Jazz of New Orleans

Jazz of New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana has produced some of the most interesting culture in the great U.S. of A. Join us at the table, as we discuss New Orleans jazz; sometimes called Dixieland jazz. 

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[00:00:00] New Orleans, Louisiana has produced some of the most interesting culture in the great U.S. of A.

[00:00:07] Join us at the table as we discuss New Orleans jazz, sometimes called Dixieland jazz.

[00:00:16] Welcome to the Steel Magnolias Podcast. We are two sisters here to have uplifting conversations about life in the South.

[00:00:23] The South is full of beautiful diversity in landscape, people groups and culture.

[00:00:30] And we want to showcase each part. We've got plenty of room at our table. So pull up your chair.

[00:00:39] Welcome back. You got Laura Beth and Lainie here at the table with you. Hey, sis.

[00:00:44] Hi, Lainie here.

[00:00:46] So I had fun preparing for this because my husband got me Sirius XM radio for my birthday this year.

[00:00:53] He did. Yes. So I have a subscription at least for the next year. I had a little bit of a tease because I bought a used car.

[00:01:00] So I got like three months. No, not three months. Maybe maybe three months free.

[00:01:05] No, I think you get three months free. Yeah.

[00:01:08] I ended it there, but I enjoyed it while I had it.

[00:01:11] They've got all kinds of stations, including jazz.

[00:01:14] I don't think they have one called New Orleans jazz, but they have lots of jazz station offerings.

[00:01:20] Well, many believe jazz was born in New Orleans.

[00:01:24] Yeah.

[00:01:24] So I know there's controversy around everything.

[00:01:28] Also, some people call New Orleans jazz Dixieland jazz, and some critics think that's its own subset.

[00:01:36] I'm not getting into the weeds of detail on this.

[00:01:39] I will probably call it both.

[00:01:42] We're just a simple Southern culture podcast.

[00:01:45] We don't get into the weeds of the critics subset.

[00:01:50] Neither of us play trumpet nor trombone nor anything really.

[00:01:54] So yeah, we just keep it pretty basic.

[00:01:57] But I am fascinated with the style.

[00:02:02] And Dixieland jazz has such a fun ring to it, but it does.

[00:02:07] That feels like an antiquated name.

[00:02:10] So I'm probably just going to.

[00:02:11] Oh, because of the word Dixie?

[00:02:11] Yeah, I'm probably just going to call it.

[00:02:13] I don't know.

[00:02:14] Did they?

[00:02:14] I don't know.

[00:02:15] They call it that.

[00:02:16] Traditional jazz, Hot Jazz, or Simply Dixieland.

[00:02:19] That's all I was reading.

[00:02:20] I even saw it spelled J-A-S-S a time or a place.

[00:02:24] Interesting.

[00:02:24] A couple of places because I wondered if that's how some people said it.

[00:02:29] Jazz.

[00:02:30] Yeah.

[00:02:31] And so.

[00:02:32] Interesting.

[00:02:32] I don't know what came first.

[00:02:33] Who knows?

[00:02:34] Jazz or jazz.

[00:02:35] We're not here to.

[00:02:36] Anyway.

[00:02:37] Give credit exactly for.

[00:02:39] Anyway, yeah.

[00:02:40] Well, first of all, just New Orleans is fascinating to me.

[00:02:45] So fascinating.

[00:02:45] I believe that because of its location being on a coast, because of its ethnically, racially,

[00:02:53] and cultural diversity.

[00:02:55] Yes.

[00:02:56] Beautiful things are born.

[00:02:58] We've got French.

[00:02:59] Beautiful music.

[00:03:00] Beautiful food.

[00:03:02] Yeah.

[00:03:02] French, Spanish, Creole.

[00:03:05] That's right.

[00:03:05] All represented.

[00:03:06] All those heritages.

[00:03:07] You have some immigrants from Cuba and the Caribbean coming in.

[00:03:12] And cross influences of African derived cultures like Creole, which is a mix of French and

[00:03:18] African.

[00:03:19] I mean, of course, there's going to be cool things that come out of all this.

[00:03:23] And this just kind of set the stage for the development of New Orleans jazz.

[00:03:29] I even was cracking up thinking about all the names for New Orleans.

[00:03:33] You got Nola.

[00:03:34] Oh, that's true.

[00:03:35] You got Nolens.

[00:03:37] Yes.

[00:03:37] You got Crescent City.

[00:03:40] Oh, yeah.

[00:03:40] That's right.

[00:03:41] You got the Big Easy.

[00:03:42] Oh, my goodness.

