A Brief History of Jazz at Lake Pontchartrain
"It was a lakeside summer spot in New Orleans that inspired the song that would become one of the world's great Jazz masterpieces.~
West End Blues was a sleepy southern blues tune written by Joe "King" Oliver, until it came into the hands of trumpeter Louis
Armstrong...in the late 1920's...and changed musical history.
Oliver named it for the West End of New Orleans--a popular picnic and entertainment area on Lake Pontchartrain... Billie Holiday wrote in
her autopbiography that she "never heard anyone sing before without using words"...
As part of the NPR (National Public Radio) 100 Review of the 20th Century's most important American musical works, NPR's John Burnet
traveled to New Orleans in search of the source of Jazz genius..."
Excerpt from National Public Radio's 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.
West End Blues 1926-1933
Hallowed now in jazz history are the stretches known as Milneburg, Old Spanish Fort, Little Woods, Bucktown, and West End
The fishing camps, dance halls and roadhouses of the Lake Pontchartrain resort communities teemed with pleasure-seekers, both rich and
poor, especially in the early 1900's after the closing of Storyville (1917) and the start of Prohibition (1920) pushed revelers to the city's
fringes.
Souchon recalled that 'Lake Pontchartrain always had an attraction for musicians...Camps would be rented; large
pavillions were reservered for dances and picnics, and...every camp had its own music' (File, 'Bars, Buildings and Where Jazz was Played,
Jazz Archives, Tulane University).
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Cited form the The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park located at 365 Canal Street:
In the early days
'Legitimate theater, vaudeville, music publishing houses and instrument stores employed musicians in the central business district, while
other establishments flourished in and around the 'red-light' district near Canal and Rampart streets. On the shores of Lake Pontchartrain,
bands competed for audiences at amusement parks and resorts.'
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~~~~~
'A number of Crescent City neighborhoods have been associated with the historic development of New Orleans jazz, from
Storyville and the Vieux Carre to Milneburg and Marrero.'
Quote source: African Americans in New Orleans: The Music-New
Orleans Public Library Online Exhibit
>http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/exhibits/music6.htm 
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~~~~
After 1870...the area (Milneburg) evolved into an entertainment district, as the city's passenger train, the Smoky Mary, began
carrying more middle-class visitors to the resort. Entertainment included jazz, with Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Danny Barker
performing.
An Excerpt from the 1999 Land Use Plan
New Orleans City Planning Commission
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~~~~
Black and White Intertwined
In New Orleans there were always some whites listening to jazz in black venues, like the
honky-tonks of black Storyville, black picnics on Lake Pontchartrain, in Johnson and Lincoln parks. The legendary riverboats, where some
of the most famous jazz pioneers polished their trade, were in fact segregated, for whites only. Whites were also hiring these jazz pioneers
to play for them at the New Orleans Country Club, fraternity dances at Tulane, and fancy restaurants like Tranchina's on the lake.
>
Source:
The New Republic, Nov 18, 1985 v193 p33(8)
The faking of jazz: how politics distorted the history of the hip.
James Lincoln Collier. COPYRIGHT The New Republic Inc. 1985 
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~~~~~
Tom Brown's Band From Dixieland
'...both black and white bands had found plenty of seasonal employment at the
beachfront restaurants, pavilions, and cabarets lining the south shore of 635-square-mile Lake Pontchartrain, less than five miles north of
the city. Tom Brown's band was even one of the few that got to play on the excursion steamers that took tourists to the more exclusive
north shore. But Pontchartrain's heyday ran in cycles, subject to sometimes violent weather and changing fashion. It ended forever when,
in the mid-1920s, construction began on a seawall to extend the existing shoreline out several hundred feet, protecting it from storms and
flooding--and leaving the former resort area stranded inland.
From Lost Chords
White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz,
1915-1945
By RICHARD M. SUDHALTER
Oxford University Press
href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sudhalter-chords.html">http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sudhalter-chords.html
>
~~~~~
'...the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB)...strongly influenced both black and white bands. The next great event was
the arrival in Chicago, in 1921, of the white band that came to be known as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Led by the cornetist Paul
Mares, a disciple of King Oliver, the band had on clarinet Leon Roppolo, whom Sudhalter calls 'the first great jazz soloist to record'. The
trombonist was George Brunis...and the bassist was Steve Brown...The Rhythm Kings...had something of what Sudhalter calls the
'stateliness' of New Orleans black bands like King Oliver's. The great black pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton took part in one of
the Rhythm Kings' recording sessions -- probably the first racially mixed record date in jazz history.
...jazz originated as dance
music, and dance musicians, if they want to eat regularly, must take into account what the great black drummer Baby Dodds elegantly
called 'the comfort of the people.' King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band -- the first great black band to record, the band that gave Louis
Armstrong his start up north and with which he made his first records -- was famous for being able to play waltzes so softly that you could
hear the dancers' feet shuffling.'
Except from 'Black and White Intertwined', William H. Youngren, professor of English at
Boston College: The Atlantic Montly, August, 1999.
>http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/jazz.htm
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~~~~
1831-the Pontchartrain
Railroad made Milneburg its lake-end terminal and added to its fame as a resort.
1839-The town of Milneburg consists of a few houses, the Washington and
Arch Hotels, a grocery, two barrooms and a bakery. It was named for Alexander
Milne, a Scottish philanthropist who owned much of what is now the New Orleans
Lakefront.
The Milneburg pier was later built with many camps that could
be rented for parties. Black musicians, bands and jazz flourished there.
