Post 540: LOOSE MARBLES IN 2008

I have written before about the band Loose Marbles.

I argued then, and I still believe, that this group has been the most important and most influential traditional jazz band to emerge in the Twenty-First Century. To read that article, CLICK HERE.

But how on earth did I miss, during all these years, some wonderful videos of the band that appeared on YouTube as long ago as 2008? I am thrilled to tell you that I have recently discovered them.

A generous video-maker whose name is given as Wayne G. Harvey attended a concert by the band at the Delaware County Institute of Science, which is situated in the Borough of Media, Pennsylvania. The Loose Marbles played on a stage in front of glass cases exhibiting mounted birds.

Mr. Harvey uploaded videos of twelve tunes from the concert. He could not have known at the time that these videos would become precious historical documents.

Why are they so important? For the following reasons.

They show the state of evolution of the Loose Marbles at that time. Ben Polcer on first trumpet and Michael Magro on clarinet were firmly in control (and how well they played together!). The repertoire was mainly very familiar tunes, but played in a thrilling way. Tuba Skinny had not yet formed; but we get to see three musicians who were to become founder members (Shaye, Barnabus and Kiowa) honing their skills in the company of Ben and Michael.

They show how the band liked to produce music without any electronic assistance. That's the way they still like it, whenever possible, and so do I. Even vocals were clearly delivered without amplification.

It is hard to believe that Barnabus and Shaye had taken up the trombone and cornet respectively only a year or two earlier, having previously played other instruments. Barnabus, in the trombone chair, is brimful of confidence. And Shaye - here playing second trumpet to Ben - is already showing great technique and harmonic creativity. She has spoken in an interview of how important this stage of her career was: playing second trumpet to Ben taught her to keep things simple and to complement his playing harmoniously.

It is interesting to see how Ben gave the illusion of adding a percussion player to the band with his devices operated by foot and hand. I believe he still does this occasionally.

The music always sounds exciting, mainly because of the energy and talent of the players, and partly because - with a 'front line' of four and Ben's percussive additions - it sounds almost like a 'big band', especially with the assistance of the Museum's acoustics, as the sound bounces off those glass cases!

The videos are also historically interesting because they show us those great dancers - Chance Bushman and Amy Johnson - sharing the little stage and contributing hugely to the audience's enjoyment. As we now know, the migration of dancers as well as of instrumentalists to New Orleans in the years after Katrina was a very important factor in the revival of traditional jazz in the streets of that City and has remained so.

You can find and enjoy all twelve of these videos easily enough on YouTube. But if you would like me to get you started, may I offer these contrasting tunes?

For Tiger Rag, CLICK HERE. (There's fine dancing in this; and listen carefully to Shaye supporting Ben in the opening minutes of full ensemble.)

For Some Day, Sweetheart, CLICK HERE.

For Whenever You're Lonesome, CLICK HERE. (You may be surprised to hear Barnabus providing the vocal, and Shaye confidently taking a lovely and unpretentious solo chorus.)

Among the other fine videos from the concert are Over in The Gloryland, Isle of Capri, Willie the Weeper, 'Taint Nobody's Business If I Do and Ice Cream.

Post 474: 'SHAKE IT AND BREAK' - SORTING OUT THE CONFUSION

You may have noticed that our jazz bands play two quite different tunes that are both called Shake It and Break It. This used to cause me confusion and I learn from correspondents that it has puzzled some of you too.

Although I may be wrong on some points, I will try to sort out the confusion by explaining what seems to have happened, as far as I can tell.

SHAKE IT AND BREAK IT  (1)

This tune was composed in 1920 by Lou Chiha (music) and H. Qualli Clark (lyrics). No, I did not make these names up!

It consists, after an Intro, of three strains of 16 bars each.

As played by our jazz bands, the first strain (normally played twice) seems to be in a minor key and involves some arpeggios being prettily run around. The second strain is in the related major key and its main characteristic is that it is a stuttering melody allowing for two two-bar breaks.  This is the strain used by most bands for the improvising of solo choruses.

