New Orleans Jazz Research Papers

This article examines the music and the poetics of Jelly Roll Morton, the Creole pianist-composer-bandleader, in the light of the complex relationships between white, creoles, and blacks in the early twentieth century America. Morton’s... more

This article examines the music and the poetics of Jelly Roll Morton, the Creole pianist-composer-bandleader, in the light of the complex relationships between white, creoles, and blacks in the early twentieth century America. Morton’s relationship with Afro-American culture was ambivalent: on the one hand he underlined his separation from it and emphasized, as a distinct of his New Orleans Creole identity, how much he owed to the European musical tradition; on the other hand he was totally at home in the world of professional Afro-American jazz, becoming a reference point in that tradition. His specific background allowed him to master two distinct musical vocabularies: one based on respect for the written score and the composer’s choices, the other on the improvisation techniques he learned in Afro-American communities.
The cultural identity and musical background of Morton’s fellow musicians became relevant to his activity as a bandleader, especially with regard to the relationship between written and improvised elements in small ensemble work; but in scholarship on Morton there are few analyses that depart from specific cases to consider how these aspects influenced the preparation of a performance. This article reconstructs the various phases that led to the preparation of Oh, Didn’t He Ramble, recorded by Morton in 1939 with a group of nine musicians from different backgrounds. The manuscript parts, which Morton carefully prepared for the recording session, are now preserved in the Historic New Orleans Collection. They provide a very rare document in this field of study and make it possible to compare the music as notated and as actually performed during the recording session. In order to prepare the parts, Morton had to know the musical and cultural background o f each member of his ensemble ; in order to calibrate each performer’s individual contribution, he used a different type of notation for each part, matching each musician’s peculiarities.

Annuario del Premio DAMS 2002, a cura di Paolo Granata, Milano, Lupetti, 2003
Originaly published in «Il Saggiatore musicale», X, 2003/2, pp. 287-315

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- by leo izzo
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- 5
  Jazz History, New Orleans Jazz, Alan Lomax, Louisiana Creole Culture

This is an unpublished essay that I circulated privately in September 2005, several weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the City of New Orleans. Having lived in the Big Easy while in college and having made it and its culture and its... more

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- by Christopher Eck
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- 27
  Cultural History, Cultural Heritage, Hurricanes, Culture Studies

This book presents a provocatively new interpretation of one of New Orleans' most enigmatic traditions, the Mardi Gras Indians. By interpreting the tradition in an Atlantic context, Dewulf traces the " black Indians " back to the ancient... more

2017. El jazz se inventó en 1917. La afirmación es discutible, por no decir desacertada, pero la opinión de las personas que estuvieron allí también cuenta. Es que la canción “Livery Stable Blues” de la Original Dixieland Jass Band se... more

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- by Marcelo Pisarro
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- 19
  Music, Jazz Studies And New Media, Musicology, Anthropology

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- by Poppy Frean
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- 12
  Ethnomusicology, Jazz Studies, New Orleans Jazz, James Baldwin

Few American innovations have had as far-reaching and profound an effect on the world’s music as the drum set. Likely first used in the United States in the late 19th century and developed extensively throughout the first half of the 20th... more

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- by Matthew Berger
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- 7
  Organology, Historical Ethnomusicology, Jazz Studies, History of music

This dissertation explores ways in which many people in New Orleans use, experience, form emotional attachments to, and make sense of space through music. It analyzes how music intersects with geography and how the musical experiences of... more

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- by Julie Raimondi
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- 11
  Space and Music, Place Attachment, Place and Identity, Space and Place

When the Saints Go Marching In – Herostratically famous, well-known to one and all, and the song some of us love to hate. The Saints began its existence as a serene African-American spiritual, presumably well spread in the American South.... more

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- by Anders Linde
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- 14
  Country Music, Bluegrass Music, African-American Music, New Orleans

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- by Paolo Di Pasquale
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- 339
  Discourse Analysis, History, Modern History, Cultural History

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- by Paolo Di Pasquale
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- 339
  Discourse Analysis, History, Modern History, Cultural History

Escribo este editorial mientras protagonizamos la pandemia de Covid-19… y, antes de leer las páginas que siguen, propongo un repique de tambores y una «tocada» de palmas en homenaje a cuantos están peleando esta batalla por la vida... more

