| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
28 J^zz
We've heard Louis Armstrong's description of the street singing. Then there were brass bands, dance hall bands, and the orchestras of the 'sporting houses' in Storeyville. There was the pie-man blowing his bugle, and Lorenzo the junk-dealer forcing tunes out of a battered old horn without a mouthpiece. There were the bands on the advertising 'bandwaggons' with the 'tailgate' trombone manipulating his slide over the tail of the waggon. There would be 'cutting' contests when rival bands met at street intersections: both bands blowing away till the loser was literally blown to a standstill. Sometimes both waggons would be roped together till the 'cutting' contest was over.
Then there were the parades and processions of the Clubs, with their names as colourful as the New Orleans streets: Bulls, Hobgoblins, Zulus, Merry Go Rounds, Money Wasters, Turtles and Original Swells. "All the members," writes Louis Armstrong, "wore full dress uniforms, and with those beautiful silk ribbons streaming from their shoulders they were a magnificent sight. At the head of the parade rode the aides, in full dress suits and mounted on fine horses with ribbons round their heads. The brass band followed, shouting a hot swing march as everyone jumped for joy* The members of the Club marched behind the band, wearing white felt hats, white silk shirts (the very best silk) and mohair trousers."
Folk in New Orleans were born to the sound of music, and they died to it. Life was cheap, and deaths |
||