Post 589: THE DEW DROP HALL - THE OLDEST SURVIVING VENUE

I have written about the Dew Drop Hall before. But it is such an important building in the history of traditional jazz that - for the benefit of newcomers - I think it is worth writing about again.

The Dew Drop Hall
April 2015

For me the ambition to see The Dew Drop Hall started when I read that Marla Dixon's Shotgun Jazz Band played there on 7th November, 2014. That was what prompted me to find out more about this important jazz venue. It must have been a great thrill for Marla and her team to play in this very spot, among the spirits of so many of the Greats who performed there one hundred years earlier.

So let me tell you about this truly legendary old building that is one of the most important venues in the history of traditional jazz. It's the oldest surviving building in the world in which jazz was played in the earliest years of its development; and traditional jazz is again being played there today. I'm referring to the The Dew Drop Dance and Social Hall, which is situated at 430 Lamarque Street in Old Mandeville, Louisiana.

A great thrill for me was finally setting foot in The Dew Drop Hall in April 2015, when I was in New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival.

The story of the Hall begins on 5 May 1885, when local African Americans created The Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Association - aiming to provide help to the sick and the needy.

The Association built the hall from cypress timber nine years later - and opened it in 1895. Its foundations were simple brick piers (a wise choice for flood protection at the time). The pier at the front on the left still bears the original inscription (now barely legible).

It commemorates the founding of the Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Society No. 2 of Mandeville on May 5th, 1885, and the construction of the building in 1895, along with the names of the building committee.

The walls were covered with weather-boards at the front, and batten on the sides and rear; and they were originally painted green. The carpenters created the large wooden double-door at the front gable end, and a smaller door on the right at the back. There was an open beam ceiling. It was essentially a one-room structure, available for meetings, celebrations, vaudeville, dances and so on. It became the centre of social life.

The dais (mainly used as a bandstand) at the far end was typical of the time - with a wooden banister front opening in two places for the steps. The original dais was small (the part behind the banister on the left) but it was later extended to what we see in the picture above. The hall was built without electricity - or plumbing - or even glass: the 'windows' were simply openings measuring 6 feet high by 4 feet wide. They were normally covered by wooden shutters. These windows must have helped keep the band and audience cool on humid evenings.

Lamarque Street is to this day a quiet sparsely-populated, leafy, narrow road.

But where exactly is it? Answer: about 35 miles north of The French Quarter in New Orleans. It's where I've put the red dot at the centre top of this Google Map, very close to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

From the earliest days, musicians started to cross the lake by steamboat to play for Saturday night dances in the Hall.

There were three landing-places for the boats on the shoreline - from east to west the Camellia Landing (destroyed by fire in 1912), the St. Tammany Pier (destroyed by fire in 1926), and the Lewisburg Landing (at the Lewis Plantation). The bands brought plenty of fans with them: Mandeville was considered a fashionable resort. It had several bands playing in various venues, including pavilions, the hotels and local park.

Pretty well all the famous early jazz musicians played at The Dew Drop Hall. Buddy Petit, Bunk Johnson, Kid Ory, Tommy Ladnier, Louis Armstrong, Papa Celestin, Sam Morgan, Chester Zardis and George Lewis were among them. Local man Isidore Fritz - according to such witnesses as George Lewis one of the best jazz clarinet players of all time - was a regular there, leading The Independence Band, which was hugely popular. He had Tommy Ladnier on trumpet and Edmond Hall on clarinet. Isidore's two brothers also played. What a pity the band was never recorded (or even photographed, it seems). Fritz was unwilling to cross the Lake to play in New Orleans. Why? Because he was doing very nicely in Mandeville and also had a family building business there. Fritz died in 1940.

Lillian, the wife of banjo-player Buddy Manaday (of Buddy Petit's Band) later recalled that white people as well as black attended and they all got along well together. Petit's Band, by the way, played at many venues in the  region - including at Bogalusa, Pensacola and Moss Point.

By the 1920s and 1930s, the Hall was a major centre for jazz concerts. Wooden benches provided limited and basic seating for about 100 people.

But - how sad! - as fashions and customs changed, the young were no longer interested, the Dew Drop Association ceased to exist and the Hall was virtually abandoned in the mid-1940s. This state of affairs continued for about half a century.

What amazing luck that nobody knocked the building down! All the other similar dance halls of its era were demolished or changed hands and acquired new uses or (like The Sons and Daughters Hall - also in Mandeville, on Lake Shore Drive) burned down.

The overgrown plot was bought at auction in 1993 by Jacqueline 'Jinx' Vidrine. She might have been expected to demolish the building and erect a modern house there; but she was a jazz enthusiast and knew what she was doing. She cleared the plot and investigated the building. She even found an old upright piano inside.