[00:03:43] Yeah.

[00:03:44] So all these names, I mean, just tell you there's a lot happening there.

[00:03:48] And I even read something about the Big Easy that there's, again, different versions of

[00:03:55] where that name came from.

[00:03:56] But one, that it was just laid back, which makes sense.

[00:04:01] True.

[00:04:01] But also that it was easy for all different musicians of different colors and heritages

[00:04:08] and races to perform.

[00:04:10] This is what I love about this podcast.

[00:04:12] I've literally never stopped.

[00:04:13] I've heard it called the Big Easy countless times.

[00:04:15] But never stopped to think about the why.

[00:04:17] Why is it called the Big Easy?

[00:04:18] So there's different reasons why, but I like them all.

[00:04:22] All of that makes sense.

[00:04:24] So yeah, sometimes it's used interchangeably to be called Dixieland.

[00:04:28] But I don't know if that's its own subset or not.

[00:04:31] But we're just going to stick with New Orleans jazz.

[00:04:35] Yeah.

[00:04:35] And yeah, we're talking about it evolving from African and Caribbean kind of a lot of

[00:04:41] call and response sort of rhythms to it as well.

[00:04:47] And it kind of draws from several sources.

[00:04:49] That ragtime piano style.

[00:04:52] Yes.

[00:04:53] That's what I love.

[00:04:54] I love movies from that era.

[00:04:56] I love the style from that era.

[00:04:57] Think about the Entertainer, that song.

[00:05:00] Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

[00:05:02] Do, do, do, do, do, do.

[00:05:04] You got the marches.

[00:05:05] We've talked about that in our episode years ago about...

[00:05:09] Southern funerals?

[00:05:10] Is that what you're talking about?

[00:05:11] Southern funerals and weddings both.

[00:05:13] Yes.

[00:05:13] They have these brass bands that would march.

[00:05:16] Some of the African American gospel hymns.

[00:05:19] You've got the...

[00:05:20] It's drawing from some European classical music.

[00:05:24] Some of the minstrel style.

[00:05:26] Oh, that's true.

[00:05:28] Yeah.

[00:05:28] So interesting.

[00:05:29] And like you said, those call and response chants.

[00:05:33] And some of the drumming too.

[00:05:35] Oh, yeah.

[00:05:36] African culture.

[00:05:37] So...

[00:05:37] That makes sense.

[00:05:38] Yeah.

[00:05:38] I thought about that.

[00:05:39] The time frame here, we're talking kind of 1900 to 1928 was when this was really getting

[00:05:47] going.

[00:05:48] Getting going, yeah.

[00:05:48] Yeah.

[00:05:49] Yeah.

[00:05:50] And so there were a few artists.

[00:05:54] Did you want to mention any artists to like call out by name?

[00:05:58] Sure.

[00:05:59] Before we get to artists by name, though, I wanted to say some of the key attributes.

[00:06:05] Okay.

[00:06:05] Of this kind of style.

[00:06:07] First of all, musical features.

[00:06:10] You saw a lot of improvisation.

[00:06:12] Uh-huh.

[00:06:13] Jazz is so unpredictable.

[00:06:16] Yes.

[00:06:17] But yet predictable.

[00:06:18] It's the strangest thing.

[00:06:19] Yes.

[00:06:20] You have kind of that ensemble, syncopation, instrumentals sometimes.

[00:06:26] And like you said, call and response.

[00:06:31] You have the themes.

[00:06:33] I mean, they're really kind of everywhere.

[00:06:35] Daily life, love and relationships.

[00:06:37] But you also see themes of dance, themes of war, themes of migration.

[00:06:43] So all of that's kind of interesting.

[00:06:45] So all of that's kind of interesting to me, too.

[00:06:47] All right.

[00:06:47] So yeah, let's talk about some.

[00:06:50] Okay.

[00:06:50] So we got to talk some names, too, though, right?

[00:06:52] Well, before we get to names, I wanted to kind of go into that improvisational.

[00:06:58] That's a long word.

[00:06:59] Improvisational element of jazz.

[00:07:01] It's kind of attributed to the creativity and the need for New Orleans musicians, many of whom could not read music.

[00:07:09] And that's so funny to me because when you say that, I'm thinking that is harder than like you have to be a really good musician to be able to riff and do this improv.

[00:07:20] Because you have to be so comfortable in your skin and the other players.

[00:07:24] That's right.

[00:07:25] Or this is going to work.

[00:07:26] You're not just reading the music, sticking to the page.

[00:07:29] Yeah, that's right.

