Post 568: THE STAMFORD STOMPERS - AN UPDATE

The Stamford Stompers. have been a busy little band since they were formed in July 2014. They have played at many wedding drinks receptions, birthday parties, rural events and summer bandstand concerts in the parks. They also continued their outreach work, taking our music to the people in shopping centres, as in this video, filmed in November 2017: CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

That performance was in the county town of Lincoln, but they also greatly enjoy entertaining the shoppers and tourists visiting their architecturally-beautiful home town of Stamford.

You may watch them here - on an exceptionally hot day - playing some relaxed jazz in a park bandstand: CLICK HERE.

Performing at the Centenary Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, before a large audience on 18 July last year, they received a standing ovation.

At a wedding, Summer 2019.

As you can see, the band normally has four players, though their singer Helen also performs when a vocalist is required:

Performing for the High Sheriff's Reception at Burghley House

You can hear The Stamford Stompers playing Yes, Sir, That's My Baby  by clicking here. For a video of them playing Has Anybody Seen My Girl?, CLICK HERE.

And for the band's website, click here.

Post 459: JAZZ - BUSKING IN THE STREETS = 'STREET JAZZ'?

In 2016, I noticed the expression 'street jazz' being used with increasing frequency. Perhaps you have too? But what is this 'street jazz'? Some kind of new genre?

Photo : Guy Hardy

No. I think what has happened is that many good traditional jazz bands now play in the streets, with the result that more and more passers-by are amazed at what they hear and - not understanding that our music has a 120-year-old history - have given it the handy new name of 'street jazz'.

An email I received said: 'Can you help, please? We are trying to find a street jazz band to play at our wedding reception.' 

And the great Baby Soda Jazz Band in New York on its website introduces itself as follows: Baby Soda is on the forefront of a new movement loosely known as street jazz, with an eclectic set of influences ranging from 30s era swing, New Orleans jazz, and southern gospel. The ensemble doesn't desire to recreate the past; rather, they bring the concept and joy of the music to the present.

If you look up 'street jazz' on the Internet, you find the expression has caught on in dancing circles too. This is not surprising, even though it appears that the dancing classes use a variety of rhythmic 'funky' music - not exclusively traditional jazz.

But it really is pleasing that a younger generation is beginning to discover and enjoy our music on the streets. As regular readers will know, I strongly recommend that our bands should do some Outreach Work by playing at convenient places in their town centres. They can attract bookings that way too.

Post 359: GO BUSKING - TRY SOME OUTREACH WORK

Here's an unusual and wonderful sight - An ENGLISH band busking on the streets of ENGLAND:

It's Bazzer's Jazzers recently photographed in Lancaster.

I run up against surprising language problems occasionally. After I last wrote about busking, an American reader e-mailed to tell me it took him some time to work out what busking was. But it's a common enough word here in England.

When I refer to jazz bands 'busking', I mean 'giving impromptu un-booked concerts in the streets, to promote their bands and pick up some tips' - in the manner of the many street bands in New Orleans.

'Busking' is a word of ancient and obscure origins. It probably came originally from a Germanic word of medieval times. It seems to have entered English via the old Spanish word buscar or the French busquer (meaning seek out or go about selling things). Of course, in addition to musicians, there are other forms of buskers (street performers). And the word 'busking' is also sometimes used by musicians in a slightly different way, meaning 'having a go at playing something by ear, without having seen or properly learned the music'.

But for the purposes of this article, I mean simply giving an un-booked concert in public.

Some of the best venues in which traditional jazz groups can be heard are outdoors, in streets or open spaces, where members of the public are passing by.

Scene in America

We should make a greater effort to take traditional jazz into the streets. That's the way to increase its appeal to the younger generation and give pleasure to the masses.

In the September 2014 issue of Offbeat Magazine, there was an article by Geoffrey Himes in which he sought the views of Tuba Skinny. This band no longer needed to busk for tips: it had plenty of good gigs on offer from all round the world. And yet the players still loved to perform in the streets.

Shaye Cohn told him: It’s important to every single person in the band that we keep playing on the street. If we stopped, something important about the band would be gone. We can take more risks and play more freely when we’re busking. No one’s telling us what to do or what to play when we’re on the street; no one’s telling us when to start or when to stop or how much we should talk. It’s our time and we do what we want to do. When people stop on the street to listen, it’s because they’re drawn to it. It’s not because they’re a tourist in a bar trying to ‘experience’ New Orleans music.

When we travel, we try to busk a lot, because it connects us to the place we’re in. If we’re out in the open, people are going to pass by and react. People bump into you and say, ‘What kind of music is that? I never heard that kind of jazz.’ Which I can relate to because, at one point, I had never heard this kind of jazz either. You’re outdoors, which is nice, and it’s acoustic so we don’t have to worry if someone’s amplifier is drowning out someone else. Some spots are better: small streets with fewer cars and more pedestrians—which are easier to find in Europe than in the States.