Escribo este editorial mientras protagonizamos la pandemia de Covid-19… y, antes de leer las páginas que siguen, propongo un repique de tambores y una «tocada» de palmas en homenaje a cuantos están peleando esta batalla por la vida alrededor del mundo. Para ellos son nuestros vítores. Corresponde a nosotros seguir gestionando cultura y belleza para todos.
La improvisación musical es el arte de redundar sin repetirse. De antiguos tañedores de cuerdas nos viene la técnica de las «glosas y diferencias» y, de la herencia africana, aprendimos las esencias del «toque». Un patrón rítmico, un tema, una entonación… provoca la imaginación y es transformado variándose hasta el infinito. Porque
improvisar no es más que un continuo crear, que tiene algo de préstamo y de sacrilegio. Muchos músicos desarrollan esta habilidad, pero los jazzistas poseen ese don en grado superlativo.
Así que para estimular la belleza fue encargada una portada icónica del jazz al artista visual Reynerio Tamayo. Él, con maestría surrealista, ideó un híbrido integrado por algunos de sus instrumentos más representativos.
Con cuerpo de contrabajo, el faro del Castillo del Morro de La Habana hace las veces de clavijero, el brazo está hecho a manera de teclado, las efes tienen forma de saxofón alto y una pintoresca tumbadora remata el cordal. Un personaje colorido, que parece salido de un cuadro de Wifredo Lam, lo hace sonar al estilo del “Afro-Cuban Jazz”.
De esta manera, comienza el número 14 de El Sincopado Habanero que dedica sus páginas virtuales al Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza de La Habana. El testimonio de su legado nos llega a través de un trabajo que Yentsy Rangel inició como parte del Diplomado en Patrimonio Musical Hispano (Colegio Universitario San Gerónimo de La Habana, Universidad de La Habana) y maduró luego, dando lugar a su tesis de Maestría en Musicología (Universidad de las Artes de Cuba). Siguiendo la misma temática, en la sección «Documenta Musicæ» Aliet González presenta la obra para saxofón de Javier Zalba, un trabajo realizado como resultado del mismo Diplomado, que propone incentivar la práctica jazzística, agregando este repertorio al programa académico de la enseñanza de la música en Cuba.
De Janio Abreu, fiel colaborador de El Sincopado, publicamos las piezas Danzón mi bella Habana, La zorra y el cuervo, Traveling y Mori, obras que enriquecen el repertorio jazzístico cubano. Al respecto, nos explica Gabriela Milián que las partituras publicadas en «Pentagramas del Pasado» funcionan apenas como un «mapa mental» o especie de boceto, que solo puede ser completado cuando ocurre la sesión de Jazz.
En «A Contratiempo» ofrecemos cobertura del acontecer musical de La Habana antes de la Covid-19. Entre estos sucesos se hallan el XXXV Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza, con sede en la capital y Santiago de Cuba; el XI Coloquio del Premio Casa de las Américas de Musicología; la Semana de Música Sacra que ya se hace tradicional y
es justamente valorada en un texto de Claudia Fallarero; y la presentación del primer anuario impreso de El Sincopado Habanero. Como respuesta a esta etapa de confinamiento, acciones como Tunturuntu pa' tu casa (http://tunturuntu.org/pa-tu-casa), el festival de música online que ha inaugurado en Cuba la nueva modalidad de concierto digital en streaming, parece llegar para quedarse.
Una amplia sección se dedica a valorar el Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza en la voz de su director Bobby Carcassés. Así mismo, hemos recabado la opinión de reconocidos protagonistas del género, quienes responden en estas páginas preguntas medulares, que califican la experiencia personal y colectiva alrededor de esta escena.
Entre ellos están algunos representantes de la delegación de New Orleans que participó en enero 2020. Testimonia su presentación la foto de contraportada que remata las páginas de este boletín.

http://www.renlyon.org/CreoleJazzBand/KOCJB.html The 1923-1924 recordings by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band ("KOCJB") are a cornerstone of early Jazz music. This timeline chronicles the development of the band that created them -... more

La popolarità e il successo discografico di I'm coming Virginia, brano scritto dai due compositori americani Donald Heywood (1896-1967) e Will Marion Cook (1869-1944), sono da attribuire es-senzialmente a due motivi: uno riguarda la prima... more