1930s-the popularity of Milneburg began to wane as the West End and
Pontchartrain became big attractions. The development of a seawall along the
lake, prohibition and the last run of Smokin’ Mary in 1932 signaled the end of
the village and in 1934 a fire destroyed all that remained.
Sourc:
Louisiana Timeline
href="http://enlou.com/time/year1839.htm">http://enlou.com/time/year1839.htm
After 1870...the area (Milneburg) evolved into an entertainment district, as
the city's passenger train, the Smoky Mary, began carrying more middle-class
visitors to the resort. Entertainment included jazz, with Sidney Bechet, Louis
Armstrong and Danny Barker performing.
An Excerpt from the 1999 Land Use
Plan
New Orleans City Planning Commission
href="http://int.new-orleans.la.us/cnoweb/cpc/1999_dist_six.htm">http://int.new-orleans.la.us/cnoweb/cpc/1999_dist_six.htm
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The Italian Connection?
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who billed themselves the originators of Jazz, have
long been been dismissed as the White guys who copied African American music, and called it their own. There is a lot of truth to that
statement, but on the other hand, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's recordings still hold their own unique charm, over 80 years after their
initial release. How ever unfair, and indicative of the racism of the era, the record 'Livery Stable Blues', coupled with 'Dixie Jass Band
One Step' became the first Jazz record ever released on February 26, 1917 for the Victor Talking Machine Company. It was wildly
successful. It's release signaled the begining of the Jazz age and helped define the the wild, exhuberent era we call the 'Roaring Twenties'.
(Red Hot Jazz Archives)
However '...all citizens had access to the music which was performed on the streets, at the camps at
West End, and in the cabarets and dance halls...The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was, in 1917, the first jazz group to be
recorded.
It included Nick LaRocca and Tony Sbarbaro.
Other notable Italian jazz originators are Leon Roppolo, Tony
Parenti, Charlie Scaglioni, Santo Pecora, Sherwood Mangiapane, Joseph Manone, Curly Lizana, Charlie Cordilla, Joseph 'Wingy'
Manone, Sharkey Bonano, Tony Parenti, and Louis Prima.
The Italian connection was but one strand of many, yet the presence
of Italian musicians in so many of the early New Orleans jazz bands tells us that it was a significant factor in the development of the music
and deserves recognition. LaRocca and Sbarbaro with the ODJB, Roppolo with The New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK), Curly Lizana
with the New Orleans Jazz Babies, Charlie Cordilla with the Halfway House Orchestra or the subsequent activities of Joseph 'Wingy'
Manone, Sharkey Bonano, Tony Parenti, Louis Prima, Irving Fazola (an honorary Italian) and others all attest to an Italian jazz connection
which was deep and abiding.
The impact of the ODJB on black New Orleanians was no less telling. When Dink Johnson, a
drummer and clarinetist who worked with the Original Creole Orchestra, Jelly Roll Morton, and Kid Ory, was interviewed by Floyd Levin
in 1950, he had some interesting observations concerning his reaction to the ODJB: 'I was actually a drummer, you know. I had always
wanted to play the clarinet since hearing Larry Shields with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.' The effect of the ODJB's recordings on the
most popular black dance band in New Orleans in 1917, Kid Ory's, is another case in point. What was known as the Ory-Oliver band
included future stars such as Joe Oliver, Johnny Dodds, and occasionally Louis Armstrong and held forth at dance halls like the Economy
and Cooperators, where its popularity was unassailable. Testimony by Manuel Manetta, the Violinist in Kid Ory's band, illustrates what
happened throughout the city in the wake of the ODJB recordings. The two 'readers' in the band were Oliver and Manetta, with the latter
serving as 'straw boss' for Ory in the selection of material and direction of the band. Yet Manetta was fired because 'Joe Oliver and Kid
Ory wanted to follow the format of the Dixieland Jazz Band and use only five pieces.'
Prior to 1917, many New Orleans dance
bands either carried or were led by violinists. After that year, violins all but disappeared. Manetta ended up dropping violin, offering
saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and piano to prospective employers. The success of the ODJB through the medium of the phonograph
completed the revolution in dance-band instrumentation begun by Buddy Bolden two decades earlier, supplanting violinists with cornetists
and standardizing the jazz-band lineup. The success of the ODJB vindicated 'faking' and fused the term 'jazz' to the New Orleans style of
instrumental ragtime, collectively improvised, which had been developing since the turn of the century. The term itself became a rallying
point for New Orleans musicians of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, creating conditions for the formation of a community of interest in
support of the new music, which was perceived as a local product. While the roots of Jazz were undoubtedly nourished largely within the
African-American community (which was itself extremely diversified), its subsequent development before 1917 was a more broadly
communitarian phenomenon, drawing on a variety of musical cultures extant in New Orleans. Music, in other words, brought people of all
affiliations together, in spite of the social conditions which were often designed to keep them apart.
