[Dixielandjazz] Uptown, Downtown and out-of-town

[jazzchops at isp.com]

All of that "Uptown" and "Downtown" stuff is, IMO, ridiculous, because
viewed under the scrutiny of what really was going on in New Orleans it
doesn't make any sense at all. It doesn't make geographic sense and it
doesn't make stylistic sense, either.

For example, King Oliver lived Uptown but he played downtown, but then
sometimes he played uptown. Sometimes he played with Johnny Dodds, who was
an Uptown musician, but he played "Downtown" style. But then sometimes he
played with Jimmie Noone, who lived Downtown, but played "Uptown" style.
The whole concept was someone's misguided attempt to quantify something
that is basically too complex to be easily pigeon-holed.

When I played with Willie Humphrey there was no discussion about what
"style" we were playing. The tune was counted off and we played. End of
story.

Bands in New Orleans would play in a style that was appropriate for the
gig. If a band was playing in a dance hall in "The District," (what is now
referred to as Storyville), they played a different type of music than if
they were playing an Uptown garden party. There were many bands that did
this...Kid Ory, Buddy Bolden and Joe Oliver being just a few examples.

Here's a quote from an interview with drummer Baby Dodds from Bill
Russell's book New Orleans Style: "I'd like to talk about the blues that
came from New Orleans. In the downtown district where the Creoles lived,
they played blues with a Spanish accent. We fellows that lived Uptown, we
didn't ever play the Creole numbers like French downtown did - such as Eh,
Las Bas. And just as we changed the Spanish accent of the Creole songs, we
played the blues different from them. They lived in the French part of
town and we lived uptown, in the Garden district. Our ideas for the blues
were different from theirs. They had the French and Spanish style, blended
together. We had but one kind. That's negro. We took our time and played
the blues slow and draggy. When we used to play blues for a dance long
ago, it was so draggy, sometimes people would say it sounded like a dead
march."

Here's another relevant quote from the same book: "They (Chicago
musicians) had figured none of the King Oliver outfit could read music.
What they didn't know was, I came from a hard school. I came from that
boat. And, that boat was hard. If you didn't read, you'd better spell
awful fast. On the Strekfus excursion boats, we had a rehearsal every day.
Nothing but music. Strictly music.

"When Louis Armstrong came to Chicago to join Joe Oliver's band, he could
read music faster than average. Fast as Joe, or faster."

A lot of New Orleans musicians just started playing a tune without
stomping it off or telling the band. I personally heard Wingy Mannone do
it and Percy Humphrey.

Willie, Percy and Earl Humphrey were brothers who grew up on the Magnolia
Plantation outside of New Orleans, and were taught by their father,
"Professor" Jim Humphrey, who was well known as a music teacher.

I've spent a lot of years studying New Orleans music, and I lived and
performed there for 13 years. I met and talked to a lot of older
musicians, and I never, ever, heard one of them refer to another musician
as a "downtown" or "uptown" musician, unless they were speaking about
where someone lived or grew up.

Sincerely,
Chris Tyle




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