The original words of the song suggest that it's about a 'new dance' in which the ladies 'shake' their taffeta dresses.

There is a terrific recording of the King Oliver Band playing what I have described so far. They play that first strain and then stick entirely on the second strain. Listen to the recording by clicking here.

Today's top band - Tuba Skinny - uses only the same two strains as King Oliver: CLICK HERE.

Many other bands (like Oliver's and Tuba Skinny) omit the third strain completely - finding quite enough to work on in the first two strains.

However, the tune and lyrics of the third strain dominate in blues singer Charlie Patton's recording entitled Shake It and Break It from 1929. So, although this has the same title, it sounds quite different from the King Oliver version. Charlie plays just this melody - not the two strains heard on the Oliver recording.

When the tune is played today by jazz bands, the third strain is sometimes added to the two previous strains and is played in the same key as the second strain and there is a vocal for this third strain only - a vocal that freely adapts the words of the original.

A reader has kindly sent me a photo-copy of Chiha and Clark's original printed music:

SHAKE IT AND BREAK IT (2)

This tune is often introduced by bands as Shake It and Break It; but it is actually Weary Blues, composed in 1915 by Gates, Matthews and Green. As you probably know, Weary Blues (which sounds anything but weary), has three strains. The first two are both 12-bar blues, usually played in F. The melodies are snappy and memorable.

Then there is a third strain, usually in Bb. This is exciting, with rapid riffs full of quavers, and a chord sequence on which musicians love to improvise. So this is the strain on which solo choruses are played.

Why do some bands announce this tune as Shake It and Break It? I am fairly sure it is because they fit words to that third strain. They are pretty well the same as those of the third strain in the 'official' Shake It and Break It ('Shake it! Break it! Hang it on the wall', etc). That, I think, is what has caused the confusion.

CLICK HERE for a performance of Weary Blues - played brilliantly by one of today's greatest bands and without the vocal - but under the title of Shake It and Break It.

For a performance of Weary Blues (correctly titled) but with the Shake it and Break It lyrics sung by Ben Polcer at  4 minutes 11 secs, click here.

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FOOTNOTE
The books Enjoying Traditional Jazz and Playing Traditional Jazz - both by Pops Coffee - are available from Amazon.

Post 463: NEW SHOTGUN ALBUM! WHAT A TREAT! 'STEPPIN' ON THE GAS'

What a treat to start 2017!

On New Year's Day Marla and John Dixon's Shotgun Jazz Band released their latest Album, entitled Stepping On The Gas.

It was recorded, like their previous one, at the former Luthjens' Dance Hall. The acoustics were again terrific. Every instrument can be clearly heard. Basically, a six-piece band was used. This was the regular five - Marla Dixon on vocals and trumpet, John Dixon on banjo, James Evans (reeds), Charlie Halloran (trombone) and Tyler Thomson on string bass - plus David Boeddinghaus on piano. But on six tracks they became a 'Big Band' by adding Ben Polcer on trumpet and Tom Fischer on reeds.

I believe the combination of John Dixon on banjo and Tyler Thomson on string bass is just about the greatest in the world for driving along the raw style of New Orleans jazz in rock-steady four-to-the-bar form, and they are well complemented here by the totally dependable David Boeddinghaus. As for James Evans, he is now established as one of the greatest reed-players to be heard anywhere. He has that wonderful artist's knack of making everything sound relaxed, even though he always plays in a hugely creative and technically brilliant manner. And fans of the trombonist Charlie Halloran will particularly enjoy his lusty contributions on such numbers as Smiles, My Old Kentucky Home, She's Crying for Me, and Old Miss Rag. He adds so much to the gutsy, gritty qualities of which the band is proud. Marla, of course, is a gem - great as a band-leader, one of the best trumpet-players and always passionate and distinctive in her singing. She seems to me to know virtually every tune in the book and to have memorised the words of hundreds of songs.

