[Dixielandjazz] Irish/Celtic Influences in Jazz

[Don Ingle]

Irish? -- Quite a few.
Larry Sheilds with ODJB, Joe Sullivan with Austin High School Gang, Eddie
Condon, composers like
Walter Donaldson (mother Irish -- he Scotch-Irish), and the influences in
melting pot music crossovers from Scottish/Irish folk music into early jazz
(Armstrong's "Irish Black Bottom"), and in New Orleans there is a strong
Irish connect as there was a large Irish early immegration to the area and
their musical influence is found in much of  New Orleans jazz.
The Dorseys were of Irish ancestry -- so was arranger-composer Spud Murphy.
A browse thrugh Rusk's listing of musicians in early jazz and big band will
reveal many Celtic names. Even this humble
cornet tooter can trace my paternal lines back to places in Scotland called
Auchendinny and Skye, and maternally to Northern Ireland. We all be a mogrel
breed, we Yanks, but many have Celtic roots and so does our jazz music.
Others can pile on more in this thread, but that's my start.
Don Ingle
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob McCallum" <rakmccallum at hotmail.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:36 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Irish/Celtic Influences in Jazz


> Hi all,
>
> We've talked on the list before, several times, about different ethnic
> groups' contributions to jazz (African-American, Italian, Jewish, Latin,
> French etc.).  I don't recall any discussion on Irish/Celtic
contributions.
>
> My thought was that in the early days of jazz, the large influx of Irish
> immigrants to the U.S. was segregated upon arrival and often competed with
> other immigrant groups and American minorities for low-paying, hard-labor
> jobs.  This ethnic rivalry was encouraged by business interests to both
keep
> wages down and frustrate unionizing.  This cultural separation would not
> have been conducive to taking up on jazz.  The Irish also brought their
own
> music with them.  However, this could also be said of Italian and Jewish
> immigrants, both of whom made major contributions to jazz.  Irish/Celtic
> traditions did have a huge impact on American Country and Bluegrass music.
> Anyway, my question is, can anyone think of any early Irish contributors
to
> jazz?  Perhaps we could discuss Irish contributors to jazz later in the
> chronology as well (I would assume Turk Murphy was Irish!).
>
> All the best,
> Rob McCallum
>
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