2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 6 Format 6 New Orleans Jazz 7 Brass & String Bands 8 Ragtime 11 Combining Influences 12 Party Atmosphere 12 Dance Music 13 History-Jazz Museum 15 Index of Jazz Museum 17 Instruments First Room 19 Mural - First Room 20 People and Places 21 Cigar maker, Fireman 21 Physician, Blacksmith 21 New Orleans City Map 22 The People Uptown, Downtown, 23 Lakefront, Carrollton 23 The Places: 24 Advertisement 25 Music on the Lake 26 Bandstand at Spanish Fort 26 Smokey Mary 26 Milneburg 27 Spanish Fort Amusement Park 28 Superior Orchestra 28 Rhythm Kings 28 "Sharkey" Bonano 30 Fate Marable's Orchestra 31 Louis Armstrong 31 Buddy Bolden 32 Jack Laine's Band 32 Jelly Roll Morton's Band 33 Music In The Streets 33 Black Influences 35 Congo Square 36 Spirituals 38 Spasm Bands 40 Minstrels 42 Dance Orchestras 49 Dance Halls 50 Dance and Jazz 51 3 Musical Melting Pot-Cotton CentennialExposition 53 Mexican Band 54 Louisiana Day-Exposition 55 Spanish American War 55 Edison Phonograph 57 Jazz Chart Text 58 Jazz Research 60 Jazz Chart (between 56-57) Gottschalk 61 Opera 63 French Opera House 64 Rag 68 Stomps 71 Marching Bands 72 Robichaux, John 77 Laine, "Papa" Jack 80 Storyville 82 Morton, Jelly Roll 86 Bolden, Buddy 88 What is Jazz? 91 Jazz Interpretation 92 Jazz Improvising 93 Syncopation 97 What is Jazz Chart 97 Keeping the Rhythm 99 Banjo 100 Violin 100 Time Keepers 101 String Bass 101 Heartbeat of the Band 102 Voice of Band (trb.,cornet) 104 Filling In Front Line (cl. Sax) 105 Formative Period 106 Funerals, Jazz 116 Leading theHarmony 120 Up The River 122 Across The Rails 125 Louis Armstrong 127 Bix Cornet 128 King and the Kid 128 Joe Oliver 129 Kid Ory 130 Depression 131 Big Bands 132 Woman in Jazz 133 4 Early Jazz Records 135 Jazz International 136 Conclusion 136 Plans for Future 137 List of Addresses 137 Chart-Styles of Music 139 Dates of Popularity of types 140 5 6 HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS JAZZ INTRODUCTION If one examines books on the history of jazz, one will find early chapters on: 'The Origins of Jazz,' 'jazz elements,' 'New Orleans Jazz' and many 'famous' musicians (Armstrong, Ory, Oliver, Keppard, Bolden, 'Bunk' Johnson, etc.). These chapters usually are a re-write of the same old information from the same old sources which have been around for 60 or more years, as if edged in stone. One seldom fines new material. (Ex: Louis Armstrong's birth date - not July 4th, 1900, but as Tad Jones has discovered, August 4, 1901.) The only history of jazz book that has been constantly updated is Mark Gridley's "Jazz Styles." It is a complete history of jazz but presents more and up to date material on the latest research in jazz's origin and history. The book is in its 4th edition. I have not written this book as a comprehensive one on New Orleans jazz. It does present new material on old jazz myths but does not give automatic credibility to old legends nor a complete belief in the oral interview information material that should be viewed for what it is: information remembered 60 to 70 years after an activity or fact. Rather I have based it on a study of all materials available plus further research and discovery and interviews using new views and information not available to past interviewers. The task of this writer is not only to point out early misconceptions and errors in scholarship and technique but to try to persuade the reader to accept undisputed proof and scholarship that will and does prove the new information presented is accurate and is the truth. People seem to believe old facts however erroneous. Everyone wants to believe these old legends as fact. More scholars and students are entering the jazz research field and are making real progress in presenting new facts and research on early jazz and its origins. The 'new' scholarship and research seem to have begun with the book "In Search of Buddy Bolden" by Don Marquis and continued with Mark Gridley and many other young well-schooled scholar/researchers. I have chosen to present New Orleans history with the use of the New Orleans Jazz Museum Exhibition, which was under the leadership of Mr. Don Marquis. I feel that the museum's exhibition presented is perhaps the best presentation and overview of New Orleans Jazz we have today. The way that it is organized is excellent and its format permits new material usage that augments the exhibition. It also presents a sound basis for me to present fresh information then can not be presented in the limited space of the museum. THE FORMAT The information in this book is presented first