Source: Jazz and the Italian
Connection: - By Dr. Bruce Raeburn
href="http://members.aol.com/ODJBjazz/odjbhistory.html">http://members.aol.com/ODJBjazz/odjbhistory.html
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Cuban Influences On New Orleans Music
'...Baby Dodds noted that the 'blues were played in New Orleans in
the early days very, very slow, and not like today, but in a Spanish rhythm.'(liii) Trombonist Emile Christian also uses a habanera bass line
behind a cornet-clarinet duet on I Lost My Heart In Dixieland recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1920.(liv)
Pamela
J. Smith's extensive analysis of Cuban influences on New Orleans music uses such pieces as Creepy Feeling, The Crave, and Spanish
Swat, by Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Stomp, by Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin, as recorded by King Oliver in 1923, Stock Yard
Strut, as recorded by Freddie Keppard in 1926, Sweet Lorraine, as recored by Natty Dominique and Johnny Dodds in 1928, Panama, as
recorded in 1922 by the Friars Society Orchestra, West Indies Blues as recorded by A. J. Piron in 1928 and Tampeekoe as recorded by the
New Orleans Owls in 1928, to illustrate both the Cuban rhythms and how New Orleans jazz musicians modified them.(lv) The heavy use of
such musical devices in New Orleans jazz was referred to by Jelly Roll Morton as the 'Spanish tinge' and is sometimes called the 'Latin
tinge.'(lvi)
Essay by Jack Stewart
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~~~~~
On Sunday afternoons, New Orleanians of the era (c. 1915) often traveled to lakeside camps and resorts such as West
End, Bucktown and Milneburg, where they would eat boiled seafood and listen to bands playing the latest musical styles
Source:
>HISTORIC JAZZ CLUB DAMAGED FORMER HALFWAY HOUSE NEAR CEMETERIES BURNS [ORLEANS Edition]
Times
- Picayune, New Orleans, La. Jun 19, 2000
Author: Chris Gray Staff
writer, Page: B01 
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~~~~~
While Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Bands were not the only good white bands in the city, they were among the most
prominent. Laine even, tantalizingly, claimed to have sent a band to play at the great St. Louis Exposition of 1904. His 'Reliance' bands
were particularly active in the seasonal social life of the Lake Pontchartrain south shore.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sudhalter-chords.html">http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sudhalter-chords.html
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~~~
In 1954 'Lincoln Beach opened to a throng of 10,000 eager citizens, who spilled onto the elaborately landscaped midway
and gathered around the stage where Papa Celestin's jazz band played...'
Over the next few years, Lincoln Beach became a
vacation destination for
blacks. New rides sprang up on the midway; and the park hosted concerts
by such popular acts as the Ink
Spots and local favorites Fats Domino and
Earl King. In April 1957, Lincoln Beach was selected as the site of the
annual Negro
State Fair, a gathering that highlighted education and culture.
Source:
High tide, New Orleans Magazine, New Orleans.
Mar 1999
Authors: Russell McCulley - Volume: 33, Issue: 6, Pagination: 66-69
~~~~
Important early Jazz venues along
the Lake included:
Milneburg, New Orleans
An incorporated village on Lake Pontchartrain, it was an active resort from the 19th century. It was the
site of the Pontchartrain Amusement Park until 1984, and during its heyday (to the mid-1930s) it boasted numerous venues, both public and
private, which engaged jazz bands to play residencies or for individual functions. On the pier, for example, were Morgan's Saloon, the Joy
Club, Romer's Café, The Inn, Quarelles, Nick's Restaurant, and The Lighthouse, and there were 100 more such venues close by. Its
memory is preserved (though its name is misspelled) in the often performed and recorded tune Milenberg Joys.'
'Mama Lou's
Off Little Woods Road. It was a wooden building erected on piles and set about 75 feet out from the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
Jazz was played there from at least the 1940s: Herb Morand led his band in a residency that lasted for much of the decade and the
trumpeter Louis 'Kid Shots' Madison appeared in the mid-1940s. The club remained in operation until at least 1961, but was closed by the
time that Hurricane Betsy damaged the area in 1965.'
Tokyo Gardens
Ballroom. It was situated in the resort at Spanish
Fort, near where the Bayou St. John runs into Lake Pontchartrain. Among the jazz groups that performed there was a band led by the
cornetist Johnny Bayersdorffer, which was resident in the summer of 1924.
Tranchina's Restaurant
It was situated in the
resort at Spanish Fort, near where the Bayou St. John runs into Lake Pontchartrain. Jazz was performed there from at least 1918, when A.
J. Piron formed an orchestra to begin an engagement at the restaurant, which continued intermittently until 1923.
Source: The
New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Macmillan Reference Ltd 1988
~~~~
'Much of what was called Milneburg early in
the first third of this century was actually IN Lake Pontchartrain... the buidings and dock walkways connecting them were on wooden
pilings in the shallows of the lake. It was indeed a very important area for music. It was very popular for dances and parties every weekend
of New Orleans long summer, and I think important in being a place where, in those days of racial segregation being mandated by law,
musicians on different sides of the Jim Crow barrier had extended chances to listen to eachother and informally jam. Milneburg was at the
end of Elysian Fields Avenue. An early steam railway was put on this thouroghfare connecting the city by the river to the lake some 5 miles
away in the 1830s. It was officially called the Pontchartrain Rail Road, but the early 20th century New Orleanians refered to the line by the
nickname of the archaic steam engine, 'Smoky Mary'.
Source:
href="http://www.geocities.com/infrogmation/Milenburg.html">http://www.geocities.com/infrogmation/Milenburg.html
~~~~~
It was at Milneburg's bandstands, dance halls and honky-talks that much of New Orleans' early jazz was first heard.
Milneburg was the other popular early resort area on the Lake, at the terminus of the Pontchartrain Railroad line, which began
operation in 1831. New Orleanians rode the famous 'Smokey Mary' out to the many camps that dotted the shoreline and to the hotels,
restaurants, roadhouses, shooting galleries, bathing facilities and fishing piers. It was at Milneburg's bandstands, dance halls and honky-
talks that much of New Orleans' early jazz was first heard.
Like Spanish Fort, Milneburg fell victim to changing tastes and to the
massive construction projects undertaken by the Orleans Levee Board and the WPA in the late 1920s and 1930s. This Levee Board
photograph (included among the WPA photographs of Lakefront projects) was taken on October 5, 1927 from the famous Milneburg
lighthouse looking to the east after demolition of the camps and other structures that occupied the shoreline.
