The birthplace of jazz
By Joachim E. Berendt. Excerpt from the book 'William Claxton. Jazzlife'.
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"You don't even need to bother to go to New Orleans. Jazz in New Orleans is dead," they told us in New York.We heard the same thing again in Biloxi.... But in New Orleans, in the space of nine days, we experienced two street parades, a funeral, a jazz picnic, and six or seven jam sessions, all in the style of the grand old days when jazz was just beginning. (...)
In the old New Orleans funerals, sad music was played on the way to the cemetery, and happy music was played on the way home with that much more swing and exuberance. In the street parades, the brass bands marched through the streets to celebrate everything under the sun. Both the funerals and the street parades have become a symbol, not only in musical but also in social terms, for the atmosphere that enabled New Orleans to become the capital of the early days of jazz. The two New Orleans street parade bands that are richest in tradition still exist today, the Tuxedo Brass Band and the Eureka Brass Band. They are effectively the same age as the century. Many of the famous early jazz musicians played in them. Many long-famous names are still present in them even today, trumpeter Alvin Alcorn and drummer Louis Barbarin in the Tuxedo Brass Band, for example. Younger musicians joined their ranks later. Until just a few years ago, George Lewis played with the Eureka Band. In addition to these two old bands there is a third band that can be heard in the street parades, the George Williams Brass Band. Paul Barbarin, incidentally, who was a preferred drummer of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s and 1930s, is simply the drummer in New Orleans today. You hear him and run into him everywhere. The banners that were carried in our first street parade indicated that it was organized by the Creole Fiesta Association, an organization that seeks to cultivate the old Creole culture and its traditions.
When I call to mind the countless societies and associations, small groups, sects, and interest groups in New Orleans and the areas of the United States where Negroes are concentrated, I am often reminded of the fact that people say of us Germans that we are particularly fond of associations. That may be, but nowhere are there more associations and societies than among the Negroes of the USA, and nowhere is the consciousness of social standing and social status more pronounced.
Page [1] [2]
Page [1] [2]
"You don't even need to bother to go to New Orleans. Jazz in New Orleans is dead," they told us in New York.We heard the same thing again in Biloxi.... But in New Orleans, in the space of nine days, we experienced two street parades, a funeral, a jazz picnic, and six or seven jam sessions, all in the style of the grand old days when jazz was just beginning. (...)
In the old New Orleans funerals, sad music was played on the way to the cemetery, and happy music was played on the way home with that much more swing and exuberance. In the street parades, the brass bands marched through the streets to celebrate everything under the sun. Both the funerals and the street parades have become a symbol, not only in musical but also in social terms, for the atmosphere that enabled New Orleans to become the capital of the early days of jazz. The two New Orleans street parade bands that are richest in tradition still exist today, the Tuxedo Brass Band and the Eureka Brass Band. They are effectively the same age as the century. Many of the famous early jazz musicians played in them. Many long-famous names are still present in them even today, trumpeter Alvin Alcorn and drummer Louis Barbarin in the Tuxedo Brass Band, for example. Younger musicians joined their ranks later. Until just a few years ago, George Lewis played with the Eureka Band. In addition to these two old bands there is a third band that can be heard in the street parades, the George Williams Brass Band. Paul Barbarin, incidentally, who was a preferred drummer of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s and 1930s, is simply the drummer in New Orleans today. You hear him and run into him everywhere. The banners that were carried in our first street parade indicated that it was organized by the Creole Fiesta Association, an organization that seeks to cultivate the old Creole culture and its traditions.
When I call to mind the countless societies and associations, small groups, sects, and interest groups in New Orleans and the areas of the United States where Negroes are concentrated, I am often reminded of the fact that people say of us Germans that we are particularly fond of associations. That may be, but nowhere are there more associations and societies than among the Negroes of the USA, and nowhere is the consciousness of social standing and social status more pronounced.
Page [1] [2]
William Claxton. Jazzlife
Hardcover + CD, 29.1 x 40.7 cm (11.5 x 16 in.), 696 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
The sights and sounds of American jazz
Jam session at Joe Mares' place.
Photo: William Claxton