madison blogs
September 2008
Why not check out the music of New Orleans – the melting pot of soul, jazz and blues! Thankfully today, New Orleans has breathed a huge sigh of relief and weathered the storm of Hurricane Gustav. A second storm would have been devastating for the city; music and tourism are the lifeblood of New Orleans. It’s music has its own unique funky Bourbon Street vibe that’s part reggae, part Caribbean, part soul, part rhythm and blues, part gospel, part jazz — part everything!
The Big Easy!
New Orleans is a port town originally owned by the French (La Nouvelle-Orléans), where many slaves were transported from the West Indies and Haiti and brought with them Voodoo, with its drums and its music. It became one of the first parts of America to develop a strong African-American culture leading to the invention of Jazz in the early 1900s. A main feature were the New Orleans Jazz Funeral Marching bands. Solemn Brass bands accompanying a coffin would, on burial, be joined by a second line of drummers and dancers which would turn the event into a celebration of the spirit cutting free from earth. This African tradition is strong in New Orleans and still goes on to this day.
The saloons, clubs, brothels, steamboats and speakeasies of New Orleans sponsored countless black musicians who migrated from the countryside. It became a melting pot with no equals in the south (Blacks, Italians, Caribbeans, French-speaking white and black Creoles, native Americans, Mexicans, and descendants of the Europeans). Its port was an infinite source of cultural exchanges with the rest of the world. Like most seaports, New Orleans boasted a rich and colorful night life of prostitution, gambling, honkytonks, bordellos and numerous bars mixed with the "laissez faire" attitude of the Caribbean-French population made it even more tolerant than most seaports.
Long a hotbed of jazz, the city also played a big part in giving birth to rock & roll with what’s come to be known as New Orleans R&B. Taking cues from boogie-woogie pianist Professor Longhair, Fats Domino put the sound on the map with his 1955 hit “Ain’t That A Shame.” Pianist-writer-arranger Allen Toussaint played a major part in the music’s evolution throughout the 60s, producing Lee Dorsey and funk pioneers the Meters. Other Toussaint associates like the Neville Brothers and Longhair-inspired pianist Dr. John have continued the tradition, fusing elements of reggae, rock, and blues with the strutting second-line rhythms that lie at the heart of this style.
Other major New Orleans artists include: Irma Thomas, Lead Belly, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis, Jelly Roll Morton and Jon Cleary.
Sat 24th Jan 2008