Jacqueline dreamed of re-opening the Hall as a jazz venue or museum. After some years, she managed to get the local Parks Service interested. By 1999, a first concert was possible! Mayor Eddie Price and the Mandeville Council recognised the importance of the property and bought the plot of land from Jacqueline. She herself donated the Hall to the community. Funds had been raised, including donations from the English. 

There had been a plan to transport the Hall to a site in Louis Armstrong Park, New Orleans. But the Mayor of Mandeville was easily convinced that the Hall should stay where it was. In 2001 the Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 'official' re-opening was on 5 May, 2002. In 2006, two members of the Mandeville City Council led a campaign to create The Friends of Dew Drop - a non-profit organisation. There had to be a little refurbishment (at a cost of about 25,000 dollars), but they ensured it was entirely sympathetic with the original design of the Hall. Here is how the Hall looked in Lamarque Street when I visited. Note the (inevitably moss-covered) tree in front of it.

Concerts featuring the best of local musicians are now put on fortnightly in the Spring and Autumn. There are string bands, jug bands and various similar groups as well as traditional jazz bands.

The band performing when I was there included the great Gregg Stafford and Michael White and the outstanding young bass player Tyler Thomson.

There was even a brolly parade.

Just inside the entrance door

I'm thrilled to say that 'Jinx' is still very much involved in helping with activities at the Hall. She was there and I had the honour of being introduced to her.

Jacqueline Vidrine -
the driving force in preserving the Hall

If you go to The Dew Drop, you have a choice between standing, or arriving early to secure one of those wooden seats, or (bringing your picnic chairs) listening from outside to the wonderful music drifting through the large open windows (three on each side). Good Louisiana food is usually on sale outside the Hall, as it was in the earliest days.

The Shotgun Jazz Band
performing there in 2014

By the way, you may care to watch a video I made about The Dew Drop:
CLICK HERE.
Three days after the Gregg Stafford concert, the great Tuba Skinny played at The Dew Drop Hall. A video showing one of the tunes they played can be seen by clicking on here.

And for a much more recent video of Tuba Skinny playing at the Hall, CLICK HERE. The tune is the wonderful Deep Bayou Moan, composed by Shaye Cohn.

You can sample an entire album (19 tunes) recorded in The Dew Drop Hall during a live concert on 18 March 2017 BY CLICKING HERE. 

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Just in case you may be interested to know which tunes were played when I was there for the Gregg Stafford concert in April 2015, the programme was:
SET ONE
Hindustan
We Shall Walk Through The Streets of the City
Bye Bye Blackbird
Redwing
Fidgety Feet
Careless Love
Golden Leaf Strut (final strain of 'Milneberg Joys')
SET TWO
Panama Rag
When You're Smiling
Burgundy Street Blues (Michael White feature)
You Always Hurt The One You Love
Blueberry Hill
SET THREE
Baby Won't You Please Come Home
Creole Love Call
Just a Little While To Stay Here
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
When The Saints Go Marching In

Long may The Dew Drop continue!

Post 563: 'OVER IN THE GLORYLAND' - FROM SAM MORGAN TO MARLA DIXON

Over in the Gloryland is one of the most famous tunes in our repertoire. It is a spiritual and is said to have been written by James Acuff and Emmett Dean in 1905. The reason why we all play it today is that we have been influenced by the recording of it made by the great Sam Morgan Band in 1927.

You can hear that recording:

BY CLICKING HERE.

The song has a Verse of 16 Bars (often sung with words beginning 'If you get to heaven before I do,...') and then a Chorus of 24 bars (usually beginning 'Over in the Gloryland,....').

I used to play this song with a band that went through Verse and Chorus every time. This felt right to me because the Verse is like a declamation by one person and then the Chorus is a chance for other people to join in.

However, guesting with another band, I found their tactic was to play the Verse only once and then stick on the Chorus - over and over. I was not very happy with this, as the effect is so limited and repetitive, harmonically as well as melodically.

So I checked the original Sam Morgan recording. He plays: Verse → Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus. In other words, the Chorus four times and the Verse three times. This works well and provides variety.

I decided also to check out the storming version from March 2015, when The Shotgun Jazz Band got together with Tuba Skinny. You can enjoy this memorable and historic performance

BY CLICKING HERE.

This runs for almost seven and a half minutes, and yet it is always exciting, even though it is a tune some musicians don't enjoy playing. They complain that its melody is so repetitive and that it uses essentially only the three most common chords.

But these two great bands show what can be fashioned from such simple material.