[00:07:31] And so that's funny because you're saying it's because they couldn't read music that they did it this way.

[00:07:38] They had to be good and they had that kind of leads to improv, right?

[00:07:42] Yes.

[00:07:43] Also, besides playing, they played dances.

[00:07:46] They played parades.

[00:07:47] And in the early 1900s, these bands would also play for funerals and they marched along the procession.

[00:07:55] We kind of talked about that in some other episodes.

[00:07:58] Yeah.

[00:07:59] Like you'd even call them.

[00:08:00] And it's a celebration of the life of the departed.

[00:08:02] It wasn't just a sad thing.

[00:08:04] It was kind of a celebration of life.

[00:08:07] They drew from blues elements, quickening the tempo of the music.

[00:08:11] And they were often seven member ensembles that created the basics of what would become jazz.

[00:08:18] Now let's talk some names.

[00:08:21] Well, when you said funeral, I mean, I literally had like funeral bands, I think is what they sometimes even called these groups.

[00:08:27] Okay.

[00:08:27] Because that was, I mean, and that makes sense.

[00:08:29] Like, where's the, who's got a funeral band?

[00:08:31] Like, you know, there's probably some go-to names.

[00:08:34] The name Buddy Bolden came up in a few things that I read.

[00:08:37] He lived from 1877 to 1931.

[00:08:40] And I read that he was oftentimes credited with establishing the first ensemble in jazz history.

[00:08:47] And, you know, you can't really have any sort of conversation about New Orleans jazz without talking a little Louis Armstrong.

[00:08:55] Oh, Louis Armstrong.

[00:08:56] Louis Armstrong.

[00:08:57] Yes.

[00:08:58] Gosh, I love him.

[00:08:59] He was very influential in shaping the aesthetic of early jazz.

[00:09:03] Kind of expanded the creativity.

[00:09:06] He kind of shifted the emphasis from a collective improvisational format to a structure that allowed a little bit more instrumental solos and vocal style.

[00:09:20] His voice.

[00:09:22] His voice, y'all.

[00:09:23] Is such a powerful instrument.

[00:09:27] He's interesting because sometimes I'm like, is he talking or is he singing?

[00:09:33] Right.

[00:09:33] And I love it when singers do that because I don't, I don't have like a vocal range per se that I like to exercise.

[00:09:41] But I've got a great beat.

[00:09:43] Yes.

[00:09:43] We're good at dance.

[00:09:45] Yeah.

[00:09:46] Who doesn't like start snapping their fingers when you hear like Mack the knife or, you know?

[00:09:51] Oh, yeah.

[00:09:51] Just for sure.

[00:09:53] I mean, his voice, you're like you said, I mean, it's so interesting and unique.

[00:09:58] Slide pitch.

[00:09:59] Yes.

[00:10:00] Yeah.

[00:10:00] Well, he had a wordless vocalizing style that became the foundation for what was called scat singing.

[00:10:08] Okay.

[00:10:09] Yes.

[00:10:10] And so, yeah, he's very influential in this time frame.

[00:10:14] Also, Papa Jack Lane.

[00:10:16] Yeah.

[00:10:17] From 1873 to 1966 was when he lived.

[00:10:21] He often was credited with being the first white jazz musician.

[00:10:25] Okay.

[00:10:26] He was a drummer and a saxophonist.

[00:10:28] And he had a band called the Reliance Brass Band.

[00:10:32] Okay.

[00:10:33] From the Reliance Brass Band, later, there was a couple other bands that birthed out of that.

[00:10:40] The original Dixieland Jazz Band.

[00:10:43] Okay.

[00:10:43] Very famous.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:45] From New Orleans.

[00:10:46] They were white, white band.

[00:10:48] And then also the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.

[00:10:52] Okay.

[00:10:52] So, that would be a couple bands you could look up if you're wanting to hear this style.

[00:10:57] Yeah.

[00:10:58] But, um.

[00:10:59] Sorry, go ahead.

[00:11:00] No, you go.

[00:11:01] Well, I was going to say, it's just crazy to think that all hailing from New Orleans,

[00:11:05] Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson, Harry Connick Jr.

[00:11:08] I mean, that's moving through lots of the Marsalis family.

[00:11:12] Winton Marsalis.

[00:11:13] Winton.

[00:11:14] Winton and Ellis Marsalis.

[00:11:17] Thank you.

[00:11:17] Yes.

[00:11:19] Yeah.

[00:11:19] There was also Jelly Roll Morton.

[00:11:22] Yes.

[00:11:22] It was a Jelly Roll that was way famous before the current modern day one.

