[Dixielandjazz] Military bands, brass bands and jazz

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

This is a BIG topic indeed and one that certainly needs a comprehensive
study. That said, I think that there is a danger of "comprehensiveness"
leading to a unitary view that tries to link things that may not actually
go together.

I remember, to my embarrasment, talking to a tenor horn player in a
colliery band and saying that I liked Sousa's music, and being given a
frosty look with a comment something like "that's military band music -
we're a BRASS band!" Oops.

The distinction is real in "purists" minds and reflects the fact that brass
bands are actually a subset of military bands - if you doubt this, remember
that brass bands use valved instruments and, hence, came into being no
earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. While both military bands
and brass bands were (and are) used for marching purposes I'd suggest that,
by the end of the 19th century, a polarisation had occurred. The brass
bands concentrated on concert-giving and virtuoso instrumental
performances, and the military bands became the new dance bands.

So, how does jazz fit into this? With some difficulty.

Previous posts have referred to William Schafer's book "Brass bands and New
Orleans jazz" (1977) and this clearly shows that African-American brass
bands predate jazz by at least a generation. The big question is "when did
the street parade and funeral bands, so often mentioned in jazz histories,
begin to play what we would now call jazz?" The question gets even more
complicated when we introduce blues and remember that W C Handy was a
bandsman in Memphis as well as being "the father of the blues".

For the purposes of (?heated) discussion I offer an hypothesis   :-)

Late 19th century brass bands in New Orleans were not part of the emergence
of jazz. Jazz developed from mixed-wind and string dance ensembles and the
"jazzy" brass bands emerged from jazz.

If this sounds heretical, think of what we actually know about jazz in New
Orleans in the early 20th century. In particular, think about Buddy Bolden
and Freddie Keppard and the composition of their bands. The bands included
violin, guitar and string bass.

I'm sure Dan Hardie will have something more to say on this.

All the best
Anton