Music of the Louisiana Gulf Coast: New Orleans Jazz

Music of the Louisiana Gulf Coast

Allen Tullos (compiler), Emory University

Abstract:

Where the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico meet and mingle, South Louisiana is one of the richest regions of traditional and contemporary music. Its extraordinary cultural diversity finds expression through cajun fiddlers and accordion players. Black creole bands performing the dance music called zydeco, New Orleans jazz in its many permutations, brass band second-liners, piano professors, gospel singers, church choirs, rhythm and blues shouters, country-western honky tonkers, swamp rockers, Dirty South rappers — to list major examples. This page offers a passageway into this song-saturated region.

Gateway Sections:

New Orleans Jazz | Cajun Music | Zydeco | New Orleans Miscellany | Recommended Resources

New Orleans Jazz:

Nick Spitzer of American Routes talks with writer Jason Berry about the musical and dance history of New Orleans' Congo Square from the late eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth century and the "birth of jazz." Nick also interviews a descendant of jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet. (RealAudio, 7:16 minutes)

http://www.amroutes.com/ram/AR_0144JBerry.ram

Louis Armstrong remembered and revealed through his personal collection of reel-to-reel tape and home recordings. (RealAudio, 7:28 minutes)

http://www.amroutes.com/ram/AR_0131Armstrong.ram

On the trail of Jelly Roll Morton.
(RealAudio, 16:38 minutes)

http://www.amroutes.com/ram/AR_0106Morton.ram

The Red Hot Jazz Archive is an extraordinary website for pre-1930s jazz and its New Orleans history. It contains RealAudio sound samples, essays, biographies, photos, references, and links.

http://www.redhotjazz.com

Audio interviews and musical samples require RealPlayer, free at real.com.

Gateway Sections:

New Orleans Jazz | Cajun Music | Zydeco | New Orleans Miscellany | Recommended Resources