Two

CREOLE JAZZ

When Bolden’s mental health problems incapacitated him, other bandleaders had already changed their own repertoires to include his new beats. Younger musicians like Kid Ory were ready to move up from being sidemen for Bolden, Keppard, and Oliver to leading their own bands. Jazz was more than just a fly-by-night phenomenon. The movement it created was here to stay. The desire to play music as a full-time career is a natural instinct for most musicians, so they would advertise by playing in public areas, busking for tips, which caused the music to spread from the “colored” parks and saloons to white neighborhoods and establishments. One 11-year-old, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, regularly made excuses to hang out around the saloons and dance halls where the bands played, and Joe Oliver took him under his wing, helping him improve his technique on the cornet. Shooting a gun off in the street landed him in juvenile detention, begging Satchmo’s legendary career.

COUNTRY BAND. After spending his teen years coming into town to watch and later play music in New Orleans, Kid Ory organized his own band. In 1910, its members were, from left to right, Ed “Rabbit” Robertson, Ory, Lewis “Chif” Matthews, Johnny Brown, Joseph “Stonewall” Matthews, and Foster Lewis. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

VAUDEVILLE. Orpheum Circuit promoters put together a New Orleans band for a vaudeville tour in 1914. Though the band had rehearsed, the tour never happened. This “supergroup” included, from left to right, (first row) Ninesse Trepangier (snare drum) and Armand J. Piron (violin); (second row) Papa Celestin, Tom Benton, and Johnny St. Cyr; (third row) Clarence Williams (grandfather of the television actor Clarence Williams III), John Lindsay, Jimmie Noone, and William Ridgley. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

PROFESSIONAL. When Buddy Bolden’s behavior became erratic in 1906, those who played with him began to move on to other bands. Many of those bands, such as Peter Bocage’s Superior Orchestra, required their musicians be able to read music, which presented problems for those like Willie “Bunk” Johnson. Members of the Superior Orchestra in 1910 are, from left to right, (first row) Walter Brundy, drums; Peter Bocage, violin and leader; and Richard Payne, guitar; (second row) Buddy Johnson, trombone; Bunk Johnson, cornet; “Big Eye” Louis Nelson Delisle, clarinet; and Billy Marrero, string bass. (Both, courtesy of NOPL.)

RAGTIME. Known professionally as “Jelly Roll Morton,” Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (1885–1941) was a pianist and bandleader who is now widely regarded as one of the originators of jazz. In fact, Morton was arrogant enough to claim he had invented the genre himself. As a bandleader, Morton was one of the first to actually morph jazz from merely an improvisational format into formally arranged music. He is third from left in this 1915 photograph, shot in California. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

OPPOSITE PAGE: BASEBALL. Baseball parks provided bands with a built-in audience that would not want leave right after an afternoon game. Occasionally, two bands would play a “cutting” session after a game, letting the audience decide which was better. National Ball Park, located uptown at Washington and Claiborne Avenues, became a regular venue for Kid Ory’s band. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

TOURING. King Oliver’s band is shown performing on a vaudeville tour in 1922. From left to right are Ram Hall, Honore Dutre, Oliver, Lil Armstrong, David Jones, Johnny Dodds, James A. Palao, and Montudie Garland. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

VIRTUOSO. Here, Tony Jackson accompanies three “Pretty Babies”—from left to right, Cora Green, Carolyn Williams, and Florence Mills—in 1918. Mills went on to a promising career as a singer in New York, landing a role in the 1921 musical Shuffle Along. Her career was cut short, however; Mills contracted tuberculosis and died in 1927. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

LOCAL. As jazz grew in popularity so did the demand for bands to play at white functions, such as this 1915 dance for Tulane University’s Junior German Club. Many African American musicians refused to play whites-only parties and events, though, because they were obliged to conform with Jim Crow segregation laws by entering and exiting places via back doors and kitchens. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

JUVENILE. The first time Louis Armstrong’s name appeared in print might have been this arrest report from January 2, 1913, published in the New Orleans Times-Democrat newspaper. This incident landed young Louis in the Colored Waifs’ Home for Boys. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

RETURN. Armstrong (front row, center) returned to the Waifs’ Home, located at 301 City Park Avenue, to pose for this 1920s photograph. There, he had received musical instruction from the home’s band director, Peter Davis, from 1913 until June 1914. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

BOURBON STREET. The French Quarter was much more residential at the start of the 20th century than it is today. With the “sporting” entertainment focused on Storyville, even Rue Bourbon was a quiet neighborhood. There were some bars, such as the Absinthe House, which remains in operation today. (Courtesy of LOC.)

