Origins of Jazz in New Orleans

1. Origins of Jazz in New Orleans By: Joe Reynolds and Devin Allen

2. Jelly Roll Morton • Jelly Roll was the first famous composer and piano player of jazz. He made many piano solos for many recording artists. Also when he moved from the west coast to Chicago he had many big hits and that’s when he really hit it big. He made many bands including the Red Hot Peppers and some of the people in his bands were Kid Ory and Baby Dodds.

3. Louis Armstrong • He was widely known around the world as the father of jazz. He played an instrument while being a vocalist. The instrument he played was a trumpet. One of his idols that he used to listen to at the Funky Butt Hall was King Oliver. At the beginning of his career he played in many bands like the Creole Jazz Band. Then he started to make his own bands and played all around the world even getting the name “Ambassador Satch.”

4. King Oliver • He was on of the most important figures in early jazz. Also he taught Louis Armstrong a lot of the things he knew about jazz. Originally he was in Kid Ory’s band, but after returning to Chicago he mad the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band. He made many great songs and was greatly known around Chicago. Unfortunately the band fell apart over time.

5. Sidney Bechet • He played the clarinet and soprano sax and dominated many of the bands that he was in. In 1919 he was playing with Will Marion Cook’s Syncopated Orchestra and with Louis Mitchell’s Jazz Kings in Europe. In the U.S. he made his recording debut in 1923 with Clarence Williams and in the next two years he was on a lot of William’s records that he had made

6. Buddy Bolden • He was the first “King” of cornet in New Orleans, and is remembered for his loud, clear tone. He had a band that started playing around 1895, during New Orleans parades and dances. He eventually rose to become one of the most popular bands in the city.

7. Congo Square • Towns folks were gather around the square on Sunday afternoons to witness what went on inside the square. Hundreds of slaves would gather and sing and dance in the square keeping the old African songs alive. Some of the instruments that were used were drums, gourds, banjo-like instruments, violins, tambourines, and triangles.

8. Storyville • Establishments in Storyville ranged from cheap housing to more expensive houses up to a row of mansions along Basin Street for well-heeled customers (the term “crib” originated in San Francisco’s red-light district.) Black and white brothels coexisted in Storyville. Nonetheless, brothels with prostitutes serving black johns openly flourished with the full knowledge of the police and other local authorities a small distance uptown from Storyville proper. Storyville was a legalized prostitution district of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1897 through 1917. Also at Storyville there were jazz performances. Some of the performers that were here were Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton.

9. Ethnic Groups • The ethnic groups when jazz first came out played a big role in the spreading of jazz. The blacks were the first people to listen and spread jazz. They met the resistance of many other ethnic groups like the whites and creoles. These groups didn’t like jazz.

10. Call and Response • The alternation between leader and chorus, often called call-and-response, is a defining characteristic of African music and became an important element of African American music.The music is unwritten and it’s like the instruments talking to one another.

11. Work Songs • African Americans kept the pace of their work through work songs. The songs were similar to the field hollers of Charleston. These songs showed hardships of African American life. Their vulnerability to white landowners was increasing. Legislators made laws to protect landed whites and help generate revenue for the state.

12. Brass Bands • About the time of the Civil War, most towns had a bandstand, or Belvedere, set up in a park. There was no Radio; records or TV of course, and on weekends, a small brass band would entertain the people of the town. Dressed in their uniforms, they must have made a very pleasant sight. Probably, these bands were the prototype for the bands of New Orleans and other towns, too.

13. Compositional vs. Improvisational Music • When you improvise you compose and perform music without writing it down. It’s an impromptu performance, or it is done with preparation. So improvisational music is music that is done without writing it down and just performing it, it’s winging the performance. Compositional music is music that was thought out and written out and then performed. It’s a thought out performance that you read the music as you perform.

14. Jim Crow Laws • These laws influenced the separation of blacks and whites like not being able to drink at the same water fountains or use the same bathrooms, etc. Also in some states blacks and whites were not allowed to get married and rode in different sections of the buses. There was also a great separation between whites and blacks in the North and South. During this time many Africans were brutalized and killed by different gangs. The Jim Crow Laws were not a good thing to the Africans in the North.