[Dixielandjazz] Speaking about Jazz Myths (Storyville)

[D and R Hardie]

Hi Steve.
              Recent historians have sought to dispel the earlier  view 
that jazz was born in the whorehouses.
There the music was mainly by rags and blues and songs played by
  piano professors, though one madam apparently played a cornet.
             The cabarets and saloons in Storyville however used small 
bands, though there was an early
ban on loud  music.
             A date of significance was 1907 when cornettist Freddy 
Keppard got approval to play cabarets in the district.
Armstrong's comment carefully includes cafes, cabarets and Beer halls 
and the dating he gives 1910/17 fits
with the above. I doubt anyone would deny that the red light district 
did  provide significant employment for musicians.
           Recently some writers have suggested the closing of the 
district in 1917 did not cause the well known
exodus of musicians to Chicago.
           Louis memory appears appears to have been accurate enough.

regards
Dan Hardie
Check out the website at:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~darnhard/EarlyJazzHistory.html


On Friday, October 19, 2007, at 01:55  AM, Steve Barbone wrote:

> Seems some of the current jazz writers are now saying that "The 
> District"
> (Storyville) was not as important to the development of Jazz as first
> thought.
>
> I am somewhat mystified by that, while readily admitting that I am not
> particularly knowledgeable about the New Orleans Jazz scene from say 
> 1900 to
> 1917 when Storyville kicked the working girls out. What I do know is 
> merely
> this quote from Louis Armstrong. It was written by him in 1969, 
> following a
> recollection that there were 126 gig bands in N.O. at the time, booked
> almost every night and may be subject to faulty memory as well as his 
> young
> age (9 to 16).
>
> "If it wasn't for those good musicians and the Entertainers who 
> appeared
> nightly in the Red Light District - Clubs, etc - the District wouldn't 
> have
> been anything. Music lovers from all parts of the city came to hear 
> them
> play Genuine Jazz. Speaking of some of the Musicians during those real
> beautiful days in different places in the District way back from 1910 
> to
> 1917 when they closed it down. One could hear real good jazz telling 
> it -
> like it was. Any place you should go in the District, whether it was a 
> Cafe
> - Cabaret or Saloon - or if you should just stop in some place for a 
> few
> drinks and listen - you heard the best in Jazz."
>
> My question is:  Was Louis wrong, or exagerating?
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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