Source:
href="http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/july2001/3jul01.htm">http://nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/july2001/3jul01.htm
~~~~
Links to sources cited on this page:
>
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href="http://www.geocities.com/infrogmation/Milenburg.html MILENBERG JOYS, Froggy" New Orleans br Jazz s ?< > |
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Jazz Timeline (by birth of Artist)
1887-1931
Charles “Buddy” Bolden
1895- “Buddy” Bolden forms his
band
Sidney Bechet, and Bunk Johnson
Play in Bolden’s band
1907-Bolden committed to a mental intsitute. Frank
Dusen(1880-1940)takes over the band & renames it the Eagle Band
1907-1917 -The Eagle Band
1880-1940-Frankie
Dusen
1907- Frankie Dusen takes over Buddy Bolden’s Renames it 'The Eagle Band'
1917-Dusen & Buddy Petit
leave for Los Angeles to join Jelly Roll Morton at Baron Long's night club in Watts. Morton ridiculed them about their clothes and
downhome ways--Dusen & Petit soon returned to New Orleans
1872-1972-Bill Johnson
Played in the Eagle Band
>brother in law of Jelly Roll Morton
1909-Leaves New Orleans. Plays with
Freddie Keppard & King Oliver (The Original
Creole Orchestra), King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Johnny Dodds' bands.
1873-1946-Manuel Perez-Cornet
Famous for
his work in New Orleans' brass bands.
played in the Onward Brass Band before the turn of the century
1900-Organized the
Imperial Orchestr
Led bands in Storyville
Played withs with Fate Marable (SS Capitol)
1920s-played parades with the
Maple Leaf Orchestra
Left New Orleans in 1915 (Charles Elgar's Creole Orchestra-- Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Arthur Sims Band in
Chicago. Elgar's Creole Orchestra
1873-1966-Papa Jack Lain
Drums & Saxaphone
Often credited with being
the first White Jazz musician
Formed his first brass band in 1888
Lead the Reliance Brass Band, which became popular enough
for him to have several units playing under that name
Early New Orlean's White Jazz musicians such as, Tom Brown, Johnny Stein,
Albert and George Brunies, Tony Parenti, Nick La Rocca and all of the other members of the Original Dixleland Jass Band played in the
Reliance Brass Band at one time or the other.
1878-1961
Alphonse Picou
Clarinet credited with
developing the clarinet part for “High Society “- turn of the century Picou was playing in Excelsior Brass Band
joined Freddie
Keppard's Olympia Orchestra
before World War I he was playing with the Tuxedo Brass Band
Left New Orleans in 1915
(Chicago- Manuel Perez at the Arsonia Cafe, but soon afterward returned to New Orleans. In 1918-Wooden Joe Nichols. 1940s-with Papa
Celestin and Kid Rena
1884-1934
Alcide “Yellow” Nuñez
Clarinet
played with Papa Jack
Laine's the Reliance Brass Band, Frank Christian's Ragtime Band, and Tom Brown's Band From Dixieland
Left New Orleans. Was
an original member of the Stein's Dixieland Jass Band and the Original Dixieland Jass Band
1884-1954
Oscar
“Papa” Celestin
Cornet
1908
became a member of Henry Allen Sr.’s Excelsior band
1910
started the
Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra ( Peter Bocage, Louis Armstrong, Bebe Ridgley, Lorenzo Tio, Jr and Isidore Barbarin (guitarist Danny
Barker’s grandfather).
During World War II he worked in a shipyard.
After the war Celestin reformed his
band and began recording for various companies and doing live broadcasts from local radion stations. He was also a mainstay and tourist
attraction on Bourbon Street until his death.
1885-1938
Joe “King” Oliver
Cornet
Played in The Eagle Band In 1917
he was being billed as 'King' by the Kid Ory who’s band he played in. Mentor of Louis Armstrong
In 1917 he was being billed as
'King' by the Kid Ory who’s band he played in. Began playing around 1908
Member of The Olympia, The Onward Brass Band, The
Original Superior, and the Eagle Band.
Leaves New Orleans in 1919 (King Ory’s Band, Bill Johnson's The Original Creole Orchestra
Formed King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band , imported his protégé Louis Armstrong from New Orleans, The band also included Johnny
Dodds , Honore Dutrey, Lil Hardin and Baby Dodds. The group's 1923 sessions were a milestone in Jazz, introducing the playing of Louis
Armstrong to the world. Recorded a pair of duets with . Jelly Roll Morton . took over Dave Peyton's band- renaming it the Dixie
Syncopators. that went on to catapult Duke Ellington to fame. In 1929 Luis Russell took over the Dixie Syncopators and changed the name
to Luis Russell and his Orchestra.
1887-1967)
Peter Bocage Trumpet, Guitar
>Played in The Eagle Band
A mentor of Bunk Johnson
Joined Fate Marable
in 1917 formed the first inter-racial
band on the Strekfus steamboat line. 1918 played in the Onward band with Joe “King” Oliver , in Henry Allen Sr.’s band., The Tuxedo
Orchestra, with Louis Armstrong. Led the Excelsior band (1922-1932. Rejoined Piron's New Orleans Orchestra in 1923 Leader and
violinist for the Superior Orchestra
As the New Orleans revival of the 1940’s came to a head, Bocage recorded with some of the old-
time New Orleans musicians as the Jazz Pioneers as well as playing with Henry Allen Sr.’s brass band in Algiers.