This recording is specially exciting because, in terms of personnel, width of repertoire and quality of the arrangements, it is the most ambitious Album the band has made.

I often complain that bands spin out tunes for seven or eight minutes, even when nobody is dancing. They seem to think almost every member of the band must solo on at least one 32-bar chorus. Such performances can be so dreary. It would be better to keep tunes brief (as they were on the great recordings of the 1920s).

On this Album, The Shotgun Jazz Band seems to have adopted exactly that philosophy. Eight of the tunes are completed in under three minutes. And only three tracks run for over four minutes. This also allows for a goodly number and variety of tunes on the Album: there are 18 in all. 

As the title suggests, much of the Album is inspired by the work of the Sam Morgan band, whose recording of Stepping on the Gas (1927) is closely imitated by the Shotgun, right through to the neat Coda. The Sam Morgan band used two reeds and two trumpets. I guess that is why the Dixons added the extra two instruments for this track. Their 'Big Band' is used to good effect on this tune, as well as on She's Crying for Me, Down by the Riverside and Old Miss Rag.

Throughout the Album, notice the use of neat, intelligent head arrangements usually showing great respect for the original recordings. For example, White Ghost Shivers (for me the most interesting discovery) closely follows the original recording made in the 1920s by The New Orleans Owls. It is a romping number which, to my ear, appears to begin with a spooky theme in C minor, followed by a 16-bar theme in E flat and a further 16-bar theme in A flat – both the latter allowing for plenty of little breaks. There is a great Coda, just as on the original 1920s recording.

She's Crying for Me - also played by the 'Big Band' - is similarly close to the original 1925 New Orleans Rhythm Kings version composed by Santo Pecora. Essentially in A flat, it is complete with the two key changes taking it into and then out of F for a 12-bar blues interlude.

With some of the tunes, you feel immediately as if you were at The Spotted Cat, with Marla's regular band of five or six musicians in cracking form. This is especially true of Smiles, The Curse of An Aching Heart, Pretend, Whenever Your Lonesome, and My Old Kentucky Home. On this last number, Tyler is the singer: it has become one of his party pieces.

There are some interesting performances of obscure numbers. For example, Rose of Bombay is a tune I had not heard before. Apparently it was recorded in 1923 on an Edison Cylinder by Rudy Wiedoeft's Californians. It is a pleasant leisurely number with a Verse followed by a 32-bar Chorus somewhat reminiscent of Hindustan: it uses plenty of minims and semi-breves.

Then there is Guilty – not the song of that name recorded in the 1930s by such singers as Billie Holiday and Al Bowlly - but rather one written and recorded in 1974 by Randy Newman. Marla sings it, accompanied by John on the banjo for a whole two minutes before the full band joins in.

In Breeze and Moonlight Bay the band plays the Verses as well as the Choruses! I bet there were not many of us who knew these Verses.

Marla Dixon

Marla also sings I Hate a Man Like You; and the entire Album begins in a surprisingly simple, tasteful way with Gulf Coast Blues, the 1923 composition by Clarence Williams, recorded by Bessie Smith, which Marla sings mostly with accompaniment by David on piano - very much on the lines of the original, with David taking the Clarence Williams rôle.

Another interesting vocal is How Am I To Know?, sung by James Evans. Apparently it comes from a 1920s film called 'Dynamite' and was composed by Jack King with lyrics by Dorothy Parker, no less! 

The old pop tune Pretend You're Happy When You're Blue, composed by Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman, Frank LaVere and Dan Belloc, is very pleasantly performed, with a vocal from Marla. Why did it take so many people to compose it?! (I believe it was actually Lew Douglas who did most of the work.) After the final vocal, the Shotgun round it off (as also in My Old Kentucky Home) from the Middle Eight - a tactic we should all adopt from time to time.