BOLDEN PLAYERS. The Original Creole Orchestra led by James A. Palao is shown here in 1914. From left to right are (first row) Dink Johnson, Palao, and Giggy Williams; (second row) Eddie Vinson, Freddie Keppard, George Baquet, and Bill Johnson. This band is a good example of the grouping and regrouping that regularly occurs among musicians as styles and directions change. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

FIGHTS. Baseball was not the only draw to National Baseball Park. Boxing matches also drew large crowds that were essentially captive audiences. When given the option to stick around for a dance, they did just that, dancing to jazz into the evening. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

STORYVILLE DECLINE. The Anderson Band is shown here in 1919. From left to right are Paul Barbarin, Arnold Metoyer, Luis Russell, Willie Santiago, and Albert Nicholas. Storyville’s tenure as a legal red-light district ended with the United States’ entry into World War I, but the saloons continued to offer entertainment. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

BLUES BAND. When Buddy Bolden left the scene, Frank Dusen took over his group, renaming it the Eagle Band, after the Eagle Saloon on South Rampart Street. By 1919, the band consisted of, from left to right, (seated) Warren Dodds and Bunk Johnson; (standing) Johnny Dodds, Dusen, Peter Bocage, and Bill Johnson. (Courtesy of LSM.)

RED BOOK. Here is an advertisement for Miss Josie Arlington’s Sporting Palace, located at 225 Basin Street. Arlington was one of the most successful of the Storyville madams. Contrary to the various tales and legends of Storyville, establishments like Arlington’s did not hire jazz bands. At most, they would have a single piano for background music. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

UP THE LINE. Arlington’s establishment was not the only high-class place on Basin Street, as seen in this 1910 real-photo postcard. The US Army demanded that the city close its brothels once they began to use New Orleans as a port of embarkation for Europe. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

OLYMPIA. From left to right, Joe, Ricard, and Peter Alexis, three members of Freddie Keppard’s Olympia Orchestra, are shown here in 1915. This was the original incarnation of Olympia; in 1958, Harold Dejan split from the Eureka Brass Band, reviving the name Olympia. Dejan’s band continues to play today. (Courtesy of LSM.)

SPANISH FORT. The area near the ruins of Fort St. John, known as the “Old Spanish Fort” that guarded access to the city from Lake Pontchartrain, was a popular entertainment center at the turn of the 19th century. Over the Rhine was one of the nightclubs that regularly engaged bands. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

“SMOKY MARY.” Located in what is now the Gentilly neighborhood, Milneburg was a popular lakefront area for fishing camps and summer homes. Bands such as Kid Ory’s would take the steam train, the “Smoky Mary,” to Milneburg, then go door-to-door playing for tips. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

EAST END. To the west of the New Basin Canal was Jefferson Parish. Originally a fishing village, Bucktown was the neighborhood along the parish line with the city. Saloons and gambling parlors opened in this area, and naturally, the jazz bands followed. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

PRESERVATION. So few original buildings associated with the early jazz period remain in downtown New Orleans. The Iroquois Theater, located on South Rampart Street near Perdido Street, is part of the struggle to preserve this precious heritage. (Courtesy of Carlos May.)

EXCELSIOR. Even as jazz took hold downtown and in Storyville, the music was just as strong uptown. Live shows featuring balloons and parachute drops were popular draws to Lincoln Park. On this particular evening, the Excelsior Band provided entertainment to close out the night. (Courtesy of UNO.)

KING ON THE ROAD. In 1918, Los Angeles bassist Kid Ory found himself with a gig in Chicago and no band with which to play it. He contacted King Oliver, who came up from New Orleans, along with Paul Barbarin and Jimmie Noone. By 1921, Oliver took control, and the band became known as King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. They played together for two years but, unfortunately, did not record. Band members are, from left to right, Honore Dutrey, Baby Dodds, King Oliver, Lil Hardin, Bill Johnson, and Johnny Dodds; Louis Armstrong is kneeling in front, playing a slide trumpet. (Courtesy of NOPL.)

CONTINUITY. Kid Ory bookends the Creole period of jazz in New Orleans, because he played a significant role in carrying New Orleans jazz from Lincoln Park to the rest of the world. John McCusker’s 2012 book on Ory is a definitive and colorful survey of the jazz experience in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. Like many Creoles musicians, Ory took his music away from the segregated South, firmly establishing New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz. (Courtesy of John McCusker.)