Jazz: America's Music

Once again, the mix of people created something unique to the city of New Orleans. A new type of music inspired by the sounds of the world merged into America’s music: Jazz.

The story goes that there was a surplus of brass instruments in the city following the Civil War, along with immigrants and former slaves from all over the world. Because the city was multicultural, groups began to play together and brought together the sounds of their countries. African-Americans brought with them a beat and the blues, while European-Americans brought with them the horns of classical and their ethnic bands. Mix that with ragtime sounds of the western United States and a new sound emerged.

The trumpet player Buddy Bolden was credited with being the first jazz player. His great claim to fame was that he could play the trumpet loud and hard, and would often do so on the balcony of a local dance hall to lure patrons. People all over the French Quarter would follow the sound of Buddy Bolden’s trumpet to see what this new sound was all about. Unfortunately, Bolden suffered from severe mental illness and would spend most of his life in a mental hospital. There is only one known picture of Bolden and no recording of his work.

The first musician to write jazz down was Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton. Morton was a piano player and a great showman, often bragging that it was he who invented jazz. Morton’s rolling piano style along with his swagger and self-confidence would grip audiences, especially customers of Storyville, the famed red light district of New Orleans. Storyville is often given credit with giving the name to jazz. It seems the women of the brothels, in an effort to counter the smells of the swampy city, would wear Jasmine perfume. When one left the company of the lady smelling of jasmine, one was said to be “jassed.” When musicians at the brothels would make their music sexy to inspire customers, they were said to have “jassed,” or sexed, up the music. Brothel owners would advertise their musicians with signs that would announce “Live Jass.” When mischievous children would come along and wipe off the “j,” owners decided to change the “s”’s to “z”’s in an effort not to offend people.

In July of 1900, a young man was born who would forever change the face of jazz. A young Louis Armstrong got his first trumpet while living in a waif’s home in New Orleans and playing with the home’s band. He learned to create sounds on the trumpet that no one else had been able to imitate. His music and singing brought sheer pleasure to all of those who heard it and continues to do so today. Louis Armstrong gave jazz its feel.

When the brothels were shut down in 1917, the hundreds of musicians who would play for tips began to look for new gigs outside of the city. They took the riverboats up north to Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, and then headed east to New York. Jazz had now spread from its birthplace in New Orleans and is enjoyed all around the world.

Jazz is still alive and well in New Orleans. While many of the musicians are scattered around the country because of hurricane Katrina, many more have come back to their roots and are playing louder and better than ever. In the Faubourg Marigny just below the French Quarter, almost a dozen clubs are dedicated to jazz. Tippitinas and the Maple Leaf Bar in the uptown section host nightly bands. And Donna’s on Rampart Street is always alive with brass bands playing seven nights a week. As long as the city has its roots music—jazz—it will maintain its culture and its reputation as one of America’s great cities.