A Brief
Look at
The History of New Orleans Jazz
To view the History of the Development of Jazz diagram click the image below.
Jazz evolved in New Orleans around the time of the start of the 20th
Century.
Why did this happen and what is jazz anyway?
Many types of jazz have developed in the last hundred years and the
sounds and music styles that come under the general term jazz are amazingly
different. A jazz lover tends not to like all styles of jazz.
The jazz referred to in this document is as close as we can get today to
the style of jazz in its first 20 years, and that which came to the
fore during its revival in the 1940's, and in some form or other
is with us today.
This kind of jazz, today, has a variety of names
Classic Jazz
Traditional Jazz
Dixieland Jazz
New Orleans (Revival) Jazz
San Francisco (or West Coast) Jazz
Chicago Jazz |
To us, the key characteristics of classic jazz are: -
Syncopation
Rhythm
Swing
(Collective) Improvisation
Harmony
Melody
Feeling |
Why did jazz happen?
Whilst jazz is believed to have its genesis around 1895, no serious study
was made into its origins until the mid 1930's. Any discussion on its history
is always part fact and part opinion bordering on hypothesis.
Jazz emerged in New Orleans. Why New Orleans? Possibly because of the
following unique factors: -
Music was the most common form of entertainment in New Orleans - operas,
dances, street parades, picnics, funerals, churches, fraternity halls and
so on.
Musical instruments could be obtained cheaply (result of surplus from the
Civil war).
Negroes with time on their hands could experiment with these instruments.
Some Negro musicians did not play from music, and this led to improvising
(or faking) the melody. They also had their own special rhythms, and adopted
the syncopation which was inherent in Ragtime.
The New Orleans 1894 code stated that Creoles were to be treated as blacks.
This threw the Negroes and the Creoles together musically. The sophisticated
Creole music played at the time was melded with the Negro style, and a
new form of music came about - Jazz (though the word jazz was not used
till after 1917). The whites in New Orleans were quick to pick up these
new sounds and added their characteristics to the new musical style too.
In 1900, there were six well-known Louisiana born musicians at the time
who were 20 years old and over. They were John Robichaux 34, "Papa"
Jack Laine 27, Manuel Perez 27, Buddy (Charles) Bolden
23, Bunk Johnson 21 (he says, but more likely 11), and Alphonse
Picou 20.
At the time, these musicians would not have been aware that they were
creating something which would influence American music for the next 100
years, and spread world-wide. We'll take a look at these musicians, so let's
start with the eldest.
John Robichaux
He was born in a place called Thibodaux, in the bayous of Louisiana in
1866. He was a Creole, and played brass bass, alto horn, and could drum
well too. He started his musical career as a bass drummer for the Excelsior
Brass Band when he moved to New Orleans in 1891. He would have been about
24 or 25 years old then.
The John Robichaux Orchestra (1896)
Seated, left to right, are Dee Dee Chandler, Charles McCurdy,
Robichaux, Wendell MacNeil.
Standing, Baptiste DeLisle, James Wilson, James MacNeil, Oak
Gaspard.
Jack Laine
In 1891, Jack Laine (a white man) had just formed his own ragtime
band in New Orleans; he would have been about 18 years old then; the success
of his Reliance Band enabled him to form seven other dance groups bearing
that name. All these bands worked at the same time in New Orleans - a busy
man.
Jack Laine was a white man who organised bands for every occasion.
Manuel Perez
Manuel Perez (cornet) a Creole who organised his Imperial Orchestra
in 1900. He was an excellent reading musician and responsible for refining
many of Bolden's ideas.
Charles "Buddy" Bolden
| Buddy Bolden (cornet) - A Negro who is often accredited
as "the inventor" of a basic form of jazz, and the catalyst for
others to follow. He led bands from 1895 and was prominent in New Orleans
parades. A very popular musician who played with exceptional power. |
 |
We are not sure which way round the photo should be but some believe
that the guitarist was asked to pose left handed.
Bunk Johnson
Bunk Johnson (trumpet) said he played with Bolden but analysis
seems to reveal that he made out he was 10 years older than his true age,
which would have made him too young to have played with Bolden.
Alphonse Picou
Alphonse Picou (clarinet) - he played with Buddy Bolden
and John Robichaux and formed his own band in 1897, called the Independence
Band. Known as the creator of the clarinet solo in the tune "High Society".
Returning to John Robichaux, from 1893 he was playing in dance bands
while Buddy Bolden was learning how to play the cornet, and Alphonse
Picou was starting to play the clarinet. For 46 years, Robichaux was
considered to be the most continuously active dance band leader in New Orleans.
For 32 years, from 1895 through to 1927 he led his own band, the John
Robichaux Dance Orchestra. In the New Orleans jazz sense, a "dance
orchestra" is any group of musicians who are capable of reading written
scores of music, and employed to play for dancing. But such orchestras could
play, just as well, a number of tunes "without" music, in the
dixieland tradition. In the late 1800's, bands made good use of violins.
The first leader of John Robichaux's dance orchestra (which we would not
call a "jazz" band) was a violin player. In later years there
were many celebrated jazz musicians in Robichaux's band.
The 1894 Black Code amendment hit Robichaux's orchestra harder than any
others, coming just when they seemed to be at the top of the New Orleans
music scene. It was a comedown to some of these fine musicians, to be thrown
into competition with the Uptown blacks, and to play for audiences who didn't
always appreciate their musical background. But Robichaux had enough determination
to persevere during the difficult years that followed the transition, and
even though a number of his musicians had to moonlight with the Onward Brass
Band, he managed to hold on to a number of good jobs.