by stating the text of the Jazz museum (in bold print) and following each museum panel's information with new and more detailed information. This new material has been researched since the opening of the museum on April of 1983. Below is given the list of panels and showcases present in the museum exhibition. Each is text presented for the panel and then followed by the new 7 information written about which will not only up date the panels but present recently research material that further explains and clarifies the panels. There is available, a complete set of color slides of the museum's exhibition that can be used as educational material when presenting the history of New Orleans Jazz to a gathering of people or a class of students. They were taken by renowned professional photographer Mr. John O'Meara. New Orleans Jazz To discover Jazz's development and its influence in New Orleans we must examine the atmosphere from which it evolved. The citizens of the city of New Orleans were exposed to most kinds of music that existed in late 19th Century America, both classical and popular. The popular music of the city was similar to that of the rest of the United States but there existed, in New Orleans, an influence of French/Spanish culture in a city that was perhaps more European than any city in the United States. New Orleans possessed the earliest opera company in the United States and its dance music included an influence of the best of the French dance music styles, especially the very popular quadrille, always on the dance program of the many balls presented in and around the city of New Orleans. The opera was first heard in New Orleans in 1806 and had flourished. Its exposure was not limited to the higher class but all the citizens of the city - a population that included whites, blacks and Creoles. The citizens were also exposed, in the 19th Century, to the Napoleonic marching bands, to the brass and string bands of the era, to church music, theater music, to formal concerts and the music of the street musician. New Orleans was a center of commerce. The populace who lived in the surrounding areas of New Orleans were also exposed to its cultural activities and shared its love of the arts. The Creoles were one of the wealthiest groups in the city and were of very high standing, socially. They were destined for a loss of this status and of their once dominant position in the city. The Creoles sent their children to France for their education - example:- M. Gottschalk studied music in Paris).Their influence was lessened in the latter parts of the 19th Century but the acquired background in classical European training became an important part of the Creole heritage. At balls New Orleanians danced to the French Quadrille, minuets, gavottes, waltzes, polkas, galops, lancers and all the music of the contemporary world and national dance scene. The orchestras for these balls were listed, in some advertisements as having 5 or 6 fiddlers. For most social occasions the local musicians (mostly European immigrants) played in the opera and the theater orchestras. They were also hired to play the many local balls. In the 19th Century, specifically in 1820, there were more than ample musicians for hire. In 1829 a ball was held that used 15 musicians in the orchestra. During the middle of the 19th Century a ball could possess anywhere from a single piano to a 50 piece orchestra depending on the occasion and the size of the dance hall. Jazz evolved from the dance music of the late 19th Century and its history is best approached from this view point. Early jazz did not have solos nor was it the listening music it is today. Let us describe the setting in which jazz emerged and envision life at the last decade of the 19th Century. 8 To understand the effects of living in an age without the electronic devices we now possess, imagine trying to amuse yourself on a night in the New Orleans area. You could not listen to any radio or television programs, records, or tapes. You could not call anyone on the telephone or visit movie theaters or video arcades. Candlelight would be needed for reading after dark. However, you could go to the town park or square, which would be illuminated by gas lamps. There you could buy flavored ices from a vendor, exchange pleasantries with your neighbors, and take a walk in the moonlight. You could also listen and dance to the local band. In other words, there had to be live music. A town without a band and musicians was a very dull place. The social and fraternal organizations knew this, as did the newspapers and commercial establishments.