Creating Jazz Counterpoint: New Orleans, Barbershop Harmony, and the Blues

179 Pages·2014·2.71 MB·English

by  Vic Hobson

Creating Jazz Counterpoint
American Made
Music Series
Advisory BoArd
David Evans, General Editor
Barry Jean Ancelet
Edward A. Berlin
Joyce J. Bolden
Rob Bowman
Susan C. Cook
Curtis Ellison
William Ferris
John Edward Hasse
Kip Lornell
Bill Malone
Eddie S. Meadows
Manuel H. Peña
Wayne D. Shirley
Robert Walser
Creating
Jaz z
Counterpoint
New Orleans, Barbershop Harmony, and the Blues
Vic Hobson
University Press of MississiPPi
JAckson
www.upress.state.ms.us
Designed by Peter D. Halverson
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of
American University Presses.

Copyright © 2014 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing 2014
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hobson, Vic.
Creating jazz counterpoint : New Orleans, barbershop harmony, and
the blues / Vic Hobson.
pages cm. — (American made music series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61703-991-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61703-992-8
(ebook) 1. Jazz—Louisiana—New Orleans—History and criticism. 2.
Blues (Music)—Louisiana—New Orleans—History and criticism. I.
Title.
ML3508.8.N48H63 2014
781.65’3—dc23 2013033566
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Ronald Victor Hobson.
His Louis Armstrong record collection certainly started something.
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Contents
Foreword iX
1. Jazzmen 3
2. the Bolden Legend 7
3. Just Bunk? 32
4. Cracking-up a Chord 47
5. Bill russell’s american Music 59
6. the “Creoles of Color” 79
7. the original Dixieland Jazz Band 95
8. new orleans: Capital of Jazz 109
9. the Blues and new orleans Jazz 126
notes 131
Bibliography 155
index 163
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Foreword
the qUestions rAised in this Book BegAn to tAke shAPe At A
joint conference of the Historic Brass Society and the Institute of Jazz Stud-
ies at Rutgers University in 2005. I had written a paper for the conference
questioning how the blues had become a part of New Orleans jazz.1 Bruce
Raeburn (curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive, New Orleans) suggested that
the interviews that the archive held with early New Orleans jazzmen might
be a good way forward. The following spring, as New Orleans struggled to
recover from Hurricane Katrina, I took my first visit to the Crescent City.
On my way back to England, I stopped off in New York and met briefly with
Lewis Porter. Together we agreed that I should write an essay for Jazz Per-
spectives; the result was “New Orleans Jazz and the Blues,” which appeared
in the spring of 2011.2 This was an historical essay that relied substantially
on what early jazzmen of New Orleans said about their experiences of the
blues. Despite the limited scope of the essay, it did establish that the blues—
in all its forms—was known and performed by the early jazz bands of New
Orleans. The question left unanswered was how these musicians had come
to know the blues. This book explores this question.
The Hogan Jazz Archive has played a particularly important role in the
writing of this book. Bruce Raeburn provided unprecedented access to the
collections and valuable guidance. My visits to the archive also put me in
contact with Lynn Abbott, whose encyclopedic knowledge of early blues
and enthusiasm for the subject is an inspiration. Lynn asked me to write
an essay for the Jazz Archivist. This gave me an opportunity to explore in
some detail “Buddy Bolden’s Blues.”3 He read earlier drafts, and his guid-
ance, particularly in relation to quartet practices, has been essential. It was
though Lynn that I approached David Evans and Craig Gill to get this book
published. It is a privilege to have such knowledgeable advisors.
I was fortunate to receive a Woest Fellowship to the Historic New Or-
leans Collection to research the Papers of Frederic Ramsey Jr. This gave me
ix