La popolarità e il successo discografico di I'm coming Virginia, brano scritto dai due compositori americani Donald Heywood (1896-1967) e Will Marion Cook (1869-1944), sono da attribuire es-senzialmente a due motivi: uno riguarda la prima incisione del pezzo, ovvero quella del 1926 per la Columbia, arrangiata dallo stesso Cook autore anche delle parole. L'altro, come vedremo più avanti, è collegato ad una delle massime icone del jazz "bianco" degli anni '20: il trombettista Bix Beiderbecke, una breve e intensa carriera la sua, logorato dall'alcol che lo condusse ad una mor-te prematura a soli 28 anni. LA PRIMA INCISIONE. Nella prima incisione Columbia del 18 settembre 1926 alla voce troviamo la popolarissima Ethel Waters, cantante e attrice statunitense cresciuta in solitudine nella periferia di Philadelphia. Dopo un difficile debutto, la sua fama giunse in concomitanza dei suoi primi ingaggi nel "circuito dei bianchi" al punto da diventare già a metà degli anni '20 una delle artiste più apprezzate e pa-gate degli Stati Uniti. Ethel Waters interpretò magnificamente il testo di I'm Coming Virginia scritto da Cook portando il brano in pochi mesi al successo. Ad accompagnare Waters c'era la Singing Orchestra un complesso messo su e diretto dallo stesso Cook. Inst.Intro Verse A A B 14 16 8 8 8 "I'm coming Virginia", Singing Orchestra with Ethel Waters (Columbia, 1926) La Singing orchestra era formata da violino, violoncello, pianoforte, tromba e un piccolo gruppo vocale. In questa incisione si sentono chiaramente tutti i tratti distintivi del mondo del teatro, dove l'accompagnamento musicale è un perfetto e bilanciato contrasto di richiami al blues, con la tromba che ricama attorno al canto nitide linee di improvvisazioni, ma anche al mondo classico con gli interventi degli archi e del piccolo gruppo vocale. L'arrangiamento voluto da Cook come mostra lo schema qui sopra è pensato su una classica forma AAB ritornellata introdotta da un intro strumentale e un verse di 16 battute con il solo ac-compagnamento del pianoforte. Da segnalare anche una citazione nell'accompagnamento piani-stico al verse: si tratta di un frammento del tema di "In the Hall of Mountain" di E.Grieg. : :

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- by Donatello D'Attoma
- •
- 3
  Jazz History, New Orleans Jazz, Louis Armstrong

When it comes to New Orleans music, Carlo Ditta might not be a household name. But the 59-year-old producer, songwriter, and guitarist has been a vital figure on the Crescent City scene for decades. As New Orleans’ leading music... more

"Nobody ain't never gonna find the code," Big Chief Larry Bannock once defiantly argued about the secrets of the Mardi Gras Indians. Famously described by Henry Rightor in 1900 as bands running along the streets on Fat Tuesday "whooping,... more

"Nobody ain't never gonna find the code," Big Chief Larry Bannock once defiantly argued about the secrets of the Mardi Gras Indians. Famously described by Henry Rightor in 1900 as bands running along the streets on Fat Tuesday "whooping, leaping, brandishing their weapons and, anon, stopping in the middle of a street to go through the movements of a mimic war-dance, chanting the while in rhythmic cadence an outlandish jargon," the Mardi Gras Indians' performances are, indeed, among the most enigmatic traditions of New Orleans's annual carnival celebration. Due to the lack of historical sources, it is tempting to relate these "black Indians" to Buffalo Bill's touring Wild West shows. Although I do not wish to deny that these late nineteenth-century shows have been part of the stream of influences that shaped the Mardi Gras Indians, the fact that similar traditions developed in places where Buffalo Bill's shows were never performed makes it more likely that New Orleans's "black Indians" represent a specific variant of a broader phenomenon rather than a uniquely Louisianian product. In fact, Léon Beauvallet observed in Cuba in 1856 how some blacks in a parade in honor of a king "had transformed themselves into South American savages, Red Skins, or Apaches," and in his description of a carnival celebration in Trinidad in 1847, Charles Day noticed that some black "Spanish peons from the Main . . . daubed with red ochre" had been brought over to the island from Venezuela to participate in the parade as Indian warrior bands with stick fighters, kings, queens, chiefs, medicine men, ambassadors, and other dignitaries. One way of approaching the existing scholarship with new theories despite the paucity of historical sources is by using a comparative perspective. Barbara Bridges, Samuel Kinser, Michael P. Smith, Ned Sublette, and others have broken new ground in the analysis of the Mardi Gras Indians by making connections to a series of Caribbean traditions. This article owes much to their pioneering work but tries to make further progress by adding new research materials from Brazil to the analysis. The first three sections serve to highlight parallels between New Orleans's "black Indians" and the many variants of dances, parades, and paratheatrical performances known in Brazil as "Mouros e Cristãos" (Moors and Christians). In section four, it is argued that this connection does not represent a singular case but rather a broader pattern that may also apply to New Orleans. This claim is supported by three theories―each corresponding to a different "transformation" of St. James―that could explain the remarkable parallels between Louisiana's Mardi Gras Indians and Brazil's Moors and Christians.