I had burned out on classical piano; I had spent so many, many hours practising in a tiny rehearsal room going over the same four measures again and again. I needed more social activity in my life. Until I started busking, I had never achieved such a special rapport playing music with people.

Another joy of playing in the street is that small children are fascinated by the music and react to the rhythms. Toddlers can't stop themselves dancing.

The music also gives pleasure to many elderly people for whom it brings back memories. Street performing is indeed 'Outreach Work' and very important.

To hear an example of three friends of mine attempting a street performance with me CLICK HERE.

If you play al fresco in this way, you give a delightful surprise to people of all ages. Many passers-by (accustomed to ipods and disco music) will never have seen and heard anything like this - live - before.

You will be heard by two thousand people in a couple of hours. (Isn't that better than playing to 25 people in a club or pub?) And a young lady in those two thousand could well book you to play at her wedding reception, so you will attract a good gig too.

As Shaye says, you will not have to meet the demands of a promoter. And you can choose your own programme, even including a few 'experimental tunes' if you like. You can start and finish at any time and maybe take a break in a bar or coffee shop.

In my country (England), there are plenty of buskers on the streets. Yet I hardly ever see a traditional jazz group among them. The few I have spotted attracted great interest.

Things are very different in other countries (especially America) where such street performances as this are welcome and commonplace:-

I don't know why English musicians are reluctant to get out there. It seems such an obvious way of keeping in practice, having fun and spreading joy.

Maybe the English are too reserved and too ready to imagine obstacles. It is a myth that you need some kind of 'permit' or 'licence' (other than in a very few places), though of course you must not cause an obstruction or play in a spot where you could disturb nearby businesses.

(Sadly, correspondent Robert Duis tells me, the situation is bad in Holland, where he says playing music on the streets is permitted only in rare circumstances.)

In England, most people and local authorities will give you a warm welcome for brightening up the scene and making everyone feel cheerful.

If you pick an appropriate location in an English high street, with good acoustics, preferably on a sunny day, you can enjoy a terrific concert and soon have a delighted audience. A reader has told me it is possible in some places to colonise a disused shelter or bandstand, like this:

Another reason why some musicians are reluctant, I suppose, is that this is not a money-making enterprise. You can put down a collection box and hope for donations, but you will be lucky if you collect more than enough to pay for the band's travelling expenses and a drink.

However, I wish more bands (or small groups) would try this form of performance.

It is a great way of keeping the music alive and it can bring you bookings, so it's a way of publicising yourselves too.

I stumbled upon a lovely YouTube video which graphically and movingly demonstrates the points I am trying to make. Please have a look at it:

CLICK HERE.

When a passer-by sees and hears you, the first ten seconds are the most important. Think about this vital point and it will help you get everything else right.

Choose carefully the spot where you set up. It is not fair to play in the same spot for more than an hour. (You may annoy a nearby shopkeeper who tolerates you but is not really happy to have you there.) And it is neither fair nor sensible to set up in a spot with another busker already performing nearby. Similarly, don't get too near someone who is collecting for a charity: people will think you are together.

Have a small repair kit with you, in case there are any problems with your musical instrument.

If you want to attract bookings, have a clear and visible notice; and have business cards available.

When people take an interest, make eye contact. Smile and say thank you if they put a coin in your box - even if it means missing half a bar.

Carry a notebook and pen: somebody may talk to you about a possible booking.

Be clean and smart. You could wear something distinctive – but don’t be scruffy.

When in a busy main thoroughfare, such as a high street, perform if possible between 10am and midday. Between those hours the public is most receptive. Later, people grow wearier and less responsive.

When there are plenty of people around, play merry tunes that you know you can play well.

Choose music that is mostly bright and cheerful.

Do not use amplification, or at least keep it minimal. You will attract complaints from shopkeepers and annoy your potential listeners if you are 'too loud'.

Don’t try to sell CDs unless you are licensed. In England, this does require a licence.

Don't make the excuse that your instrument is difficult to transport to such a venue. The lady below goes busking on her bicycle. It is a very pleasant tall, upright loop-frame model, complete with dynamo lighting and a very sensible chain-guard. I am a bicycle enthusiast.  I like cellos. I like ladies, especially ladies who play musical instruments. So this is the perfect street scene for me.

The lady cycles with the chair, stool, clothes pegs and CDs in her panniers. But how does she manage to carry the cello? In a cello bag on her back. And what about these chaps? An inspiration to us all!

Finally, here's Hannah - a great happiness-spreading street musician.

For a treat, watch her playing and singing by

CLICKING HERE.

