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Music of New Orleans

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Music of New Orleans

The music of New Orleans assumes various styles of music which have often borrowed from earlier traditions. New Orleans is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of the genre. The earliest form was dixieland, which has sometimes been called traditional jazz, 'New Orleans', or 'New Orleans jazz'. However, the tradition of jazz in New Orleans has taken on various forms that have either branched out from original dixieland or taken entirely different paths altogether. New Orleans has also been a prominent center of funk, home to some of the earliest funk bands such as the Meters.

The African influence on New Orleans music can trace its roots at least back to Congo Square in New Orleans in 1835, when enslaved people would congregate there to play music and dance on Sundays. African music was primarily played as well as local music from varying sources such as adapted work songs, African American spirituals, and field hollers. African, Indigenous American, Cuban, and European musical forms that were popular in the city, including the evolving brass band tradition, provided the cultural mix which laid the groundwork for the New Orleans musical art forms to come.

By 1838, the local paper—the daily Picayune—ran a scathing article complaining about the emergence of brass bands in the city, which it stated could be found on every corner.

The term "jazz" (early on often spelled "jass") did not become popular until the mid and late 1910s, when New Orleans musicians first rose to prominence in other parts of the US and the New Orleans style needed a new name to differentiate it from the nationally popular ragtime. Before then, the New Orleans style was frequently simply called "ragtime" (Sidney Bechet continued to call his music "ragtime" throughout his life), along with such local terms as "hot music" and "ratty music".

The local New Orleans dance music style was already distinctive in the 19th century. When this style became what was later known as "jazz" remains a matter of debate and definition, although most New Orleans music historians believe what became known as New Orleans style jazz was the product of a series of developments, probably reaching its famous form no earlier than the 1890s and no later than the mid 1910s.

By the 1890s a man by the name of Poree hired a band led by cornetist Buddy Bolden, many of whose contemporaries as well as many jazz historians consider to be the first prominent jazz musician. The music was not called jazz at this time, consisting of marching band music with brass instruments and dancing. Many claim Bolden was the first player to play The Blues on a brass instrument. The actual term "jazz" was first "jass", the etymology of which is still not entirely clear. The connotation is sexual in nature, as many of the early performers played in rough working class venues. Despite colorful stories of mid-20th century writers, the prostitution district known as Storyville was no more important in the development of the music than the city's other neighborhoods, but did play a role in exposing some out of town visitors to the style. Many instruments used were often acquired second-hand at pawn shops, including used military band instruments.

The Creole people of New Orleans also contributed greatly to the evolution of the artform, though their own music became heavily influenced by the pioneering work of Bolden. New Orleans-born musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton all recalled the influence Bolden had on the direction of the music of New Orleans (Armstrong himself had no memory of Bolden, but was told about him by his mentor King Oliver) and jazz itself.

New Orleans had experienced a large wave of migration from the Italian region of Sicily between the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Sicilian capital of Palermo had long held cotton and citrus fruit trade with New Orleans. This resulted in the establishment of a direct shipping line between the two port cities which enabled a vast number of Sicilians to migrate to New Orleans, as well as other American cities. As a result of this migration, music of Sicily had some influence upon the development of New Orleans Jazz. This was shown in the New Orleans group the Original Dixieland Jass Band. Bandleader Nick LaRocca and drummer Tony Sbarbaro were both born to parents who were Sicilian migrants. The band's "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued.

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