Not just blowing our own trumpet!

The Origin of Jazz Music

The greatest argument for time travel would be to journey back to the New Orleans of the late eighteen-hundreds and hear jazz as it was meant to be heard, and not muted by rough recordings on poor equipment in the early nineteenth century. People often wonder why the origin of jazz music is traced to New Orleans, when the basic precepts for the music was sung and played all over the United States. Indeed, blues, ragtime, hymns, spirituals, and brass band music could be heard anywhere in the states. However, the spark that ignited the jazz firestorm was the Creole population of New Orleans, which no other place in the United States could lay claim to.

The Creoles were free black people from the West Indies living in Louisiana first under French rule, and later, Spanish. They became Spanish and French speaking Americans after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and soon rose to the highest places in New Orleans society. Their musicians were proud professionals trained in France, and played the finest music halls east of Canal Street. Their knowledge of European music, theory, and technique was perhaps unrivaled anywhere in America.

After The Civil War, freed black slaves began to populate the other side of Canal Street with their rich arsenal of spirituals, gospel, and the blues. However, in 1894, a racial segregation law was enacted in New Orleans, and the Creole population was forced to leave the East side of Canal street, ending up with the black population on the other side. Although the Creoles were devastated as far as their social standing was concerned, they soon took control of the music scene in the black section of the city, and the genesis of modern jazz began to evolve.

Certainly, it would be impossible for one person to lay claim to having invented jazz, but during a 1938 interview, a Creole named Ferdinand LaMenthe took credit for inventing it in 1902. Incredibly, there is ample evidence that back up his claims, not to mention that he is better known as Jelly Roll Morton. In the interview he also went on to give exquisite details about the influences and the origin of jazz music. He spoke about how jazz musicians loved to take a style of music, for instance a polka, and play it hot, or in the jazz style. He cited polka, as well as European waltzes and the mazurka as other influences in jazz, as well as the importance of Spanish rhythms, which he called, the Spanish tinge. What a shame that nobody will ever be able to hear the late eighteenth century late night jams played hot, but not recorded until around 1917.