Charlie takes the lead very movingly on the oldest composition on the Album - Deep River, which is the final track and very effectively winds down the concert. What a beautiful way to bring the Album to an end!

Finally, I must make a special point about Old Miss Rag. The Shotgun Jazz Band plays the tune correctly - having studiously gone right back to the original sheet music. There are three themes, two of which are in F, with the final theme in Bb. THIS is how we should all be playing it! But I'm afraid most bands these days offer a slipshod version in which we play just the first and third themes - and both in the key of F.

W.C. Handy would be disappointed with us. But he would be thrilled to hear the authentic version offered here by the Shotgun.

But now you need to know how to obtain the Album. The simplest way is on line. I found that it downloads in less than half a minute. The wonders of technology! Here's where to go:
https://shotgunjazzband.bandcamp.com/

Post 394: THE LOOSE MARBLES

If you were asked to name the most important traditional jazz band so far in the 21st Century, what would your answer be?

My own, unhesitatingly, is The Loose Marbles.

Why?

To put it briefly, because this band has done the most to regenerate our music and to encourage and stimulate the terrific resurgence of traditional jazz among the younger generation (particularly those now based in New Orleans) and because, with the help of YouTube and CDs, it has also encouraged a resurgence of our music throughout the world.

Many people believe (I used to be one of them) that The Loose Marbles were formed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The truth is, however, that The Loose Marbles gave their first performance much earlier - in Providence, Rhode Island, way back in September 2000.

The band was given its name by its founder, the clarinet-player Michael Magro, who grew up in Philadelphia, and he is still running the band today. I have met Michael only once - in New Orleans on 11 April 2016. I found him most friendly, serious-minded and eager to talk about his music.

Michael Magro

After all these years, none of his enthusiasm has diminished. Deeply influenced by the recordings of George Lewis, Albert Burbank and Jim Robinson, he is as passionate as ever about the music; and he is clear about how he wants to play it. I think it's fair to say that he likes to put the emphasis on ensemble work. He prefers the kind of traditional jazz that was played before Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five set the fashion for sequences of 'solo' choruses.

Yet Michael did not begin to teach himself the clarinet until he was in his mid-twenties.

Michael told me about those early days. He chose the memorable name Loose Marbles partly because of the connotations of the expression but also because the concept of 'looseness' was always part of his plan. This was to be a band without a regular fixed line-up. All good and like-minded musicians would be welcome in his pool of players. The Band played for a year or so before a break in its history.

Then Michael met Ben Polcer (trumpet and piano). Ben, the son of Ed Polcer, the traditional jazz trumpeter, had graduated at the Music School of the University of Michigan. He joined Michael in the Loose Marbles enterprise and has been driving The Loose Marbles along ever since. For a while they were based in Brooklyn, New York. In 2006 they developed for a few months by playing street music in Washington Square Park, New York City.

Then, the year after Hurricane Katrina, Michael and Ben permanently relocated to New Orleans, trying their luck by playing for tips on the streets. They have been based there ever since. On occasions, they would return to New York City in the summer months, again giving street performances.

I heard that they sometimes had so many musicians available that there would be two Loose Marbles bands in two different locations simultaneously.

The early days in New Orleans.
Michael is on the right. Shaye Cohn is playing piano.

During the following three or four years, so many of today's great traditional jazz musicians migrated to New Orleans and appeared as Marbles, honing their skills in the company of Ben and Michael. These included such people as Charlie Halloran, Aaron Gunn, Tomas Majcherski, Jason Jurzak, John Rodli, Robert Snow, Jon Gross, Dan Levinson, Alynda Lee Segarra, Kiowa Wells, Ryan Baer, John Royen, Peter Loggins, Robin Rapuzzi, Joseph Faison, Matt Bell, Max Bien-Kahn, Jonathan Doyle and many others. Shaye Cohn frequently worked with the band, but mainly on piano in the early post-Katrina days; and Barnabus Jones, who had recently taken up the trombone (in addition to being already a good violinist and banjo-player), was frequently present. They had a powerful vocalist in Meschiya Lake.

