[Dixielandjazz] Re: Matthews Band of Lockport

[Charles Suhor]

DAN HARDIE WROTE:
I doubt anyone alive has heard the Matthews Band of Lockport. They were
active around 1906, one of a number of bands in districts surrounding New
Orleans and look like a fairly traditional brass band of the time. (See p
82 of the Ancestry of Jazz). I doubt they played jazz or recorded though
this is probably Charles Suhor's territory.. he might be able to get
further information.


Dan and listmates,

I'm not well versed in the details of early jazz, as my recent questions
about 4/4 v. 2/4 show. My intensive research and life experiences have been
in the postwar years in New Orleans. This of course involved knowing many
then-living foundation artists as well as looking back, though not
comprehensively, at the early years.

I did do some deeper digging into early artists when a tribute poem about
1st generation players from the Thibodaux, La., area was commissioned.
Lockport is nearby but I didn't notice the Matthews name, and I had to be
selective in the names that did come up. It's very likely that Dan Hardie's
comment below is right on. As Gilbert Erskine has said, not every player in
and around N.O. at the turn of the century was a key link in jazz history,
though there's a tendency among some figs and scholars to lionize and even
canonize the lot of them. It's enough that they were part of the rich and
complex cultural milieu, maybe contributing to the interlocking causal
events in untraceable ways, like in chaos theory where the famous butterfly
wing causes a monsoon halfway across the world. Hey, that's aplenty for me.


My info source for the poem was the wonderful Tulane Jazz Archive. I don't
want to use up my good will chits with a question about the Matthews Band
in Lockport, esp. since I might go back to Bruce Raeburn for more info
about the 2-beat/4-beat question. I'm betting though that they'll search
for the name and let you know if it's on their radar. (504-865-5688; Alma
Freeman, adw1954 at tulane.edu, is great for this kind of question.)


Charlie Suhor


Dear Tom,
I doubt anyone alive has heard the Matthews Band of Lockport,
They were active around 1906, one of a number of bands in districts
surrounding New Orleans and look like a fairly traditional brass band of
the time. (See p 82 of the Ancestry of Jazz). I doubt they played jazz or
recorded though this is probably Charles Suhor's territory.. he might be
able to
get further information
regards Dan Hardie
Check out the website at
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~darnhard/EarlyJazzHistory.html

On Thursday, June 17, 2004, at 03:42  PM, TCASHWIGG at aol.com wrote:

> Come on fellas. some of you Older than me guys must have some stories
> or
> reccollections or even lies about these groups.   This is supposed to
> be THE
> definitive list of Experts on Traditional Jazz, and I got my butt
> chewed out a
> couple years ago because I admited I did not know who Clarence
> Williams was.
> Now if a Johnny come lately like me can know about these guys the rest
> of you
> must be witholding a shipload of information.
>
> So far the only guy who has responded to this post has been my buddy
> Tito
> Martino from Brazil.   But then again maybe the only guys who ever
> played
> Dixieland or Traditional Jazz  really were Bix. Louis, Buddy Bolden,
> Turk Murphy and
> Lu Watters or Dukes of Dixieland,   :))
>
> How about some recollections about the following groups from some of
> the old
> timers who saw or played with them.
>
> Louis Dumaine and his Jazzola Eight:
>
> Sam Morgan's Jazz Band:
>
> Pickette-Parham & Apollo Syncopators:
>
> Bennie Moten & his Kansas City Orchestra:
>
> Frenchy's String Band:
>
> Ben Tobier & The California Cyclones:
>
> George McClennon's Jazz Devils:
>
> or How about Frankie Franko & His Louisianians:
>
> That ought to keep some of you busy in the archives for a few days and
> stir
> up some interesting threads.
>
>
> Is there anybody out there who ever heard The Mathews Band from
> Lockport,
> Louisiana Live??
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tom Wiggins
> Inquiring minds want to know.
>
>
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>
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