You will find they play Verse → Chorus every time.

That's good enough for me. So that's how I think we should all play it.

Specifically, here's what they do:

Verse (ensemble) → Chorus (ensemble) → Verse (vocal) → Chorus (vocal) →Verse (trombones) → Chorus (trombones) → Verse (reeds) → Chorus (reeds) → Verse (percussion) → Chorus (percussion) → Verse (piano) → Chorus (piano) → Verse (basses) → Chorus (basses) → Verse (vocal) → Chorus (vocal) → Verse (ensemble) → Chorus (ensemble).

By the way, if you need a lead-sheet for this song, you may find one on the site of the great and generous Lasse Collin:

http://cjam.lassecollin.se/songs2/overinthegloryland.html

Post 553: THE THREE-CHORD TRICK

Everyone who is learning to play jazz should know about 'the three-chord trick'.

What are the three chords? They are the tonic, the dominant seventh and the sub-dominant – the very three chords beginners need to learn first. They are almost certainly the chords you will most frequently use in your career.

It is possible to accompany some songs – particularly blues, folk tunes and spirituals – by using only the three chords. Of course, this is sometimes just a lazy way of keeping things simple. You blank out any subtle and transitional chords and stick with the three easiest chords. But the truth is that most members of your audience will hardly notice.

So in the Key of C, they would be
C (Major)

G (7th)

F (major)

A very basic 12-bar blues might well follow this pattern:

   C | C | C | C | F | F | C | C | G7 | G7 | C | C 

That pattern started with the Blues of the Deep South and eventually became the basis of rock’n’roll.

Here’s an example of the three-chord trick applied to a complete tune. This is Stephen Foster’s Way Down Upon the Swanee River: 

One of the most exciting tunes that requires only three chords is Dallas Rag. It is amazing to find what a great band such as Tuba Skinny can do with simple three-chord material. Click on this video to see what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbQaZWVS3lY

And here is 'Sing On', composed and recorded in the 1920s by the great New Orleans band leader Sam Morgan. It can be played perfectly well using only three chords. In the key of G, they are of course G, D7th and C.

And here's one from the wonderful website provided for us all by Lasse Collin:

Other examples of tunes that can be satisfactorily played with only three chords include Pass Me Not O Gentle Saviour,  Mama Inez, Nearer My God to Thee, the old Mississippi gospel number Mary Wore a Golden Chain and Take My Hand, Precious Lord.

Post 515: SET THE STOPWATCH!

Here's something we can learn from those 1920s recordings: even tunes with two or three themes can be given a very good performance in under four minutes if they are well presented, with the emphasis on ensemble work.

I have been listening again to recordings made in 1927 by the great Sam Morgan's Jazz Band. Their versions of Bogalousa Strut and Mobile Stomp are both completed in under three minutes.

I also listened to some of the historic recordings made by the Armand Piron Orchestra in the 1920s. Their recording of the tricky 3-parter Bouncing Around runs for less than three minutes. The classic Mamma's Gone Goodbye takes just over three minutes.

And yet these recordings are exemplary - totally enjoyable and satisfying. They do not leave us feeling they are too short or that the tune is incomplete. The arrangements and the ensemble work are exciting and tight. The performances even incorporate clever little introductions and codas, perfectly executed.

Compare this with the playing of so many bands today. Tunes are spun out for seven or more minutes with almost all members of the band taking 32-bar solo choruses (sometimes two choruses). The tune drags on repetitively even though the band has nothing more to 'say'.

Yes, I know those early recordings were limited to about three minutes because that is all the recording processes of the time could cope with. But this discipline made the musicians produce their very best - distilling music of the highest quality within the imposed time limit.

May I suggest we give this matter some thought?

One bandleader friend has recently done so. Within his programme he deliberately includes a number of good tunes that he wants his band to play in about three minutes. This is achieved by omitting solo choruses and putting the emphasis on getting the tunes right, with clever interplay between the instruments.

To hear how it was done - way back in 1927 - click on this video. It's the Sam Morgan Band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdOnRREDTuw
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Reader James Buck has sent this comment:

Ivan,

I could not agree more.  No wonder some people are put off jazz by extended solo choruses that do and say nothing to the audience.

Best wishes, regards,

Jim.

Post 466: SAM MORGAN - AND HIS NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND IN 1927

Some very important recordings were made in 1927 by Sam Morgan. His Band played not only in New Orleans, but also in other towns, such as Galveston, along the Gulf Coast.

While Armand Piron's Orchestra was at the same time playing sophisticated, genteel jazz, Morgan's style was just a little more gutzy, pulsating and robust, though still melodic. The band took great care with establishing and maintaining the right tempos - notably for dancing.