Throughout 50’s
and 60’s Bocage led various incarnations of the Creole Serenaders, and released an album on Riverside 60's for Riverside called: 'Loves
-Jiles Ragtime Orchestra/Creole Serenaders' and was becoming an important part in the early Preservation Hall until his death in 1967 at
the age of 80.
1888-
Armand J. (A.J.) Piron
Violin
remembered most today as the early
business partner of Clarence Williams
owned The Piron-Williams Publishing Company
started Piron's New Orleans Orchestra in
1918
Published Piron's song 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate' (Louis Armstrong claims that he wrote it and sold it to
them and didn't receive credit) started playing professionally in New Orleans in 1904 and led his own band in 1908
joined Papa
Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra in 1916
traveled to New York in 1923 and returned the following year to play at the Roseland Ballroom.
Piron returned to New Orleans and played for many years at the New Orleans Country Club on Lake Pontchartrain, in night clubs, and on
Mississippi river boats
1888-1958
Tom “Red” Brown
Trombone
Played with Papa Jack Laine's Reliance
>Band Organized Brown's Ragtime Band
(1910)
and Tom Brown and his New Orleans Jazz Band.
claimed to be Claimed
to be the first to use the word 'Jass Brother of Steve Brown
Played with Johnny Bayersdorffer and his Jazzola Novelty
Orchestra
Left New Orleans in 1915 when he took Brown's Ragtime Band to Chicago making him the first to bring a White Jazz band
north from New Orleans
(1889-1949):
Geary “Bunk” Johnson
Played in the Eagle Band
(joined in 1910)
Louis Armstrong, recalled that Bunk Johnson was as one of the early influential jazz musicans in New Orleans Johson played with
Clarence Williams
(1898-1965) Played in the Superior Orchestra Leaves New Orleans in 1915 (Black Eagles)
(1889-1949):
Geary “Bunk” Johnson
Played in the Eagle Band
(joined in 1910)
Louis Armstrong, recalled that Bunk Johnson
was as one of the early influential jazz musicans in New Orleans Johson played with Clarence Williams
(1898-1965) Played in the
Superior Orchestra Leaves New Orleans in 1915
1889-1934
Jack Carey
Cornet Played in The Eagle Band Leader of The
Cresent City Orchestra
Author of “Tiger Rag”,
play in parade bands in New Orleans throughout the 1920s Some claim that
many of the songs that the Cresent City Orchestra developed were later recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band and copyrighted as
their own
1889-1933
Freddie “King” Keppard
Cornet
Played in The Eagle Band succeeded Buddy Bolden
as 'king' of the cornet players
Began playing around 1906. Leader of the Olympia Orchestra Leaves New Orleans in 1912 (Bill
Johnson-- Original Creole Orchestra, Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra, Erskine Tate, Ollie Powers, Charles Elgar Creole Orchestra at
the Savoy Ballroom. And his ownJazz Cardinals
1889-1945
Richard Myknee Jones
Piano
played in
Armand Piron's Olympia Orchestra
led his own band called The Four Hot Hounds which included Sugar Johnny Smith and occassionly
King Oliver
During World War One he played with Papa Celestin.
Left New Oleans in 1919 (Clarence Williams, Richard M.
Jones' Jazz Wizards, Jones is best remembered today as the composer of such Jazz standards as 'Trouble In Mind' and 'Riverside Blues'.
(1889-1949):
Geary “Bunk” Johnson
Played in the Eagle Band
(joined in 1910)
Louis Armstrong,
recalled that Bunk Johnson was as one of the early influential jazz musicans in New Orleans Johson played with Clarence Williams
(1898-1965) Played in the Superior Orchestra Leaves New Orleans in 1915
1889-1961
Dominic “Nick” LaRocca
>
Trumpet
claimed to have invented Jazz and often complained that African American musicians have been given too much
credit for the birth of Jazz 1914
Formed the Original Dixieland Jass Band (referred to itself as America's first Jazz band) with La
Rocca on Trumpet; Larry Shields on clarinet; Eddie Edwards on trombone; and Tony Sbarbaro on drums and Henry Ragas on the piano
started playing with the Papa Laine's Reliance Brass Band
released the worlds's first Jazz record on February 26, 1917 with 'Livery
Stable Blues', coupled with 'Dixie Jass Band One Step' for the Victor Talking Machine Company
Left New Orleans for Chicago (as
Stein's Dixie Jass Band with Yellow Nuñez . The band moved to New York in 1917 & change it’s name to the Orignal Dixieland Jass Band
1889- 1970
Raymond “Ray” Lopez
Trumpet Around 1906 he was playing in Papa Jack Laine's Reliance
Brass Band
Left New Orleans in 1912( Tom Brown's Band From Dixieland in Chicago. with Brown under the name of The Five
Rubes, Started his own band in Chicago in 1916 and then played in Bert Kelley's band, 1920 with Clint Brush's Jazz Babies and with
Tommy Rodgers. In 1917 the Original Dixieland Jass Band
1890-1947
Fate Marabale
Piano
Was
renowned for his steam calliope playing
The bands he led on the Strekfus Mississsippi river boat lines served as a training grounds
for many of the great Jazz musicians of the 1920s.
Members of Marables bands include Louis Armstrong, Baby and Johnny Dodds,
Zutty Singleton, King Oliver, Johnny St. Cyr, Tommy Ladnier, Red Allen, Pops Foster led bands on the boats up until the 1940s.
In
the mid-1940s he played in clubs in St. Louis.
