of Belmont and that these opposing bands had repeatedly endeavoured to meet to engage in ad fight, but had on each occasion been dispersed by the Police. .... Port-of-Spain Gazette, 10 March 1905, p. 7 SEQUEL TO THE CARNIVAL [1] THE “HEAD STICK FIGHTER OF TRINIDAD” CHARGED WITH WOUNDING REMANDED FOR FURTHER EVIDENCE

Eugene Myler, better known an the “head stick-fighter of Trinidad” appeared at the dock of the City Police Court yesterday to answer the charge of Constable Liverpool for having unlawfully and maliciously wounded one William Peters. Mr. Brown appeared on behalf of the accused. Sub-Inspector Harrigan gave evidence of having seen the leader of a band strike William Peters at the corner of Prince and Henry Streets, on Tuesday the 7th of March, where two rival bands had met, but he could not identify the prisoner as the person whom he had seen deal the blow, as his face had been then hidden by a handkerchief. Mr. Brown stated that it was a case of mistaken identity and asked that the case be thrown out. The Magistrate thought that evidence might he forthcoming to connect the accused with the leader of the band on the day in question. He was remanded to the 13th; bail being fixed in £10 with a surety in a similar sum. 1905 SEQUEL TO THE CARNIVAL [2] extract: EVOLUTION OF STEEL BAND [sic]) Notes taken at a discussion with the Hon. R. Quevedo and Len. Pierre on 30/6/53 Famous stick players: Port-of-Spain

.... Fitzy, swaggerer, dressed in white with gold trappings. Hero among East Indian women who maintained him. Miler: “A black negro, very strong with a regal look.” Chief opponent of Fitzy. A peculiarity was his tied wrist. Came from Belmont. Fitzy came from George Street. For years their clash was built up by stick enthusiasts. When finally they clashed on George St., the bout ended with one blow being fired by Miler which downed Fitzy. Fitzy’s technique of lowered stick and foot works failed him on this occasion when with a mighty soaring into the air Miler [sic] brought his stick crashing down over and behind Fitzy’s guard and sent him to the ground. The inevitable calypso was composed to commemorate this clash: Fitzy caree Miler reve, un bois faire yeux devire. recorded : London, Britain, c. July 1950; the Les Fitzy tombe Calypso Rhythm Kings included Brylo Ford tout des yeux despere (double bass and vocal as “le Duc”) Brylo Ford and Fizroy Coleman in London

The band of Eastern migrants led by Cyril Blake and organised by Denis Preston for his first calypso session, at EMI’s north-west London studios, Abbey Road, on 30 January 1950, included musicians who had migrated to Britain both before and after the Second World War. Depicted (left) is the Trinidad septuagenarian Brylo Ford (cuatro – a small four-string ukulele- like-guitar of Venezuelan origin) and Fitzroy Coleman (guitar); the latter performer arrived in the UK from Trinidad in 1945 with ‘Al’ Jennings’ All-Star Caribbean Orchestra. A multi instrumentalist, Ford came to the U.K. in the 1920s. He also played double bass and flute and sang under the sobriquet of “le Duc” or The Duke”. Recalling the traditions of his early years in the island of his birth, his repertoire included the kalenda commemorating Myler’s singular stick fight victory Boul’ vé-sé (Melodisc 1134) Birth of : Melodisc 1390

Lord Kitchener’s 1950s London calypso recordings had great popular appeal in West . This led to performances sponsored by local officialdom. Usually his guitar accompanist was Fitzroy Coleman (but not on this disc) West African Review, No. 352, January 1957, p. 24 Music Mirror, Vol. 4, No. 3, March-April 1957, p. 9

.... A spin through Lord Kitchener’s latest recordings reveals the full extent of his talents. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Calypso” and “Life Begins at Forty” (Melodisc 1400) feature a neatly balanced mixture of humour, home-spun philosophy and earthy innuendo, a characteristic and sure-fire combination. “Birth of Ghana” (Melodisc 1390) is in more serious vein, and together with “The Nigerian Registration”(Melodisc 1345) has a unique background. These tracks were made at the invitation of the authorities, and used via radio and loud- speaker trucks to familiarize the local population with details of the historical events they commemorate. .... Keesing’s Contemporary Archives, September 7-14, 1957, pp. 15747-8 y A. NIGERIA – The London Constitutional Conference. – Agreement on Formation of All-African Federal Government and Regional Self- Government. – New Federal Government formed by Mr. Balewa. …. [p. 15748] …. y Other Nigerian Political Developments. y Other recent political developments in Nigeria are sumarized below under cross-headings y Elections in Western Region. General elections to the House of Assembly in the Western Region took place in May 1956 and resulted in a victory for the Action Group which won 48 seats. The remaining 32 seats were won by the N.C.N.C. …. Nigerian Registration: Melodisc 1345

LORD KITCHENER vocal acc. Fitzroy Coleman Band Recorded, London, Britain, c. October 1955 Trinidad Calypsos on world and local events featuring the censored recordings – 1938-1940 “West Indian Rhythm” [1]

y 10 CD box set of Decca’s Trinidad recordings y 267 performances (35 unissued masters – one remains ‘lost’) y 316-page hard cover LP-size book y full transcriptions of the lyrics y essays on song topics, repertoire, and the relationship of calypso to Carnival y performer biographies y full discography y over 700 illustrations y Release: Bear Family BCD 16623 JM y EAN-Code: 4000127166234 y ISBN: 3-89916-0229-3 y LC NUMBER: 05197 y UK distributor: Roller Coaster Records (www.rollercoasterrecords.com). y Stock is now available. Trinidad Calypsos on world and local events featuring the censored recordings – 1938-1940 “West Indian Rhythm” [2] BOOK CONTENTS y Preface Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool y Calypso and the Trinidad Carnival Tradition John H. Cowley y The Music, the Instruments, and the Songs Donald R. Hill y Dance Music of the Past: The Harmony Kings Orchestra Denis Malins-Smith y Calypso, Magic, Religion and Folklore Donald R. Hill y The Lead-up To War 1935-1939 Richard A. Noblett y Decca’s Guyanese Recordings Richard A. Noblett y Recording for the Decca Dick Spottswood y Vainglorious Appellations Donald R. Hill & John H. Cowley y The Musicians Donald R. Hill & John H. Cowley y Lord Caresser in Guyana Richard A. Noblett y Calypso And The Portuguese Connection John H. Cowley, Donald R. Hill & Lise Winer y “Germany Invade Poland”: War Calypsos, 1940 Richard A. Noblett y The Muttoo Brothers Orchestra Richard A. Noblett y Canboulay, Carnival and Calenda John H. Cowley