[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans

[Brian Towers]

Guy Bisson,

Well done!  A wonderful idea, to start a web site such as this.  I have
added it to my favourites and will be interested to see it develop further.
Good lay-out too.

 I agree that the influence of Storyville and the brothels and their part in
the development of jazz is somewhat over-played.  It makes a colourful story
I suppose and is manna for the movie industry etc!   It is well to emphasise
that the jazz bands did not play in the brothels (too small for a start and
not economic)  although many jazz bands played in the bars and dance halls
around Storyville.   The jazz musicians that did play in the larger brothels
on a regular basis were invariably pianists, such as Jelly Roll Morton, Tony
Jackson etc.  We must be grateful to the brothel "Madames" in that they
helped provide the youthful Jelly Roll Morton  make a living from playing
the piano and develop his jazz skills.  Interesting to recall that by 1915,
at the age of 25, he had left New Orleans permanently.
He must have played a huge part in spreading the message of jazz to the rest
of the USA.
 Prostitution clearly brought a lot of money into the Storyville area in the
period up to 1917 and this would have filtered down to the musicians.  Louis
Armstrong was just 16 (d.o.b Aug 4/1901) when the prostitution laws changed
in Storyville but no doubt he heard lots of great jazz as a teenager , while
hanging around in the streets outside the Storyville bars.

Looking forward to further development!

Brian Towers,
Canada


From: "Guy Bisson" <guy at easybigeasy.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 3:33 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] New Orleans


> Sue,
>
> I remember your post of a year ago and I seem to remember that I replied
suggesting you visit Fritzels and check out the excellent Ryan Burrage. It's
great that you have now moved to New Orleans to be closer to the music. As
others have suggested, there are excellent and growing congregations of
music clubs featuring great jazz on Frenchman Street and Rampart
Street..both within easy walk of the French Quarter hotels. I have been
off-list for about a year, but have spent that time creating a Website
dedicated to New Orleans. As a distinctly amateur clarinet player and
passionate fan of early jazz, I particularly want the music section to be
the best available guide to listening to and finding New Orleans jazz. I too
was frequently frustrated on visits to the city when trying to find
non-touristy music until I found out where to go and who to look out for. I
would also echo previous posts in recommending The French Quarter Festival,
but also the Satchmo Summerfest...dedicated to Louis's birthday. This is
also a good time of year to visit if music is your passion, it's also low
season and the hotels are cheap...if you don't mind possibly having to flee
a hurricane! Anyway, I'd really appreciate some feedback on my music pages
from experts on this site...it's still early days and I plan to add a lot
more over the coming months...the pages are at www.easybigeasy.com/music.htm
> thanks
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