1890-1966
Johnny St. Cyr
Banjo
Guitar
had his own
bands in New Orleans as far back as 1905
played with A.J. Piron, the Superior, Olympia and Tuxedo bands
played on the
riverboats with Fate Marable
1930
Returned to New Orleans where he made his living as a plasterer but still played with local
groups including with Paul Barbarin and Alphonse Picou
Left New Orleans in 1923
was with King Oliver when he went north to
Chicago. Recorded with King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and with Louis Armstrong as a key member of the Hot Five and Hot Seven
sessions. He also performed with Doc Cooke's Dreamland Orchestra.
1955 -to Los Angeles, leading the Young Men from New
Orleans at Disneyland (which also featured Barney Bigard) from 1961 until his death in 1966.
1890-1941
“Jelly Roll”
Morton
Piano
1890-1949
Bud Scott
Banjo
Six-string guitar
Violin
began
playing Guitar at the age of four.
By his teens he played with Buddy Bolden's banjoist and joind the John Robichaux band in 1904
>played with Freddie Keppard's Olympia Orchestra
Left New Orleans in 1913
(to New York City-made his living playing violin
in pit orchestras and concert groups. 1919- Chicago (King Oliver's Jazz Band with Kid Ory , 'Dippermouth Blues' sessions in the
1923.1928- Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra. 1929-Los Angeles, freelancing and work for movie studios. Mid-1940's-New Orleans
revival, joined trumpeter Mutt Carey in the newly reformed Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra
1891-1948
Thomas Mutt”
>Carey
Trumpet
Played in marching bands in the New Orleans sometime around 1913
played with Kid Ory in 1914 ,
rejoined Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra in 1944
Brother of Jack Carey
Played in Jack’s Cresent City Orchestra
Left
New Orleans in 1917 for California ('Spike's Seven Pods of Pepper Orchestra' record--the first Jazz record released by African Americans.
Took over & renamed the band the Jeffersonians when Ory it in 1925. Worked regularly for the Hollywood film studios. Rejoined Kid
Ory's Creole Orchestra in 1944. In 1947 formed his own band
1892-1940
Johhny Dodds
Clarinet
Played in
The Eagle Band Played on riverboats with Fate Marable in 1917
Played In Kid Ory's band in New Orleans from 1912 to 1919
Brother of Baby Dodds Leaves New Orleans in 1921 to play in Chacago with King Oliver. Baby Dodds were an important part of Louis
Armstrong's classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings for Okeh. During the 1920's he also recorded with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Jelly
Roll Morton, and on most of Lil Hardin-Armstrong's sessions.
1892-1969
Geroge “Pops” Foster
Tuba
playing in bands around New Orleans as early as 1906
played tuba with Fate Marable's group on riverboats from 1918 to 1921
>Left New Orleans to play in Kid Ory 's band in California. In St. Louis in the mid 1920s, with both Charlie Creath and Dewy Jackson . In
New York in 1928, with King Oliver , then he Luis Russell Orchestra. though out the period of 1935 to 1940 when the orchestra was really
the backup group for Louis Armstrong . Dixieland revival, with Mezz Mezzrow , and Sidney Bechet.with Earl Hines in San Francisco from
1956 to 1961 and then spent 1963 to 1964 with Elmer Snowden's trio.
1894-1933
Honore Dutrey
Trombone
1910 Honore Dutrey started playing trombone in various bands in New Orleans, including Jimmie Noone's band
Left New Orleans in
1917—played with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Carrol Dickerson, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong's Stompers
1895-1973
Kid Ory
Trombone 1912 to 1919-- led one of the most popular bands in New Orleans featuring, at various times, King
Oliver, a young Louis Armstrong ,Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet and Jimmie Noone. Left New Orleans in In 1919
(Kid Ory's Creole
Orchestra-1922 they became the first black jazz band to record. They used the name of 'Spike's Seven Pods of Pepper Orchestra'-recorded
'Ory's Creole Trombone' and 'Society Blues'. 1925- Chicago playing regularly with King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Hot
Seven and with Jelly Roll Morton . Dixieland revival-1940's, revived Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra.
1895-1944
Jimmie
Noone
Clarinet considered one of the best clarinetists of the Twenties
Growing up in New Orleans Jimmie took clarinet
lessons from Lorenzo Tio, Jr. and a 13 yr.s old Sidney Bechet play with Freddie Keppard in the Olympia Band Left New Orleans in 1917
(followed Freddie to Chicago to join Keppard's Original Creole Orchestra. 1918- became a member of King Oliver's band. 1920-joined Doc
Cooke's Dreamland Orchestra. 1927- started leading a band at the Apex Club in Chicago. 1928-was joined by pianist Earl Hines A young
Joe Williams was in Noone's band (1930s) Played with Kid Ory's band in the California (1940s)
1895-1936
Esther Bigeou
>Singer Recorded with Rickett's Stars
(1923) Recorded with Piron's New Orleans Orchestra
(1923) Recorded with by Clarence
Williams
(1923) cousin of drummer Paul Barbarin
1895-1931
Buddy Petit
(born Joseph Crawford)
>Cornet
Played in the Eagle Band
(joins in 1914)
Louis Armstrong was one of the pall-bearers at Petit’s funeral
>Louis Armstrong as a young man played second-line cornet in one of Petit’s marching bands. his stepfather, learned to play from one of
jazz most infamous characters Bunk Johnson
Leaves New Orleans in 1917 to play in Los Angeles, joining Jelly Roll Morton’s band
in San Francisco
1895-1963
Lizzie Miles
(born Elizabeth Landreaux)
Singer was born on Bourbon
Street and she was singing with the New Orleans Jazz bands of King Oliver, Kid Ory, A.J. Piron while she was still a teenager She worked
as a song plugger for Clarence Williams' and A.J. Piron's publishing company
In the late 1930s, Miles returned to New Orleans l950s
she resumed her career performing and recording (Bob Scobey Band,. Lizzie Miles half sister of Blues singer Edna Hicks and trumpet
player Herb Morand. Some of Lizzie Miles' records where released under the seudonyms of Mandy Smith and Jane Howard. Left New
Orleans in the early 1920s (worked with Elgars Creole Orchestra, Freddie Keppard and with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, the Sam
Wooding Orchestra, Piron's New Orleans Orchestra Fats Waller, Paul Barbarin. . In 1924 she toured Europe
1896-1982
>
Anatie
’Natty’ Dominique
Trumpet
Played with Hot Jazz groups & Brass Bands
Left New Orleans in
1913. Rrecorded with Jelly Roll Morton in 1923 and played with Carroll Dickerson and Jimmie Noone. Best remembered for his
association with Johnny Dodds & Baby Dodds.