There is a video of considerable historical interest of The Loose Marbles in a 2008 configuration, performing at Preservation Hall. You can watch it by clicking here. And see them in the street the same year (with Kiowa singing and Shaye on piano) by clicking here.

As dancers migrated to New Orleans, they tended to join the Loose Marbles family too - stars such as Chance Bushman and Amy Johnson; and they became part of the spectacle. The band busked in Europe in 2007: enjoy the dancing by clicking here.

John and Marla Dixon (now at the heart of The Shotgun Jazz Band) arrived a little later, but they too intermingled with the Marbles and still work closely with them to this day.

Some of the musicians who played in The Loose Marbles have gone on to form bands of their own. Think of Tom Saunders and the Tom Cats, for example. And Meschiya Lake, branching out into a wide range of musical styles, now sings with her own very popular band Meschiya Lake and The Little Big Horns. Above all, there is Tuba Skinny. Shaye Cohn of Tuba Skinny has said: 'One thing really important to The Loose Marbles was ensemble playing. When I first started with them, I was playing second trumpet. So I had to work to find a voice where I could fit in. It taught me to play very simply, and to listen.'

So The Loose Marbles still exists and is attracting plenty of gigs. As the sixty or so musicians who have played in Loose Marbles all still feel part of the family, it is easy enough for Ben and Michael to put together half a dozen of them to play at a gig.

To view a really pleasing and exhilarating video of the band in 2015 CLICK HERE. Michael is still in a central rôle, leading off with the melody in the first chorus. Marla is on trumpet and vocal.

Interesting to think that, although we fans in our eighties regard all those musicians currently working so well in New Orleans as the 'young generation', the years seem to have passed so rapidly since Hurricane Katrina that it won't be long before Ben and Michael are considered the 'elder statesmen' of traditional jazz!

Having said that The Loose Marbles is the most important traditional jazz band of the early Twenty-First Century, I must add that I consider Michael Magro himself as the most important individual musician. If you speak, as I have, to some of those slightly younger musicians who have settled in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, you find they all have immense respect for him and they are all grateful for what he has done. Another reason why I consider him so important is that he has a very clear idea of how he wants a band to sound. As soon as he takes charge of a group of musicians, something magical happens. He is one of the few great leaders who can immediately impose a style that brings out the collective best in his colleagues. For proof of this, even as recently as 2016, watch this wonderful programme:
CLICK HERE.

Finally, here is a picture Bob Andersen sent me of a Loose Marbles 2009 line-up (including himself on this occasion). He scanned it from a newspaper of the time.

Bob says the picture was taken at the Portland, Oregon, Blues and Jazz Fest. You see Shaye on piano, Robert Bell on guitar, Jason on tuba, Ben, Michael and also Benji Bohannon on drums.

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The book Enjoying Traditional Jazz by Pops Coffee is available from Amazon.

Post 362: 'EVERYBODY LOVES MY BABY'

That spirited song Everybody Loves My Baby is in the repertoire of most traditional jazz bands. It is one that has stood the test of time. Why? Because it has a neat, memorable, repetitive melody, making clever use of a minor chord and its related major. The words are appealing and easy to learn. It even has a far better verse than many of the popular songs of its time.

Everybody Loves My Baby was composed in 1922 by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams. Looking at a copy of the original piano sheet music, I'm impressed at how faithfully today's bands keep to the original, even many decades later. This is something rarely achieved!

I think it is partly because most musicians know the lyrics; and those lyrics fix in our minds the correct notes of the tune.

We find that Williams and Palmer published it in the key of G (with much use of the related E minor chord). Our jazz bands tend to prefer the key of F (with D minor), because this is easier for tuning and fingering.