A look at the lives of Antonia Gonzales in New Orleans and Marguerite Dufay in Paris

A few notes on the complex origins of jazz music

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- by Bruce Bouck
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- 2
  Jazz History, New Orleans Jazz

This essay examines a controversial memoir Louis Armstrong wrote on his deathbed in New York’s Beth Israel Hospital. I argue that critics have made the mistake of treating each of the narrative’s elements as discreet units. In doing so... more

People who visit Congo Square will find a sign there that informs visitors about the importance of this iconic place to New Orleans’ history. The sign also refers to the Mardi Gras Indians, while making the claim that this and other... more

The name Second Line is, an urban social tradition for the African-American youth of New Orleans. Being a “Second Liner” is something that the youth look forward to. It is full of energy and you're right behind the band as they strut down... more

Lester Young y Billie Holliday. La pareja musical más famosa y brillante del Jazz, se impusieron por su estilo único y original, que cambió los ejes de hacer música. Historia del Jazz. Parte XLII... more

Cosimo Matassa, who died September 11, 2014, was a son of Sicilian immigrants to New Orleans who, like so many of their connazionali, settled in a working-class, multi-ethnic French Quarter neighborhood. Matassa became a pivotal figure in... more

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- by Mark Lomanno
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- 4
  Jazz Studies, Documentary Film, New Orleans Jazz, Sicily

This article presents a new theory on the origin of the calenda (also known as calinda, colinda, corlinda, and caringa) by analyzing the term from an Iberian perspective. It claims that the term should not be understood as a type of dance... more

Focusing on the months that followed Katrina and the breach of the levees in New Orleans, the first two seasons of HBO series Treme (2010Treme ( , 2011 plumb the interstices between fact and fiction, thereby testifying to the confusion... more

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- by Delphine Letort
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- 28
  Religion, Film Studies, Television Studies, Film Music And Sound

New Orleans' two great Louis-es, Armstrong and Prima, were formed by their hometown and its culture; though both left the city, it never left them or their music. They were both artists and entertainers, gifted musicians, and unabashed... more

The Louisiana Creole community in New Orleans went through profound changes in thefirst half of the 20th-century. This work examines Creole ethnic identity, focusing particularly on the transition from Creole to American. In "becoming... more

The Louisiana Creole community in New Orleans went through profound changes in thefirst half of the 20th-century. This work examines Creole ethnic identity, focusing particularly on the transition from Creole to American. In "becoming American,"
Creoles adapted to a binary, racialized caste system prevalent in the Jim Crow American South (and transformed from a primarily Francophone/Creolophone community where
a tripartite although permissive caste system long existed) to a primarily Anglophone community (marked by stricter black-white binaries). These adaptations and transformations were facilitated through Creole participation in fraternal societies, the
organized labor movement and public and parochial schools that provided English-only instruction. The "Americanization of Creole New Orleans" has been a common theme in
Creole studies since the early 1990's, but no prior study has seriously examined the cultural and social transformation of Creole New Orleans by addressing the place and
role of public and private institutions as instruments and facilitators of Americanization.

By understanding the transformation of Creole New Orleans, this thesis demonstrates how an historically mixed-race community was ultimately divided by the segregationist
culture of the early-twentieth century U.S. South.

In addition to an extensive body of secondary research, this work draws upon archival research at the University of New Orleans' Special Collections, Tulane University Special Collections, the Amistad Research Center, The Archdiocese of New Orleans, and Xavier University Special Collections. This thesis makes considerable use of census data, draws upon press reports, and brings to bear a wide assortment of oral histories conducted by the author and others.

Most scholars have viewed New Orleans Creoles simply as Francophone African Americans, but this view is limited. This doctoral thesis engages the Creole community in New Orleans on its own terms, and in its own idioms, to understand what "becoming American" meant for New Orleans Creoles between 1896-1949.

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This essay critically examines the theory and practice of neoliberalism in the United States (US) in the broader context of neoliberal globalization. The tragedy that befell several states in the southern part of the US occasioned by the... more

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- by Kenneth Bauzon
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- 11
  Sociology, Poverty, Political Science, Neoliberalism

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- by Gabriel Vernacchia
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- 4
  Jazz History, New Orleans Jazz, Alan Lomax, Jelly Roll Morton

During the twentieth century, jazz was at the center of multiple debates about social life and American experience. Jazz music and its performers were framed in both positive and negative manners. The autobiographies of New Orleans... more

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- by Teófilo Espada-Brignoni
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- 13
  Social Psychology, Music, Popular Music, Autobiography

This essay critically examines the theory and practice of neoliberalism in the United States (US) in the broader context of neoliberal globalization. The tragedy that befell several states in the southern part of the US occasioned by the... more

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- by Kenneth Bauzon
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- 11
  Sociology, Poverty, Political Science, Neoliberalism

... During that time, he also learned to use comedy by observing the clowning of Mardi Gras revelers and of musician-comedians like Johnny Candy Candido (leader of the short-lived Little Collegians, a group that included Prima on... more

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- by George Guida
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- 2
  Popular Music, New Orleans Jazz

New Orleans Jazz

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