EARLY NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

Diana Fox
Jazz History and Literature
December 8, 2014

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Jazz was without question the most notable musical styles to appear during the
twentieth century. At a time when racial boundaries in America were rigidifying, jazz
arose out of and encouraged racial boundary crossings by creating racially mixed spaces
and racially impure music, both of which altered the racial identities of musicians and
listeners.1 There isnt one isolated date in history that can be pinpointed to the
invention of jazz. This style of this music was an idea crafted and formed over many
years through a multitude of groups and people. It would be erroneous to give one
person or race credit for the conception and delivery of jazz. However, New Orleans can
easily considered the birthplace of jazz.
Our journey begins in a mosquito and snake infested land. Unlike its longstanding neighbors, New Orleans was late to take up residence in North America. Its
location made the land prone to ruthless environmental elements such as hurricanes and
flooding, however, its geographical position made the territory extremely desirable.
New Orleans was in a strategic location, sitting at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. 2
The city fell victim to numerous natural disasters in its primary stages. The occupants of
New Orleans eventually learned how to operate and survive in their below sea level
metropolis and despite its shortcomings, the citys fitting locality allowed it to quickly
become a pivotal point of trade and export. 3

Charles Hersch, Subversive Sounds : Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007) 5.
1

Lawrence N. Powell, Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans (Cambridge: Harvard

University Press, 2012) 2.
2

Alyn Shipton, A New History of Jazz (London: Continuum, 2001) 73.

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The population of New Orleans was an assortment of races from the conception.
It was an exotic destination for many.4 When referring to the residents of New Orleans in
A New History of Jazz, Alyn Shipton states:
There were French, Spanish, British, and American whites and their families,
slaves, and decendants. There were Creoles who were the product of
interbreeding among all these groups, and there were new white, Creole, and
black immigrants from Europe, Cuba, Santo Domingo, and many Caribbean
islands. 5
It was also common to see Italians, Germans, and the Irish among the copious assortment
of residents on the streets of this alluring city. Eventually the intermingling of these
mixed cultures allowed New Orleans to have the largest population of free African
Americans in the deep south and growing racial equality by the late nineteenth century.6
Residing in the French and Spanish built houses and narrow streets, the cities unique
combination of occupants created a conducive environment advanced the amalgamation
of a vast array of musical styles unavoidable. It is Hersch who constructs an accurate
summary when discussing the fruition of jazz music when he states: While it is true that
jazz was influenced by other kinds of music, notably ragtime and black folk music
(spirituals, work songs, and other precursors of the blues), those sources first combined
into something new in New Orleans.7

Samuel Barclay Charters, Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008) 23.
4

Ibid., 74.

Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 18.

Ibid., 16

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Alongside the social factors were political factors that contributed to the
emergence of jazz in New Orleans as well. As the twentieth century began the need for
black voters by the republicans became extinct, and the black population of New Orleans
became stronger. Lines were drawn once again separating whites, creoles, and African
Americans. Creoles with ancestry tied to African Americans now shared the same socioeconomic status as them. 8 A struggle to preserve their diversities emerged among the
groups Central to the growth of this music was a strong black population unafraid to
assert its power.9
It is here where the lines begin to become unclear. When examining and
discussing the evolution of jazz in New Orleans there are a handful approaches scholars
and writers can take. Some feel obligated to emphasize the racial issues and attribute the
growth of jazz directly to a cultural divide. Where as others like Al Rose and Edmond
Souchon M.D. as cited in Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz
write:
We will not attempt to establish finally who was the inventor of jazz. (Some of
our best friends have claimed this distinction.) Nor will we assert that we know
who were the first to play it. We feel it was not invented at all, but that it came
into being so gradually that any attempt to pin down a first time would be based
on the most specious type of reasoning. Credit for the creation of jazz is due no
individual man or race. If anything, it is a product, an inevitable product we think,
of the avenues and alleys of a unique city, polyglot, multiracial, seething with

8
9

Shipton, A New History of Jazz, 76

Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 17

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love and conflict, a battleground of nations and cultures, a landscape of mire and
magnolias. 10
As gentle and impartial as that statement is, it is hard to dismiss what is documented in
other texts. In Shiptons A New History of Jazz drummer Baby Dodds takes a completely
different position. Dodds maintains that there was a distinct line separating the
population. As a member of the evolving jazz scene Dodds claims that the Creoles
strived to detach themselves musically and socially, only mixing with outside musicians
when it suit their needs.11 This is further backed up by Charters findings which state that:
different groups of musicians were expected to remain within the boundaries of
their own society, and although they were conscious of each other and borrowed
elements of their own styles from each other, they had almost no chance to sit on
the same bandstands, or even share a night sitting and drinking in the same clubs
and barrooms.12
Who the credit belongs to will always be up for debate among scholars and it is most
likely that there will never be one definitive answer, but one thing is certain, music in
New Orleans was a part of everyday life.
Music sharing among the streets of the city was delivered in many different
musical packages. There were brass bands, singing street vendors, black string quartets
playing classical European dances (schottisches, mazurkas, quadrilles) and ragtime, and a
whole variety of others.13 In the late 19th and 20th century brass bands became a

10

Charters, Trumpet Around the Corner, 5

11

Shipton, A New History of Jazz, 79.

12

Charters, Trumpet Around the Corner, 6

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customary feature in New Orleans. Traditionally, New Orleans brass bands consisted of
a few cornets, trombones, tuba, one or two clarinets, and a small percussion section.14
Brass bands came in many assortments. You could find white, Creole, and African
American groups.15 But none of this would have been possible without the diversity and
history of the time. In many states it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write,
Africans and African Americans used music to express themselves. 16 African folk music
was transported to the Americas by west African slaves and ultimately made its way to
New Orleans. Cuban music, with its French, Spanish, and African influences, came to
New Orleans with Creole and black refugees.17 All of the early jazz musicians in New
Orleans were influenced by the musical genres of their times. It was a wide range of
ragtime, gospel, blues, Spanish style music from the Caribbean and Mexico, European
military marching bands that all eventually combined and became known as traditional
jazz.18
The initial progress of jazz in New Orleans is most correlated with the fame and
reputation of bandleader Charles "Buddy" Bolden. When Bolden emerged into the music
scene he changed the history of jazz forever. He is and always will be customarily
recognized for his contributions to the genre. He became an instant icon when he:
13

Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 15

14

Shipton, A New History, 79

15

Ibid., 80.

16

Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 133

17

Ibid., 145

Kim Marie Vaz Baby Dolls : Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New
Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2013).
53
18

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broke with traditional dance-music arrangements and introduced to
dance-hall performances versions of established tunes that were
syncopated and improvised in other words, raggy 9 music. His
transformation of standard popular tunes and marches of the day was
accomplished by quickening the musics tempo and by incorporating
Black church music, syncopation, improvisation, and the blues. Bolden
emerged as a leader among the musicians playing in the new genre. Others
followed his lead, and those bands playing in this ragging style drew large
crowds for their dances. A new music full of energy and fun, well suited to
the tastes of young people, had been born.19
Buddy Bolden was considered one of the forebearers of jazz tradition, however,
there are no existing recordings of him!

19

Ibid., 53