In 1895, an upcoming band was playing in the ragtime, syncopated style of
music, and with hindsight, it's thought that they were the very first "Jazz"
band, though the name "jazz" had not been invented then. The leader
of that band was Negro, Buddy Bolden. Guitarist Louis Keppard
remembered playing with Bolden's Band at the Globe Hall in New Orleans in
1895.
A second blow hit Robichaux's orchestra when, in 1898, Chandler, Delisle,
and the McNeil brothers were recruited into the army while playing a job
with the Onward Band. Robichaux had to quickly pick up others to fill the
gaps, and some of these fill-ins were Arthur "Bud" Scott
on guitar, Lorenzo Tio and Paul Beaulieu on clarinet, and
on some occasions Manuel Perez filled in too.
Years later, when the Creoles did eventually combine with the Uptowners,
they added their various ethnic influences to the sounds that had already
been assimilated by Uptown musicians. The first melting and refining of
the basic music was ready to take place. The Tio family, educated at the
Mexican conservatory, added a Spanish touch; Alcibiades Jeanjacque, Oscar
Duconge, Punkie and Bouboul Valentin lent their French style and background;
and Robichaux and Bocage contributed the French-Haitian mixture. The men
played what they felt, what their talents allowed, and each made his individual
contribution to the whole. It was nobody's music and it was everybody's
music.
The Negro Bolden band provided "faking" (improvisation), spirit,
feeling and special rhythms. Both Bolden and Robichaux were influenced by
ragtime which provided the syncopation component.
As the century turned and the Bolden band gained popularity, the 34-year
old John Robichaux had something else to contend with - this new Bolden
sound. He was able to hold his own without succumbing to any adulteration
in his musical standards, and that was a tribute to his talent. Usually
Robichaux played for a different type of crowd than the type of crowd that
Bolden attracted, but not always. They both played at Lincoln Park, Longshoremen's
Hall, Providence Hall, and the Masonic and Odd Fellows Halls. Robichaux,
in addition, played in the Downtown halls where Bolden wasn't hired. But
Bolden could, and did, play a few polite society dances, and Robichaux (his
band was known as a "sweet" band) by then had Williams and McNeil
playing hot enough cornets to move an Uptown crowd.
By the year 1900, there were at least ten brass bands, seven dance orchestras,
and four bands playing in a new ragtime, syncopated style of music. These
four bands were Buddy Bolden's Ragtime Band, The Columbus, The Eagle, and
Papa Laine's Reliance. There may have been others, but it is at least certain,
that these four bands existed then.
Jelly Roll Morton said he invented jazz in 1902. Apparently he had
been playing guitar and trombone before taking up piano; by the turn of
the century he was already playing in New Orleans sporting houses. He drifted
into engagements in Biloxi and Meridian, Mississippi, then returned to New
Orleans. For the next few years he coupled pool hustling and piano playing
throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.
Freddie Keppard, and Nick La Rocca were two years behind in
the teenage stakes. Freddie Keppard would get his first music job next year
at Spanish Fort, with Johnny Brown's Band, and soon thereafter would be
playing with the Olympia Orchestra.
Back in 1900, in Edward Ory was leading a boys' hometown band in
La Place. He called it the Woodland Band. He had already been playing the
banjo for four years.
From the year 1900 onwards these young lads would play in many bands. In
New Orleans there was music for almost every family occasion. It was a close-knit
community as far as music was concerned. Everybody knew everybody. As a
result the youngsters followed the music everywhere. Music was a way of
life - not an adjunct to life. They carried their instruments with them,
and played them in the streets.
An example of this, is the work done by Professor Jim Humphrey during the
early 1900's at the Magnolia Plantation. It was a sugarcane plantation.
The children of its hundreds of field hands were taught music once a week
by Professor Jim. Among those who later became prominent jazzmen were Chris
Kelly, Jim Robinson and his brother, Sam.
In 1902 in New Orleans, a new park, Johnson Park, was opened as a baseball
park, right next to Lincoln Park. John Robichaux and his band would
be at Lincoln Park, and Buddy Bolden with his band would in the music
pavilion at Johnson Park. It's been said that Bolden would say to a member
of his band "Come on, put your hands through the window. Put your trombone
out there. I'm going to call my children home."
Apparently Bolden would start to play, and all the people out of Lincoln
Park would go on over to where Buddy was. Many others also verified the
story of Buddy pointing his horn toward Lincoln Park and powerfully "calling"
the Lincoln crowd. The word is that dancers abandoned the smoother Robichaux
band to hear Buddy Bolden produce a new, more raggedy, more exciting sound
that stirred their dancing fancy.
Buddy's band became closely identified with Lincoln Park. The two bands
were the most popular in the city, and great rivals. Sometimes they played
there at the same time. Bolden played for dances at the skating rink, and
Robichaux played in the Pavilion. The two spots were about 75 yards apart,
and Bolden "called his children home". Musicians were usually
hired by different societies who rented sections of the grounds for picnics
or other functions.
To be continued..........................
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In Search of Buddy Bolden by Donald M Marquis; Who's
Who of Jazz by John Chilton; New Orleans Jazz by Rose and Souchon.
