New Orleans and the Birth of Jazz: History and Origins

Introduction: New Orleans as a Musical Melting Pot

New Orleans is known as a melting pot of culture and music, and it has played a major role in the early development of jazz. It was full of opportunity and rich with the fine arts of music and dance, while offering a breeding ground for innovation. In the back-alley city streets, clubs and saloons, basements of homes, and African American dance halls, jazz was born. Brass bands marched in numerous parades and played to comfort families during funerals. There were numerous society dances that required skilled musical ensembles for entertainment. New Orleans was home to Joe "King" Oliver and his leading student, Louis Armstrong. They hailed from New Orleans, along with other influential musicians including Jelly Roll Morton.

In 1718, the French started building the city of New Orleans. Located at the mouth of the Mississippi River, the city lured people in from various backgrounds. The Crescent City was ripe for the development of new music at the turn of the century. The port city opened its doors to the spicy sounds of the people from Africa, the Caribbean, and Mexico. A large, well-established Black population also enticed a lively and flavorful atmosphere. New Orleans was also a major seaport for trade ships and travelers from throughout the world. Freed Black Americans were drawn to the city because of its many opportunities. As the city grew every day, New Orleans created jobs that needed to be filled. Along with their aching bones, tired muscles, and small amounts of belongings, Black migrants brought with them rhythmic flavor and instrumental qualities that, combined with the European concert traditions of music, created what was called ragtime music.

Congo Square: The African Roots of Jazz

Congo Square, a modest corner of the French Quarter, is considered by many scholars to be the birthplace of jazz. It was in the nineteenth century at Congo Square in New Orleans that observers heard the beat of the bamboulas, the wail of the banzas, and witnessed the multitude of African dances that had survived through the years. During these antebellum times, slaves would meet here on Sundays and play traditional African songs while women slowly swayed to the rhythms. Congo Square was a weekly refuge from the drudgeries of slave life — a place where music created a special freedom that did not exist elsewhere. This square was used as a gathering place for the residents of New Orleans almost since the city began. Located across Rampart Street on the back side of the French Quarter, it had been an area outside of the fortified walls of the original city where Native Americans gathered and where slaves later sold their wares in an open market by the Bayou Saint John. In time, the unrehearsed slave songs of Congo Square came to be known throughout New Orleans.

The people in town would gather around the square on Sunday afternoons to witness what went on inside. In 1819, a visitor to the city, Benjamin Latrobe, wrote about the celebrations in his journal. He was surprised to find that five or six hundred unsupervised slaves were allowed to assemble for dancing. He described them as ornamented with a number of tails of smaller wild beasts, with fringes, ribbons, little bells, and shells and balls jiggling and flirting about the performers' legs and arms. The women, one onlooker reported, wore, each according to her means, the newest fashions in silk, gauze, muslin, and percale dresses. The males covered themselves in oriental or Indian dress, wrapped only in a sash of the same sort around the body.

One witness from the time pointed out that several clusters of onlookers, musicians, and dancers represented tribal groupings, with each nation taking their place in different parts of the square. In addition to drums, gourds, banjo-like instruments, and quill pipes made from reeds strung together like panpipes, marimbas and European instruments such as the violin, tambourines, and triangles were also used. With this activity, the slaves were able to preserve the culture they had brought with them from Africa. Those who came directly from Africa greatly continued many traditions and folklore. The greater part of the music — their methods, their scale, their type of thought, their dancing, their patting of feet, their clapping of hands, their grimaces and pantomime, and their deep superstitions — was incorporated into the life they were forced to live. Slaves would often sing while at work. The songs told of the slaves' loves, labor, and hardships, and served as rhythmic accompaniment to their work. Unfortunately, attempts were made to stop slaves from continuing African religious rituals. Drums were banned, as plantation owners and overseers feared they could be used to send messages — particularly to signal a slave uprising.