That's Sam seated behind the cymbal; with big Jim Robinson and his trombone.

Sam Morgan, born in 1895, was the trumpeter/leader; and his brothers Isaiah (also on trumpet) and Andrew (tenor sax and clarinet) played in his band. On trombone he had the great Jim Robinson, whose fame spread further when he played in bands well after Sam Morgan had died at the age of only 41 (poor Sam suffered a stroke in 1925 and another in 1932). Earle Fouché played clarinet and alto sax. Robinson's cousin Sidney Brown was on bass. Tinke Baptiste and Walter Decou were at various times on piano. Johnny Dave was on banjo. The drummers over the years were Roy Evans and Nolan Williams.

Today Sam Morgan is best remembered for the eight tunes his band recorded in New Orleans over two sessions in 1927. Three of these were spirituals (Over in the Gloryland, Down By The Riverside and Sing On); but the credited composer for all the other five was Sam himself:

Bogalusa Strut

Everybody's Talking About Sammy

Mobile Stomp

Short Dress Gal

Steppin' On The Gas

Have a listen to Morgan's band playing Mobile Stomp:

CLICK HERE.

And now hear it played by one of today's best jazz bands:

CLICK HERE.

Bogalusa Strut, by the way, is said to be a re-interpretation of the first two themes of Scott Joplin's Rose Leaf Rag. If you listen to that rag, you will hear at once that the harmonic progressions are indeed the same.

Mobile Stomp, though in 4/4 time, is said to use the melody of  The Waltz You Saved For Me; and indeed the two melodies are almost identical. But according to my researches so far, it seems The Waltz You Saved for Me was composed in 1930 - after Mobile Stomp, so it is probably unfair to suggest that Morgan 'lifted' his tune from the song.

Most traditional jazz bands in the 21st Century not only show influences of the Sam Morgan Band in their playing and musical arrangements but also still have at least a couple of Morgan's tunes in their repertoire.

And the fact that the Morgan Band recorded the three spirituals seems to have set the precedent that traditional jazz bands must now include spirituals in their programmes. (It is believed the band would never have played spirituals for dances but recorded some only because the recording engineer requested them.) Similarly, the band demonstrated (as in Mobile Stomp) - I think for one of the first times on record - the excitement generated when you play stop-time choruses.

So we all owe a great deal to Sam Morgan. And we are also indebted to Jim Robinson who, in later years, revived and perpetuated his music, and also made us aware of other tunes Morgan's band liked to play. (See the comments from John Dixon below). 

Sam Morgan's House in New Orleans

---------------

John Dixon (of The Shotgun Jazz Band in New Orleans) has kindly sent me the following information:

It’s worth noting that more can be learned from the interview with Andrew Morgan from the book ‘The End of the Beginning’ (by Barry Martyn [Jazzology Books, 1998]). Morgan speaks at length about the recording of those cuts (most of the tunes were not in their regular repertoire prior to the recording).

Also, Jim Robinson’s Riverside Living Legends LP ‘Jim Robinson’s New Orleans Band’ is an important record because it was the re-recording of Mobile Stomp and Bogalusa Strut that brought those tunes out of retirement and made them traditional New Orleans jazz standards. When they recorded that album, Jim didn’t even remember how they went. The producers went to Tulane to the archives, got the old SMJB records and played them for the band. The takes you hear recorded on Jim’s record were done just moments after they learned the songs. That record is also chock full of other Sam Morgan band tunes that they regularly played but didn’t record; Apple Tree, Yearning, Whenever You’re Lonely. Also featured on that Riverside LP are George Guesnon and Alfred Williams - both Sam Morgan Jazz Band alumni (though not in the lineup that was recorded). Guesnon is especially well-recorded on Jim’s record. It’s one of my favorite records. 

I’ve attached an image of the backside of the LP I took with my phone, perhaps you can read the album notes.

Thanks!

John

It is possible to read the liner notes. Click on and enlarge.
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Post 295: LEARN FROM LOUIS DUMAINE, ARMAND PIRON AND SAM MORGAN

If you want to know what the authentic New Orleans bands sounded like in the 1920s, it's easy to study some fine examples. We must be grateful to the original sound recordists and to all who have perpetuated their work by means of various technologies over the decades and - more recently - those who have put the music on to YouTube.

I'm thinking at the moment of three bands in particular. Their total recorded output is not huge; but there is plenty from which we can learn, with careful study.

Louis Dumaine's Jazzola Eight recorded only four tunes. The pieces themselves don't get much attention these days, but the recordings are a lesson to all traditional jazz musicians in how their instrument should contribute to an effective ensemble. These repay close scrutiny. For an example,

CLICKHERE.