The original sheet music offers an eight-bar Introduction and a couple of bars or repeatable 'patter' before the Verse. We now tend to discard these. But we play the 16-bar Verse (I'm as happy as a king, feelin' good 'n' ev'rything) pretty much as written.

The Chorus has a standard  A - A - B - A structure, with the A Sections dominated by that 'Minor' flavour.

The 'Middle Eight' is very effective, with the repeated, stuttering, notes (mainly on the tonic, though with changing chords beneath them.)

And the tune ends well.

'Fine,' you say. 'But is there any chance of hearing a really great band such as Tuba Skinny playing this tune?'

Yes, there is! It's on YouTube and we must be grateful to that excellent video-maker codenamed WildBill for putting it there. It's a storming performance (in the key of F). Shaye sets a cracking pace and is on her very best form, both in playing and in directing the traffic (note the Chorus in which she trades fours with Barnabus). Erika provides the vocal. There's even the bonus of Ben Polcer playing superbly on piano. In this version, they have chosen to omit the Verse, but who cares about that? CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT.

Post 156: 'SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES' - A LOVELY SONG BY CARMEN LOMBARDO

Browsing jazz bands on YouTube, I came across something specially delightful: Loose Marbles playing Seems Like Old Times.

If you don't know the tune - and whether you play in a band or not - may I recommend it to you?

The great cornet-player Shaye Cohn (though barely visible in the video) was this time playing piano, with Barnabus Jones on trombone. Michael Magro was on clarinet and Ben Polcer on trumpet.

I did not previously know this tune. It is relaxed, very melodic, easy to pick up and a good one on which to improvise. To watch the video: CLICK HERE.

I found that the tune was written by Carmen Lombardo in 1945.

I also found from other performances by singers on YouTube that it has touching words - about a couple who have been in love for many years and whose love is just as strong as ever.

So, all in all, a great song and one I am very pleased to have come across.

I spent time on my keyboard, trying to play along with the video. I soon noticed that - in terms of chord progression - it comes in the 'Salty Dog' category. That is to say it begins with four bars based on the chord of the sixth note of the scale and these are followed by four bars based on the chord of the second note of the scale.

There is no middle eight: it has one of those 16 + 16 structures, easy to memorise.

Finally, as I usually do, I wrote up my attempt at Seems Like Old Times in my mini filofax, so that I can have this as a future aide-mémoire. Although Loose Marbles was playing it in the Key of F, I put it in G as that is more convenient to me as a Bb cornet player.

Post 105: PLAYING TRADITIONAL JAZZ - WHICH CHORD ARE YOU ON?

You are a player of the clarinet, or trumpet, or trombone. Your band is playing 'Oriental Strut'. It's your turn to improvise a 32-bar chorus on the final theme. You are in the key of F. Off you go.

Now: imagine that I stop you suddenly in the middle of the 13th of the 32 bars and ask you to tell me which chord you are on. Would you be able to give the correct answer?

The reason why I ask is this. When I was in New Orleans in April 2015, I was interested to find out just how the great musicians currently working there go about their business. I managed to have conversations with several of them - people such as Tommy Sancton, Ben Polcer, Charlie Halloran, Aurora Nealand, Todd Burdick and John Dixon. What astonished me was how seriously they take their work and how thoroughly they have prepared and trained.

Two great musicians I had the pleasure of meeting -
Tommy Sancton (clarinet; left) and John Dixon (banjo; right)

I tried several of them with the kind of question I have asked above. To my surprise, the answer from all of them may be summarised as 'Of course. You have to know the chord structure as well as the melody.'

They would usually go on to say that, after playing a tune many times, they had the chords 'in their fingers' and no longer needed to think of them consciously. But, if challenged with my '13th bar of Oriental Strut' question, they would certainly be able to name the chord.