1898-1949
Henry 'Kid' Rena's (pronouced ruh-NAY)
>
is said to have taken lessons from Manuel Perez.
When Louis Armstrong took a job on the S.S. Capitol, Rena replaced him in
Kid Ory's band
began his own 'dixieland band
in 1923-- won a loving cup at the Jerusalem Temple from Celestin's Tuxedo Jazz
Band.
he took over leadership of the Eureka Brass Band, and departed from them when he founded his own Brass Band circa 1932.
1898-1975
Arthur
“Zutty”
Singleton
Drummer
one of the most influential
drummers of early Jazz
popularized the use of brushes and drum solos in Jazz and had some of the best technique of the era
got
his start at the Rosebud Theater in New Orleans with Steve Lewis in 1915
after The 1st World War played with Papa Celestin, Luis
Russell, and with Fate Marable on the riverboats.
Left New Orleans
-to St. Louis(Charlie Creath and married his sister
Marge.To Chicago ( Doc Cooke, he and Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines tried to open a club, but it was unsuccessful. played on several of
the Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five sides, including 'A Monday Date', where Armstrong says, 'Come on Zutty, whip those cymbals
Pops!'. 1931-to New York City (Fats Waller). 1933 to Chicago (Carroll Dickerson at the Grand Terrace)1930s-Roy Eldridge, Mezz
Mezzrow, and Sidney Bechet. 1941-Los Angeles retired in 1970
1898-1959
Omer Simeon
Clarinet took lessons
from Lorenzo Tio Jr.
Left New Orleans in 1914
Chicago- in his brother Al Simeon's Hot Six , Charlie Elgar's Creole Orchestra
(1923-27.Recorded with Jelly Roll Morton and was featured on 'Black Bottom Stomp.' . King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators -1927 . Rejoined
Elgar's Orchestra. New York-1928, Luis Russell and Jelly Roll Morton,returned to Chicago-Erskine Tate. 1931-Earl Hines Orchestra .
1942-Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra. 1944 –45, Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra . Wilbur de Paris
(1898-1959)
Warren “Baby”
Dodds
Played in the Eagle Band joined Fate Marable's riverboat band in 1918-playin with played with Louis Armstrong, Johnny St.
Cyr, Pops Foster
Brother of Johnny Dodds who he played with in Kid Ory’s Band Left New Orleans in 1921 for San Francisco (King
Oliver ‘s band, to Chicago as the drumer in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with Honore Dutrey , Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers
and Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven, with his his brother Johnny Dodds’s band, with Jimmy Noone, and with Bunk Johnson.
>
1897-1959 Sidney Bechet (clarinet) Plays in Buddy Bolden’s Band Bechet leaves New Orleans in 1917 to play in
Chicago. Later in Europe,
1899-1969
Paul Barbarin
Drummer Played in Buddy Petit's Young Olympians
Played with
Luis Russell ‘s band
After World War Two led his own bands.. In 1960 he re-formed his father's Onward Brass Band and played at
Preservation Hall and also made several recordings. He died in 1969 while he was leading The Onward Brass Band in a street parade.
>Son of Isidore Barbain, leader of The Onward Brass Band. His brothrs were also active New Orleans musicians
Left New Orleans
many times but always returned
1899-1970
Alfonso “Lonnie” Johnson
Guitar
Banjo
pioneering
Blues and Jazz guitarist, and banjoist
1920 played with Fate Marable in their Mississippi riverboat bands.
Left New Orleans in
1917 (Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra, Charlie Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs, Eddie Lang, Louis Armstrong and his Hot
Five, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Johnny Dodds, and Jimmy Noone.
1900-1972
Anthony
“Tony”
>Parenti
Clarinet with Johnny De Droit's Jazz Orchestra,-- the first to play Jazz as we know it for the elite of New Orleans
social functions 1924
he was leading his own band at La Vida
Left New Orleans
(Irving Mills' , The Dorsey Brothers
Orchestra ,Ted Lewis , Muggsy Spanier, Preacher Rollo and his Five Saints
1900-1968
George Lewis
(born George
Zenon)
Played with the Black Eagle Band
Played with , Buddy Petit, Kid Rena, Bunk Johnson Played with the Eureka
Brass Band Played with The Olympia Orchestra
1900-1982
Joseph
Wingy Manone
Trumpet
Vocals
lost his right arm in a streetcar accident when he was ten years old
He started out playing on Mississippi riverboats and with the
Original Crescent City Jazzers. The band later changed their name to the Arcadian Serenaders
Left New Orleans to work in a series
of bands (ocassionally as a leader) all over the country, started his own band Joe Manone's Harmony Kings, 1927 in Chicago before
relocating to New York. In 1929 recorded with Benny Goodman's Boys, back to Chicago and led a band called the Cellar Boys, His 1930
song 'Tar Paper Stomp' is the basis for the riff that would later become Glen Miller's famous 'In the Mood'. Appeared in the Bing Crosby
movie 'Rhythm on the River', and appeared regularly on Bing's radio shows.