Next, think of Armand Piron (violinist) and his classy orchestra. They gave us lovely performances of such numbers as these (mostly composed by the band members):

Bouncing Around

I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

Mamma's Gone, Goodbye

Kiss Me Sweet

Bright Star Blues

Louisiana Swing

Red Man Blues

Sud Bustin' Blues

For an example of a typical well-arranged piece (with great ensemble work) that many of us still try to emulate,

CLICK HERE.

Then there's the eight-piece Sam Morgan's Band (with big Jim Robinson on trombone). It recorded just eight tunes in 1927. They included Bogalusa Strut, Mobile Stomp and Short Dress Girl (all composed by Morgan) as well as three spirituals, notably Over in the Gloryland, which is still very popular. These recordings powerfully influenced the repertoire and drive of many of today's bands. For a stomping performance that gives you the full flavour of this band,

CLICK HERE.

Post 278: WHY ARE HYMNS AND SPIRITUALS IN OUR REPERTOIRE?

We take it for granted that hymns and spirituals have a place in our repertoires. But they still occasionally take people by surprise. For example, some weeks ago, friends and I were playing in Oakham, a market town in Central England. One of our tunes was The Old Rugged Cross. An elderly gentleman came up afterwards to tell us how much he had enjoyed it. He said he had never realised that a hymn could work well when played by a jazz band.

Marla Dixon, with all-star support, singing 'Over in the Gloryland'

You hardly ever hear a traditional jazz concert in which there is not at least one hymn or spiritual. Also, audiences no longer feel uncomfortable (as English people would have done a hundred years ago) about dancing to such religious music.

Among the most popular titles are:

Amazing Grace

At The Cross
By and By

Does Jesus Care?

Down By The Riverside

God Will Take Care of Me
Higher Ground

His Eye is on the Sparrow

How Great Thou Art

In the Garden

In the Sweet By and By

In the Upper Garden

It's Nobody's Fault But Mine

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Just a Little While To Stay Here

Lead Me Saviour

Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me

Lily of the Valley

Lonesome Road

Lord, Lord, Lord, You Sure Been Good to Me

Man from Galilee

The Old Rugged Cross

This Little Light of Mine

Old-Time Religion

Only a Look
On Revival Day

Over in the Gloryland

Precious Lord, Lead Me On

Pass Me Not, Oh Gentle Saviour

Peace in the Valley

Rock Me

Roll Jordan Roll

Royal Telephone

Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down

Sometimes My Burden is Too Hard to Bear

Walking With the King

We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

When I Move to the Sky

When the Saints Go Marching In
Where He Leads Me

I began to wonder how it came about that such tunes have a place alongside the old pop songs, blues and rags in our repertoire.

It's easy to believe the myth that spirituals were sung in the cotton fields by toiling slaves in the mid-Nineteenth Century and that - when jazz bands came into being - they would have played them and from about 1910 would have 'jazzed them up'.

But I'm not sure it's that simple. I have found no evidence that this happened. For example, can somebody please let me know of any recordings of spirituals or hymns by jazz bands before 1927? I think there's nothing in the early recordings of the ODJB, King Oliver, Kid Ory and so on.

Until somebody does, I prefer the following explanation.

In 1927, Columbia Records twice recorded the great Sam Morgan Band in New Orleans. The recordings were made in the Godchaux Building, 527, Canal Street. Four tunes were recorded on each occasion. The resulting eight recordings are still considered a hugely important part of the history of traditional jazz and have influenced hundreds of bands over the decades.

The legend is that - like other jazz bands - the Sam Morgan Band played mostly for dancing and did not include religious music in its dance hall repertoire. However, one of the recording engineers was very keen on such tunes as Down By The Riverside and suggested that Sam's band should record them.

So the Band included three 'spirituals' in the eight recordings - and the rest is history: if Sam could do it, why not the rest of us?

Apparently trumpet-player Isaiah Morgan (Sam's brother) in a later interview made the point that jazz bands such as theirs might have played hymns and spirituals at funerals but would not have used religious music for dancing.

By 1940, it became commonplace for the most influential traditional jazz musicians to record spirituals. Think of George Lewis, Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong.

Quite a few spirituals we play - including some in my list above - were composed not in the days of slavery but in the days when jazz bands were already well established.

Here's a stirring modern example of a spiritual in a jazz band performance. In this video, we see two of the best bands in the world joining together to perform Over in the Gloryland - one of those spirituals made famous in 1927 by Sam Morgan: CLICK HERE.

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