Empire of Sin (54 page)

36
rowdy flatboatmen …
 Hansen,
Louisiana
, 42, is best.

37
“wholehearted wallowing in the fleshpots” …
 is from Asbury,
French Quarter
, 80.

38
confidence men and professional riverboat gamblers …
 See Asbury,
French Quarter
, 198.

39
prosperous Anglo-American planters and merchants …
 New Orleans was the richest metropolis below the Mason-Dixon line according to McKinney,
Cultural History
, 18–21.

40
downtown “Creoles” …
 For the history of the term, see Campanella,
Bienville
, 161–67, and Anthony, “The Negro Creole Community.”

41
“That vice should be allowed to flaunt …”
The quotation from Alderman Story is from the interview in the NODI of December 22, 1902.

42
widely applauded by the city’s business reformers …
 For the motivating need to attract Northern capital, see Landau, “Spectacular Wickedness,” 5.

43
“obscure neighborhoods …”
is from the NODP of January 1, 1898 (as quoted in Landau, “Spectacular Wickedness,” 84).

44
a mixed-race working-class neighborhood …
 For more on the makeup of Storyville, see Long,
Babylon
, 128.

45
notices of eviction …
 See Landau, “Spectacular Wickedness,” 78.

46
on the first day of 1898 …
 Storyville’s opening as per Rose,
Storyville
, 38.

47
a choice property in Storyville-to-be …
 Anderson’s purchase of the Fair Play Saloon per Rose,
Storyville
, 43.

Chapter 6: New Sounds

The origins and genealogy of jazz have been the subject of considerable contention among music critics and historians (see Bruce Boyd Raeburn’s
New Orleans Style
for an account of the controversies over the years). For the development of jazz in New Orleans and Buddy Bolden’s role in it, I have relied mostly on Charles Hersch,
Subversive Sounds;
Donald M. Marquis,
In Search of Buddy Bolden;
Samuel Barclay Charters,
A Trumpet Around the Corner;
Vincent J. Panetta, “ ‘For Godsake Stop!’ ”; and Court Carney, “New Orleans and the Creation of Early Jazz,” all of which do a good job of clearing away the vast mythology that has grown up around the topic.

  
1
poor Uptown neighborhood …
 For the neighborhoods and venues where the new sound emerged, see Hersch,
Subversive Sounds
, 13 and 31–32, and Marquis,
Bolden
, 49.

  
2
“the good-time, earthy people” …
 The description of early jazz fans as such is from Isidore Barbarin, as quoted in Barker,
Life in Jazz
, 28.

  
3
“That boy could make women jump …”
is from Bill Matthews, as quoted in Marquis,
Bolden
, 100.

  
4
“I’d never heard anything like that …”
is from George Baquet, as quoted in Shapiro and Hentoff,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
, 38.

  
5
The grandson of slaves …
 For Bolden’s early childhood, see especially Carney, “Creation of Early Jazz,” 303; and Marquis,
Bolden
, 13–15, 18, and 23. [NB: The house at 385 First Street still stands, though today the address is #2309.]

  
6
not a very healthy place to live …
 For the character of the neighborhood in Bolden’s day, see Marquis,
Bolden
, 22, and Hersch,
Subversive Sounds
, 36.

  
7
Music was everywhere around him …
 Hersch,
Subversive Sounds
, 15–16, is especially good on young Bolden’s rich musical environment.

  
8
“The city was full of the sounds of music …”
is from Danny Barker, as quoted in Shapiro and Hentoff,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
, 3.

  
9
cornet lessons from a neighbor …
 For Bolden’s early lessons with Manuel Hall, see the oral history of Louis Jones, January 19, 1959, in the Hogan Jazz Archive; also Marquis,
Bolden
, 38.

10
plenty of opportunities to play …
 Marquis,
Bolden
, 32, talks about the young musicians filling in for older band members.

11
Excelsior, Onward, and Eureka …
 Panetta, “ ‘For Godsake Stop!,’ ” 29, enumerates the black brass ensembles active in the 1890s.

12
“ragging the hymns …”
is from Marquis,
Bolden
, 43.

13
hot, wide-open, low-down …
 Descriptions of Bolden’s sound as per Marquis,
Bolden
, 43; Hersch,
Subversive Sounds
, 1–2, 16; and Chilton,
Bechet
, 5.