1900-1949
Paul Mares
Trumpet a
childhood friend of Leon Roppolo, Abbie and George Brunies
While still a teenager Mares played in Tom Brown's band and with his
friend Leon Roppolo Left New Orleans in 1919 (to Chicago and ended up playing in Tom Brown's Band From Dixieland, with George
Brunies - on the Missippissipi riverboat S.S. Capitol. On the boat Mares was reunited with their old friend Roppolo.
left the boat and
took a job at the Friars Inn, a gangster hangout in Chicago (Friars Society Orchestra- one of the most infulencial Jazz bands of the
1920s—later known as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.. Jelly Roll Morton recorded five songs with the band (1923)--generally considered
the first 'racially mixed' Jazz record, although Jelly didn't consider himself to be Black, but rather Creole. In 1925 Mares returned to New
Orleans and reformed the New Orleans Rhythm Kings with Roppolo Mares reformed the New Orleans Rhythm Kings again in 1934
>1900-1973
Albert Nicholas
played with Buddy Petit, King Oliver and Manuel Perez while still a teenager in New
Orleans studied clarinet with Lorenzo Tio, Jr
led his own band with Luis Russell and Barney Bigard.
Left New Orleans in 1924
(King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators in Chicago, Played in Cairo, Shanghi, and Alexandria. 1928 joined the Luis Russell Orchestra rejoined
Russell in 1937 with the Louis Armstrong Orchestra recorded with Jelly Roll Morton in 1939.. Dixieland revival of the late 1940s, playing
with Art Hodes, Bunk Johnson and Kid Ory. In
1900-1971
Louis Armstrong
Cornet, vocals Played in Zutty
Singleton's band & with , the Silver Leaf Band. Played in the Allen Brass Band
Played in Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Orchestra
Took King Oliver ‘s place in Kid Ory's band (1919) Left New Orleans in 1919 for the first time to join Fate Marable's band in St. Louis
which played on the Strekfus Mississsippi river boat lines. In 1922 he joined his mentor Joe Oliver in Chicago to join his Creole Jazz Band
at Lincoln in Chicago
1901-1948
Sidney Arodin
(born Sidney Arnondrin)
Clarinet
played with
Wingy Manone
early in his career then in a revival version of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings
Played with Sharkey Bonano
>Played with Louis Prima's band (1930s)
writer of the song Lazy River
Left New Orleans to play in New York with Johnny
Stein's New Orleans Jazz Band (1922) but returned
1901-1960
Lee Collins
Trumpet as a teenager. He
played in Pops Foster's Young Eagles
Left New Orleans in In 1924 for Chicago to replace Louis Armstrong in King Olivers
Creole Jazz Band. Also played with with Jelly Roll Morton's Kings of Jazz, To New York with New York to play in Luis Russell's
Orchestra
1902-1943
Leon Roppolo
was considered a genius by his contemporaries and
like Bix Beiderbecke and Buddy Bolden
By 1913-14 he was playing music professionally at Lake Pontchartrain and Bucktown played
with Carlisle Evans on the Mississippi River boat bands where he was reunited with his boyhood friends Paul Mares and George Brunnies
Back home he reunited with Mares who had put together another version of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and recorded with Abbie
Brunnies' Left New Orleans in 1921 with Paul Mares and George Brunnies to Chicago where they joined the Friars Society Orchestra
which later became known as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings . 1924 -Mares and Roppolo went to New York, (Al Siegal's Orchestra).
Recorded with the Original Memphis Five and California Ramblers. 1924-, Texas - Pecks Bad Boys. North again-Carlisle Evans band on a
river boat that ended up in New Orleans. Back home (mid 20s) reunited with Mares -New Orleans Rhythm Kings and recorded with Abbie
Brunnies' Halfway House Orchestra.
1902-1974
George Brunies
Trombone at age eight playing with Papa Jack
Laine's band
Played with Papa Jack Laine's son Alfred in 'Baby' Laine's band Played in Abbie Brunies,
(his brother) Halfway
House Orchestra,
Left New Orleans for Chicago in 1919
1906-1980
Albany “Barney” Biggard
Clarinet
Tenor
Sax took clarinet lessons with Lorenzo Tio Jr. and Papa Tio
Left New Orleans for Chicago to play with King Oliver in 1925
>1908-1967
Henry “Red” Allen Played in The Excelsior Band
Played with George Lewis Played with the Sam Morgan Band
Son of Henry Allen who was the leader of the Allen Brass Band of Algiers
Left New Orleans in 1926 for St. Louis to play with Sidney
Desvigne's Southern Syncopaters , King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators, Recorded with Jelly Roll Morton, and Sidney Bechet.
>
1909-1994
Danny Barker
'Banjo King of New Orleans'.
Guitar & Banjo
Took clarinet lessons from
Barney Bigard
Played in Kid Rena's band
Took banjo lessons from George Augustin of the Imperial band, and came under the
direct influence of Lorenzo Stall, Buddy Bolden's banjoist
Nephew of drummer Paul Barbarin
Left New Orleans in 1930 for New
York City. By 1965 Barker had back to New Orleans and married singer Blue Lu Barker splitting his time between performing with his
wife and the Fairview Baptist Church Christian Band which he founded, lecturing on traditional jazz and working as Assistant to the Curator
of the New Orleans Jazz museum up until his death in 1994.