Today, Congo Square is surrounded with high iron fences and has concrete walkways, very different from the open field that was once visited by slaves. The site was never actually intended to be a square, according to the original city planners; however, no other spot in the nation is mentioned more often by music scholars as the origin of jazz and modern American dance. From the heritage of the African people grew a unique blend of music. It was when ragtime and blues came together that jazz was born (Mabunda, 1997). Ragtime music hit New Orleans and was very popular. The new syncopated feel introduced by ragtime became an instrumental element of jazz. Ragtime commanded the scene with a technique that led to a new rhythmic style: the left hand plays the bass part while the right plays the second and fourth beats. Most rags had a definite format showing a vast European influence of balance and form — usually, each selection consisted of four themes of equal importance. Unlike modern jazz, all ragtime was written, not improvised. Ragtime clearly sets a link to jazz, and by giving music a syncopated feel, it is a definite trendsetter of the genre.

Storyville: Jazz's Most Famous Stage

The original Storyville was established on January 1, 1898, as a legally operated red-light district in New Orleans — the only legal red-light district in the United States (Mabunda, 1997). The district was home to beautiful bordellos renowned for their grand architecture, whose festive atmosphere was created by seductive women and mood-altering music. Although New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz broadly, Storyville is often cited as its specific center of origin. The word "jazz" itself was originally a slang term for sex. The district flourished until the fall of 1917, when the United States Department of the Navy shut it down. Later, in the 1940s, the New Orleans city government demolished the old district entirely to make way for a low-income housing project.

From the moment of its inception in January 1898, the legend of the Storyville District loomed large in the minds of New Orleanians and jazz lovers around the world. A disciplined experiment aimed at containing unregulated vice, the district was created via a city ordinance declaring boundaries — from today's Iberville Street to St. Louis Street and from North Robertson to North Basin Street. Any prostitution outside this area was prohibited. The ordinance, introduced by Alderman Sidney Story, gained de facto legal status by carefully avoiding any explicit reference to the legality of prostitution within the boundaries of Storyville. To Alderman Story's horror, newspapers quickly dubbed the new bordello district "Storyville," and the area flourished for the next twenty years.

Music was certainly not the reason Storyville was created, although music was constantly heard throughout the district. The house pianist, known as "the professor," would greet visitors as they entered many of the better establishments. The Storyville District provided relatively uncritical audiences, allowing musicians almost unlimited freedom to experiment and develop their own styles. Cultural barriers among ethnic groups were transcended as musicians began to play together, adding greatly to the potential for form, expression, and variety. Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong were among the talented musicians who captivated Storyville audiences nightly with vibrant performances and a contagious passion for music. At its peak, Storyville employed as many as 2,200 prostitutes, 70 professional gamblers, and 30 piano players, operating within as many as 230 houses, cabarets, houses of assignation, and cribs.

Conclusion: New Orleans and the Jazz Legacy

While New Orleans is the most logical place where jazz could have been born, there is one historical complexity that results from this concept. The city's rich and diverse culture, which lent itself to incorporating musical traditions from an earlier era, also incorporated a shadowy scene revolving around crime and illegal activity. The back streets and dark alleys where jazz was developed were also home to corruption and greed. However, with the onset and popularity of jazz, fans who have migrated into more socially acceptable recreational spaces may overlook the "dark side" of the music's origins. Jazz is now listened to by a wide variety of audiences, and festivals revolve around its creation and celebration.

New Orleans remains home to the music and is fondly known as "Jazzland." Festivals throughout the city feature various styles — including Zydeco, Cajun, and Raga — but when asked, people will always say first that New Orleans is the home of the beloved jazz of Louis Armstrong.

Works Cited

Barlow, W. and Morgan, T. From Cakewalks to Concert Halls: An Illustrated History of African-American Popular Music, From 1895–1930. Washington, D.C.: Elliott and Clark, 1992.

Mabunda, L. The Reference Library of Black America. Gale, 1997.

Tirro, T. "Morton, Jelly Roll." World Book, 2001.