Jazz and New Orleans

[Mith242]

I know Nate has been wanting to start a topic like this but now that he's a moderator I figure he's been busy. Hopefully he won't mind me starting this. New Orleans has played an important role in jazz. I've been reading up on it a bit. But I'm going to see if anyone else wants to explain some of the early history of jazz and how the city infleunced it before I try giving it a shot. I'd also like to eventually talk about some well known jazz artists and such from New Orleans or ones that had an influence on the city.

[Mith242]

Apparently there's going to be a story on the NBC evening news about Harry Connick Jr and Branford Marsalis doing what they can to help out some parts of New Orleans. If I'm not mistaken both of these guys have ties to New Orleans.

[NCB]

Apparently there's going to be a story on the NBC evening news about Harry Connick Jr and Brandon Marsalis doing what they can to help out some parts of New Orleans. If I'm not mistaken both of these guys have ties to New Orleans.

Yep, they were both born and grew up in New Orleans.

Rod, I'm happy to answer any Jazz-New Orleans questions you have, and I'm sure many others will chime in.

[Mith242]

Yep, they were both born and grew up in New Orleans.

Rod, I'm happy to answer any Jazz-New Orleans questions you have, and I'm sure many others will chime in.

Well I bought my first Harry Connick Jr cd over the weekend. I think I've heard some of his stuff is in the style of New Orleans jazz and some isn't. Any particular info on him or any recommendations?

[NCB]

^I really like alot of his stuff. My recommendation would be to listen to all of his differnt instrumental songs, (paino, saxaphone, and a few others) see which ones you like best, and then look at some of his other albums.

[Mith242]

^I really like alot of his stuff. My recommendation would be to listen to all of his differnt instrumental songs, (paino, saxaphone, and a few others) see which ones you like best, and then look at some of his other albums.

Any other jazz musicians that you'd recommend for the New Orleans jazz style?

[NCB]

^You should probably look into New Orleans born jazz musicians, both new and old. Some newer musicians I would reccomend would be Kermit Ruffins, Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, and Harry Connick, Jr.

[JWR_NOLA]

Don't forget about Irvin Mayfield.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Now let's see if I can finally post my info I tried but looked like UP was down for a little bit or something last night. Luckily I copied my post so I wouldn't have to type all this in again.

I thought I'd try to give some background on jazz that I've picked up while trying to do some research myself. Jazz is believed to have started around 1895 in New Orleans. It started as a mix between ragtime music that was popular in the late 1800's and the brass marching bands found in New Orleans. The brass marching bands often played at festivals, parade and at funerals. Ragtime was one of the first if not the first styles of music to originate from the US. There were different styles of ragtime. One that also influenced jazz was to use a well known tune and change the rhythm. The black population of the city played a major part in the birth of jazz. You had two different classes of blacks in New Orleans. The poor that had been slaves but freed after the Civil War and the middle to upper class black Creole. The black Creoles picked up a lot of European influence that they were proud of. But segregation laws made the black Creole live in the west part of the city with the other poorer blacks. This helped bring together the African music styles found amoung the poorer black population and the more European style music amoung the black Creole population. Eventually New Orleans performers spread out to other cities like Chicago and New York and those cities played important roles in the growth of jazz. But it all started in New Orleans.

[NCB]

^That's it, Rod!

The history of Jazz is quite interesting, especially if you are familiar with New Orleans' jazz marching band's, jazz funerals, old ragtime music, etc.

BTW, if you wanted to look into some "bonus" info on the birth of Jazz, I would look into some info on the New Orleans marching bands, which really plaed a significant role in how New Orleans Jazz as we know it today started.

[Mith242]

^That's it, Rod!

The history of Jazz is quite interesting, especially if you are familiar with New Orleans' jazz marching band's, jazz funerals, old ragtime music, etc.

BTW, if you wanted to look into some "bonus" info on the birth of Jazz, I would look into some info on the New Orleans marching bands, which really plaed a significant role in how New Orleans Jazz as we know it today started.

Yeah that's the one aspect I'm finding it a bit harder to find as opposed to the others.

[NCB]

^Yea, there seems to be less info on this aspect of the birth of Jazz than many other aspects.