14
“ratty …”
is from Barker,
Life in Jazz
, 27.

15
“He could go and hear a band playing …”
is from Louis Jones’s oral history of January 19, 1959, in the Hogan Jazz Archive.

16
“Buddy, he stole lots of things …”
is from Kid Ory’s oral history of April 20, 1957, in the Hogan Jazz Archive.

17
“Bolden would blow so hard …”
is from Zue Robertson, as quoted in Marquis,
Bolden
, 43–44.

18
the Bolden persona …
 Marquis,
Bolden
, 7, 40–41, dispels many of the Bolden legends.

19
the Bolden Band …
 Marquis,
Bolden
, 46, makes the interesting point that Bolden was one of the only leaders who named his band after himself.

20
“Buddy was the first …”
is from McCusker,
Creole Trombone
, 54.

21
improvised solos, or “rides” …
 See Winston, “News Reporting of Jazz,” 17.

22
“With all those notes he’d throw in …”
is from Albert Glenny, as quoted in Marquis,
Bolden
, 101.

23
Critics would argue for decades …
 Where jazz came from is a question that few critics seem to agree on. Carney, “Creation of Early Jazz,” 300ff., does a pretty good job of summing up the various sources proposed by different critics.

24
“That’s where jazz came from …”
is from Peter Bocage’s oral history of January 29, 1959, in the Hogan Jazz Archive.

25
“Who cared if you read music?…”
is from Barker,
Life in Jazz
, 7.

26
“He wasn’t really a musician …”
is from Kid Ory’s oral history of April 20, 1957, in the Hogan Jazz Archive.

27
bringing the soloist—that is, himself—to the fore …
 For Bolden’s new emphasis on the soloist, see Carney, “Creation of Early Jazz,” 303, and Marquis,
Bolden
, xvi.

28
“sort of Maori look about him” …
 as per Berry, “The Mysteries of Buddy Bolden,” 43.

29
a harem of female admirers …
 Marquis,
Bolden
, 45–46; this is also the source for Bolden’s relationship with Hattie Oliver.

30
“Oh, he was crazy about womens” …
 is from Ramsey’s interview with John Joseph (Frederick Ramsey Papers, Folder 282).

31
“whipping heads …”
Cutting contests described by Bechet,
Treat It Gentle
, 111.

32
the new sound was dangerous …
 The best sources for the early (white) reception of jazz are Leonard’s
Jazz and the White Americans
and Anderson’s “The White Reception of Jazz in America.”

33
“Here male and female …”
in the
Mascot
and the NODP’s “demoralizing and degrading” quote are cited in Hersch,
Subversive Sounds
, 5.

34
“Jazz was musical miscegenation” …
 Hersch himself is the source of this quote (Ibid.).

35
some dismaying changes in the city …
 The most helpful sources for changing race relations in New Orleans in the latter nineteenth century are Blessingame’s
Black New Orleans
, Dethloff and Jones’s “Race Relations in Louisiana,” Somers’s “Black and White in New Orleans,” and Reed’s “Race Legislation in Louisiana.”

36
a relatively accommodating place …
 For the environment of the 1870s, see also Anthony, “Negro Creole Community,” 41–43, and Medley,
We as Freemen
, 25.

37
“For at least two decades …”
is from Somers, “Black and White,” 30.

38
a long tradition of interracial fraternity …
 Medley,
We as Freemen
, 20, describes the immigration from Haiti, Cuba, and Martinique.

39
Creoles of Color often took up trades …
 For the occupations of Creoles, see Kelley,
Right to Ride
, 53.

40
some of them even owned slaves …
 Fairclough,
Race & Democracy
, 15, points out that many free blacks owned black slaves.

41
a widely accepted system known as
placage
 … 
Placage
and the Quadroon Balls are ubiquitously described. See especially Long,
Babylon
, 7–12, and Landau, “Spectacular Wickedness,” 18ff.

42
the racial dynamics of the city …
 For social and geographical differences between African Americans and Creoles in New Orleans, see especially Anthony, “Negro Creole Community”; Blessingame,
Black New Orleans;
Dethloff and Jones, “Race Relations”; Woodward,
The Strange Career of Jim Crow;
and Reed, “Race Legislation.”