[Dixielandjazz] Storyville - Duke Dejan Obit

[briantowers]

> Nadine wrote
> >>>when the District closed in 1917, bands didn't stop playing in the
tonks
> and bars located in that area - Mahogany Hall wasn't torn down until way
> back later - <<<
Then Pat Cooke wrote:

> I remember seeing Lulu White's Mahogany Hall  still standing and boarded
up
> in the middle to late forties.  There was a small building next to it on
the
> corner that was evidently a small saloon.  I had an entrance facing
> diagonally across the intersection, with a stained glass panel above the
> door. The stained glass panel said simply "Lulu White's".  The little bar
on
> the corner looks like the same building is still there, but Mahogany Hall
is
> gone.  The stained glass panel was bought by Pete Fountain.
>     Pat Cooke
>     New Orleans


Yes Pat.  According to local historian Al Rose (Storyville, New Orleans)
Lulu White built the small bar adjacent to Mahogany Hall in 1908.  This was
apparently with a view to her eventual retirement !  ( from the game,
presumably...) There are photos showing the bar on pages 84 & 167.  Upstairs
was the offices of Billy Struve, editor of the Blue Book.  The upper story
was however blown away by  hurricane Betsy in 1965.

Jazz content - clarinetist Raymond Burke (born 1904) says he used to play on
the sidewalk opposite Mahogany Hall when he was about 8 or 9 years old.
Tony Parenti (born 1900) also told that he played in a sidewalk band, as a
child and would receive tips from clients waiting in the parlour at Mahogany
Hall.
Al Rose writes that the only white pianist to play for pay in the Storyville
brothels in its 20 year existence was Kid Ross who worked "steady" at Lulu
White's Mahogany Hall.   He was the resident pianist for the nine years from
1903 to 1912 (New Orleans Jazz)    Jelly Roll Morton described him as "one
of the outstanding hot players of the country"
High praise indeed, coming from that source!
Brian Towers
Toronto


Jempi had commented:
when the District closed in 1917, bands din't stop playing in the tonks
> and
> > bars located in that area - Mahogany Hall wasn't torn down until way
back
> > later - When Bill Russell first came to the City, he visited the remains
> of
> > the former Storyville District and he took a lot of pictures of
buildings
> > related to the periode before 1917. So why Harold couldn't have been in
> the
> > District and been to all these places?
> > Jempi co-editor of www.thejazzgazette.be

Agreed Jempi.  No one has said that Dejan did not visit  the district as a
child.   He could very well have played in a spasm band or similar, on the
banquettes (pavements) outside the brothels, soliciting tips from the
patrons, as did Ray Burke and Tony Parenti,  and no doubt many others, when
they were kids.
Brian Towers