One of the great clarinet players told me he had studied very closely the recordings of his idol, George Lewis, who is generally believed to have been a rare genius who could play instinctively, by ear.  He discovered that even if George was not a good reader of music, he was always right on the arpeggio of the correct chord. However, there was one exception: George was not too good on playing around with chords on the 6th (for example, the A7 chord when in the key of C). What an amazing observation! And doesn't it tell us a lot about how seriously the current generation of New Orleans musicians take their musical studies?

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Footnote: The answer to my original question is E7th. Did you get it?

Post 61: NEW ORLEANS SINCE HURRICANE KATRINA

I live about 5000 miles from New Orleans and have managed to visit the great City only four times in my life. The most recent visit was for ten days in April 2015, to coincide with The French Quarter Festival. Before that, my previous visit had been in the 1990s, when Preservation Hall was the obvious place to go for top-quality traditional jazz. At that time, there was some good jazz to be heard in several bars and restaurants; and there were quite a few decent busking groups on the streets. The musicians were mainly black and many of them were elderly (and alas have since died: think of Narvin Kimball, Percy and Willie Humphrey, Milton Batiste, Lionel Ferbos, Pud Brown, Danny Barker, Harold Dejan and James Prevost - all of whom I had the pleasure of hearing). But in the 1990s nobody would have thought of Frenchmen Street (at the eastern edge of the French Quarter) as the best place to look for outstanding traditional jazz. 

In 2015, I found the situation had changed dramatically. For example, Frenchmen Street had now become the place to base yourself in the evenings if you wanted the choice of a wide range of top-quality bands playing in various bars and clubs.

The Spotted Cat, Frenchmen Street
April 2015

Big developments had occurred since Hurricane Katrina. Maybe the hurricane was the catalyst for change.

You will recall that the hurricane struck in August 2005. A huge area was flooded by up to fifteen feet of water. 80% of New Orleans and large tracts of neighbouring parishes were covered; and the flood waters lingered for weeks. About 2000 people lost their lives, half of them in and around New Orleans.

It could have marked the end of jazz in New Orleans; and indeed the homes of many musicians were destroyed and they had to leave.

But from 2006, as the City started to rebuild, a new young generation began to migrate to New Orleans. They came from all parts of America, as well as a few from Canada and Europe. They were mostly young white musicians - some of them straight out of music colleges - and they started to settle in New Orleans in the hope of making a career in music. Surprisingly, many of them wanted to play the old tunes (of 1910 - 1940) in the old styles. Learning from 78 rpm records, and CD reissues and increasingly from the internet (especially YouTube) they mastered music that had rarely been played in the previous 70 years.

Todd Burdick is best known as the tuba player and founder member of Tuba Skinny. He told me he came to New Orleans from Chicago and at the time you could find a pal and jointly rent a shotgun house near the French Quarter for just 400 dollars a month. (The price by 2015 had risen to 900 dollars a month.)

It was a hard life and I guess some of them soon gave up. But many settled. They made just enough money to survive by playing for tips on the streets. They started to find like-minded musicians who became their friends and formed themselves into bands. A good example was The Loose Marbles - a band in which founder members were Ben Polcer (a graduate of the Univeristy of Michigan) and Michael Magro. They encouraged promising newcomers to pass through the band's ranks and hone their skills. Many of the musicians who developed their talents in Loose Marbles have gone on to form bands of their own: think of Tom Saunders and the Tom Cats, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns, Tuba Skinny, and The Orleans Six, for example.

Shaye Cohn of Tuba Skinny has said: 'One thing really important to The Loose Marbles was ensemble playing. When I first started with them, I was playing second trumpet. So I had to work to find a voice where I could fit in. It taught me to play very simply, and to listen'.

The Loose Marbles still exists and is attracting plenty of gigs. As the sixty or so musicians who have played in Loose Marbles all still feel part of the family, it is easy enough for Ben and Michael to put together half a dozen of them to play at a gig.

To see a video of great historical interest - The Loose Marbles playing in the street in 2007, CLICK HERE. And to see them playing indoors in those early post-Katrina days, CLICK HERE.