[00:11:26] That's right.

[00:11:26] He was an American ragtime and jazz pianist and band leader, composer of Louisiana.

[00:11:33] He was Louisiana Creole.

[00:11:36] Anyway, he was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improv could really have

[00:11:43] some notation.

[00:11:44] Some order.

[00:11:45] Yeah.

[00:11:45] That's funny.

[00:11:46] That's like a type A that got, you know, like, I'm sure there's so many different

[00:11:51] personalities that get into music.

[00:11:53] And he's like, we still have to bring order to this.

[00:11:56] Yeah.

[00:11:57] So he was one of the first published jazz compositions in 1915 with Jelly Roll Blues.

[00:12:04] I love it.

[00:12:06] Just some other names I wanted to mention because they're important to the jazz history.

[00:12:11] Pete Fountain, Kermit Ruffins, Danny Barker, Trombone Shorty.

[00:12:16] Now that's a nickname I love.

[00:12:17] Trombone Shorty.

[00:12:19] Jeremy Davenport.

[00:12:20] All just very integral parts of New Orleans jazz.

[00:12:25] And I also wanted to mention, like, if you're visiting New Orleans, you have to go.

[00:12:32] Oh my gosh.

[00:12:32] I actually have a link that we need to put in the show notes of where you can, like jazz

[00:12:37] clubs.

[00:12:37] Well, yeah.

[00:12:38] I just was going to go ahead and call out, like, the Preservation Hall.

[00:12:42] Like, you have to go experience jazz at Preservation Hall.

[00:12:46] It's family friendly.

[00:12:47] It's, they even have Sunday jazz brunches around town.

[00:12:51] There's steamboat cruises that have jazz.

[00:12:54] I mean, you can find jazz everywhere, but go, go get in a club for sure.

[00:12:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:13:00] At least at some point during your travel to really experience.

[00:13:03] We got to even see, Lainey and I, you, we did the.

[00:13:06] For my birthday last year, year before?

[00:13:10] I think it was the year before.

[00:13:11] Time flies.

[00:13:11] The Preservation Hall Jazz Band came to Nashville.

[00:13:15] And what's funny is the venue they played at is one where you typically stay seated.

[00:13:21] Like, oh, and you just wanted to get up and wiggle.

[00:13:23] Well, I just was like, what are we doing?

[00:13:24] You're supposed to wiggle to this music.

[00:13:27] They had some slow numbers.

[00:13:27] So it was fine.

[00:13:29] But there were a few where I was just like, my leg was just like, tap, tap, tap.

[00:13:34] But yeah.

[00:13:34] Want to shake that booty.

[00:13:36] Really fun.

[00:13:37] And of course, they come from Preservation Hall.

[00:13:38] Well, this style of music, local delicacy, if you will, made its way from New Orleans

[00:13:46] to Chicago, to New York, into the rest of the country, and even Europe.

[00:13:51] Yeah.

[00:13:52] Yeah.

[00:13:53] Yeah.

[00:13:53] When you think jazz, you think, you know, of this big genre, but this is where it birthed

[00:13:58] from.

[00:13:59] And I also wanted to mention, in addition, New Orleans was also not only home to Louis

[00:14:06] Armstrong, but Louis Prima and King Oliver are two other names that were big in that

[00:14:12] time.

[00:14:13] And then I loved this.

[00:14:14] According to, I know I quote this book a lot, the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.

[00:14:19] Yeah.

[00:14:19] Well, it's a good resource, especially for this podcast.

[00:14:22] Yes.

[00:14:23] Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald created the idea of a jazz age.

[00:14:29] Oh, okay.

[00:14:30] Jazz was identified with youth and excess and exuberance and even sin and crime.

[00:14:37] Okay.

[00:14:39] Kind of in his great Gatsby novel.

[00:14:42] But in the 1920s and 1930s, jazz was established in Chicago and New York.

[00:14:48] Like I said, it was starting to creep out into other places.

[00:14:51] Right.

[00:14:52] With names like Fletcher Henderson, who was from Birmingham.

[00:14:58] Okay.

[00:14:59] Duke Ellington.

[00:15:00] Wow.

[00:15:00] Who was from Washington, D.C.

[00:15:02] And Jack Teagarden, who was from Texas.

[00:15:06] So even though this was creeping out other places, its roots were in the South.

[00:15:10] Wow.

[00:15:11] Some other Southern jazz stars who later made a name for themselves.

[00:15:17] Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters.

[00:15:22] So by the 1930s, radio had joined with the phonograph to popularize jazz.

