(February 8) To all you wonderful Super Bowl visitors, a word to the wise: If you leave this city with memories only of football and booze, without a fuller appreciation of the unique culture of New Orleans, you will have massively shortchanged yourself.
You also will miss understanding how this city’s music mirrors one of this country’s greatest character traits.
New Orleans hosts this Super Bowl during the winter marking the 100th anniversary of two recordings, both featuring the same jazz musicians from Louisiana, that arguably changed the entire trajectory of American music.
Music historians may quibble whether these two recordings deserve primacy, in terms of cultural impact, over dozens of others made at the same time — but almost none will disagree about the musical significance of the two key, virtuoso performances in each song.
To all you wonderful Super Bowl visitors, a word to the wise: If you leave this city with memories only of football and booze, without a fuller appreciation of the unique culture of New Orleans, you will have massively shortchanged yourself.
You also will miss understanding how this city’s music mirrors one of this country’s greatest character traits.
New Orleans hosts this Super Bowl during the winter marking the 100th anniversary of two recordings, both featuring the same jazz musicians from Louisiana, that arguably changed the entire trajectory of American music.
Music historians may quibble whether these two recordings deserve primacy, in terms of cultural impact, over dozens of others made at the same time — but almost none will disagree about the musical significance of the two key, virtuoso performances in each song.
The virtuosos from the Crescent City, usually acclaimed as the two greatest wind-instrument performers of New Orleans traditional jazz, were the young cornetist Louis Armstrong, just coming into his full bloom, and the soprano-saxophonist Sidney Bechet, four years Armstrong’s senior. They were brought together by band leader/pianist Clarence Williams of Plaquemine, Louisiana, and joined by New Orleanian banjoist Buddy Christian and two others.
Only in this short series of recordings in the winter of 1924-25 did Armstrong and Bechet record together before Bechet moved to Paris to find greater fame (while facing less racism). What resulted, especially in “Mandy” and “Cake Walking Babies” — the first on Dec. 17, 1924, and the latter three weeks later — was sheer magic….. [The full column is at this link.]