The great banjo player John Dixon told me that with the musicians came some great dancers - people such as Amy Johnson and Chance Bushman; and they in turn attracted more dancers..... and so more musicians.

In the hottest months, it became customary to decamp to the cooler regions in the north, so you might find some of these bands in August busking in New York's Washington Square, for example. Some of the musicians head north in August to work as tutors in residential Jazz Camps. More recently, some of the bands have even been able to tour overseas during the summer.

As part of their learning and development, some players, after arriving in New Orleans, decided to take up a second or even a third instrument. They taught themselves and - in just a few years - reached the highest levels on these instruments. Think of Barnabus Jones. He arrived in New Orleans as a violinist. He then mastered the banjo. And finally he bought an old trombone and mastered that. Now he is regarded as one of the finest traditional jazz trombonists in the history of jazz. Then there is Shaye Cohn. She arrived as an outstanding pianist and accomplished violinist. She obtained a very old cornet (which she still plays - she told me it is the only horn she possesses), taught herself the fingering, and just a few years later has surely become the most creative traditional jazz cornet player in the world.

Shaye kindly allowed me to take
a photo of her world-famous cornet.

Todd Burdick arrived in New Orleans as a banjo and guitar player. He is now one of the best jazz tuba players. And that isn't enough. He told me he is now trying to learn the string bass to add to his armoury. Todd said with some regret he hardly ever gets invited to play a gig on banjo these days because 'people seem to have forgotten that I play the instrument'!

It was an enormous pleasure
for me to meet Todd Burdick.

Todd on guitar -
a few years ago.

As the years have gone by, bands have emerged and developed - all with distinctive styles. Hundreds of hours spent making music on the streets and later playing at gigs in bars and clubs have brought the standard of traditional jazz performance in New Orleans to a musical level at least equal to that of the 1920s.

The boom in tourism and the world-wide appreciation of their music (fostered by YouTube, internet-streamed performances and CDs) has meant that the best bands no longer need to play on the streets to make a living. They can survive on the income from gigs mainly in the bars and clubs on Frenchmen Street. Indeed, Frenchmen Street is the place to be - though the great tradition still continues at Preservation Hall: every night, while I was in town, there was a long queue in St. Peter's Street waiting for the Hall to open.

A performance in Preservation Hall
April 2015

Some of the best bands to emerge since Katrina have practically given up busking in the streets, because it is such hard work and it has become so difficult to secure a prime spot. But others (such as Tuba Skinny) still choose to play in the streets at least once a week because they see this as a chance to try out new ideas and to spread the music to the people. They say it is good to play what you like when you like, without any pressures from a promoter. 

Meanwhile, more young musicians have arrived in New Orleans to try their luck. The most outstanding (such as James Evans from Wales and Haruka Kikuchi from Japan) have rapidly been recruited into established bands.

On the streets the musicians playing for tips have continued to multiply. In my view, there are now too many for their own good, because competition has made it hard to earn a living. Even so, I have to report the standards of the music to be heard on Royal Street are so high that those bands are much better and more exciting than the typical band that we find in pubs and jazz clubs here in England.

This Facebook entry by guitarist Shine Delphi shows just how hard they work - even on a birthday:
Thank y'all for the birthday love. If you're in New Orleans come give me a hug. I'll be busking with Yes Ma'am  11 - 2, then Goorin Bros hat shop 3 - 5 and I'll finish the evening over at Buffa's 11 - 1.

While I was in New Orleans I had the privilege of conversations with several of the musicians I had previously seen and admired only on YouTube. It was a special thrill to meet them. I learned a great deal about their approach to the music, and how they practise, rehearse and manage their lives. But that will be a subject to write about later.smile emoticon

Meeting the great Japanese trombonist
Haruka Kikuchi was a special thrill.
See her in full flight
BY CLICKING HERE.

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Footnote

The Book Enjoying Traditional Jazz, written  by Pops Coffee, is available from Amazon.