[00:15:31] Jazz.

[00:15:31] And that's really when Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman skyrocketed.

[00:15:36] Okay.

[00:15:36] So anyway, jazz of every variety flourished in Southern cities.

[00:15:42] And places like the French Quarter of New Orleans, Memphis' Beale Street area.

[00:15:49] And even St. Louis' Gaslight Square.

[00:15:52] Wow.

[00:15:52] So it's fun to think about that time period.

[00:15:56] I know.

[00:15:57] The 20s and 30s and the music and the clothes and the cocktails.

[00:16:02] Yeah.

[00:16:02] It's very romanticized despite all the hard things that were going on.

[00:16:06] Hard things that the depression had put in.

[00:16:09] And maybe that's why it was even kind of thriving.

[00:16:12] People needed to have a little fun in the midst of all the dreary and dark.

[00:16:17] We should also mention the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

[00:16:22] For sure.

[00:16:23] That exists.

[00:16:24] Yes.

[00:16:24] So this is an annual festival.

[00:16:26] Next year's dates are April 24th through May 4th.

[00:16:30] That's right.

[00:16:30] I mean, it's a spread.

[00:16:32] It's more than a weekend.

[00:16:34] And they do so much good in their line.

[00:16:39] They do so much good in their planning and lineup.

[00:16:42] You can go ahead and look at the schedule for next year.

[00:16:46] That would be a fun time to go to New Orleans.

[00:16:49] And, you know, weather wouldn't be too hot yet.

[00:16:52] Right.

[00:16:52] You can see some of these jazz clubs.

[00:16:55] You can try some of the other things we've mentioned on the podcast.

[00:16:58] Some of the wonderful food that came out of that region.

[00:17:02] And Chris Stapleton's playing too.

[00:17:04] Oh, my Lord.

[00:17:05] Let's go.

[00:17:07] Molly Tuttle, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

[00:17:09] I like them a lot.

[00:17:10] Yeah.

[00:17:11] There's a, I mean, I'm literally just touching on a few.

[00:17:14] So it's not even just jazz.

[00:17:16] It's a jazz fest, but it's all kinds of music.

[00:17:19] Yeah.

[00:17:19] I did not realize that.

[00:17:21] Yeah.

[00:17:21] I didn't either.

[00:17:21] So it's, like I said, April to early May next year.

[00:17:25] And you can, I'll link.

[00:17:27] You can go ahead and look in.

[00:17:28] Decide if you want to go down to New Orleans for the jazz festival.

[00:17:32] Well, even if you don't go for jazz fest, we'll link to some jazz clubs you can try on

[00:17:38] your next visit there and see this important piece of American history.

[00:17:44] It's not even just Southern history.

[00:17:46] This is American history.

[00:17:48] Yeah.

[00:17:48] We did an episode a while back on, like, smaller music clubs that were iconic.

[00:17:55] And so I remember Preservation Hall was on there, but there was probably even more than that that

[00:18:00] was on there because there's just, like you said, history to some of these even clubs.

[00:18:05] So I can link to that in our show notes.

[00:18:09] Fun subject.

[00:18:10] Maybe a playlist, too.

[00:18:11] If I find one on Spotify, I'm sure there's good playlists out there.

[00:18:15] I'm going to be enjoying Sirius.

[00:18:17] Sirius XM.

[00:18:18] So for those of us that don't have it, give us a playlist.

[00:18:24] For those that are Spotify listeners or Apple Music.

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:28] But yeah, just, I mean, uplifting, fun.

[00:18:32] If you're having a tough week.

[00:18:35] A dreary day.

[00:18:36] Put on some Nolens jazz and it'll turn things around.

[00:18:41] That's so true.

[00:18:42] Anything Louis Armstrong, honestly.

[00:18:44] I mean.

[00:18:44] If you just want to start with him.

[00:18:46] I see.

[00:18:46] I know.

[00:18:47] I mean, his voice.

[00:18:48] What a wonderful world.

[00:18:49] Yeah.

[00:18:51] All right, y'all.

[00:18:52] Good to chat Southern culture.

[00:18:55] You never know which direction we're going, but music is usually.

[00:18:59] Music and food.

[00:18:59] It's a big part of culture.

[00:19:00] It's a huge part of culture.

[00:19:02] So it's very likely we're going to be talking music or food at some point in the conversation.

[00:19:07] Y'all have a great week.

[00:19:08] We'll see you back here at the table next time.

[00:19:10] Until then, peace be with y'all.

[00:19:17] You've just listened to an episode of the Steel Magnolias podcast, an independent show

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