Post 342: 'PERCOLATIN' BLUES' AND THE SMOKING TIME JAZZ CLUB

Percolatin' Blues was written in about 1925 by Lemuel Fowler.

He was a composer of 57 tunes and an important pianist. He featured in many early jazz recordings. Percolatin' Blues was recorded by the great blues singer Clara Smith in 1926, with Fowler himself at the piano.

To my ear, Percolatin' Blues has this structure:
(1) a 4-bar Introduction
(2) a verse of 16 bars (played twice, with different words the second time)
(3) a 32 bar Chorus (16 + 16 - with no Middle Eight). Bars 25 - 28 inclusive are treated as 'breaks'. The words of the Chorus give the 'instructions' for the  'Percolation' dance ('You hop to the left; then you hop to the right; then perrrrrcolate...'). If you would like to add it to your repertoire, it's a simple, catchy, riffy little tune to pick up and I would suggest Eb as a comfortable key.

It was a fine modern video on YouTube that brought me to this song. I chanced upon The Smoking Time Jazz Club with their radiant singer Sarah Peterson giving a performance of Percolatin' Blues in a New Orleans street. Compared with the original, they simplify the Verse down to one set of 16 bars only.

The film (in HD) was made by Beau Patrick Coulon and his team. The video is of the highest professional quality: it uses more than one camera; and a splendid range of shots takes us all round the band and the street dancers with great attention to detail. You watch this video and immediately want to get on the next plane to New Orleans. The joyful atmosphere is so infectious. These are people who know how to have a good time.

Click here to watch it.

I have been four times to New Orleans - three of them long before Katrina. I'm hoping I shall be able to make it there one more time before heading to the Gloryland.

It will be such joy to see and hear the wonderful new generation of street performers.

Post 266: LOVELY BUSKING IN MONTENEGRO

On holiday in the Autumn of 2014, I was strolling round the medieval walled city of Kotor in Montenegro. I heard a wonderful pure musical sound. I turned the corner into Flour Square and discovered the source. It was a young lady playing the French horn.

It was Dolores with her Yamaha. She was unaccompanied by other musicians or (mercifully) by a backing tape. She was proving what beauty a solo instrument can create, given fine melodies played with soul and impeccable phrasing. The acoustics provided by the stone walls were perfect for conveying the sound around the Square so that it could be enjoyed by tourists and locals seated at the outdoor cafeteria tables.

Dolores told me she plays there most days. She studied music at the local school but was then saving to pay for a music degree at a higher educational institution.

When reluctantly I had to leave, Somewhere Over The Rainbow with that rich full tone followed me right down the passageway leading away from the Square. It is hard to imagine the tune being played more beautifully.

Post 214: A TUBA SKINNY STREET PERFORMANCE

One morning in April 2015, Tuba Skinny had agreed to play some street music ('busk', as we say in England) on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. But when Shaye Cohn showed up, nobody else had arrived. Undeterred, she took out her violin and started to play all alone.

A few minutes later, Jonathan Doyle, the great clarinet player, arrived and joined her. So the two of them played as a duet, improvising a fast 12-bar blues in the key of D.

But it wasn't long before five other members of Tuba Skinny arrived. Shaye switched to her cornet, and away they went, giving a concert that witnesses told me was absolutely brilliant.

Here is one of the tunes filmed by the great video-maker digitalalexa at the time:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW.
When I heard about this concert, I was bitterly disappointed to have missed the performance. I was in New Orleans but happened to be in a different part of the City at the time.

But my friends David Wiseman and Bill Stock, both from England, were there and told me about it. Bill took the pictures above and kindly let me have them. He gave me this additional background to the story:

The busk was on Friday, the first main day of the French Quarter Festival. At his hotel in North Rampart Street, Alan Bates bumped into Todd, complete with tuba. Todd was visiting his Mum who was staying at the same hotel. He confirmed TS would be out in Royal Street from 11am.  Alan phoned me and we rallied the troops. We set off in search but were disappointed that there was no sign of the band at their usual spots. I then saw Jon Doyle on his bike, pedalling fast along Royal. We  flagged him down and he said that Shaye had called the band to the corner of Royal and Bienville Street. And that is where the story started. Their usual spots had been taken by other buskers but Shaye had obviously carried out an early recce to  find this location.

Things got better for me. A few hours later I saw Tuba Skinny playing in a Frenchmen Street bar. I also attended two more of their concerts.

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.

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

Footnote

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

Post 48: TRANSPORTING INSTRUMENTS IN NEW ORLEANS

One of the fascinating things about being in the French Quarter of New Orleans, as I was for two weeks in April 2015, is that you can't walk more than a hundred yards down Royal Street or Bourbon Street without seeing musicians coming to or returning from performances on the streets or in the bars and clubs.

It is virtually impossible to take a car into the French Quarter and find somewhere to park cheaply, so most of them have found other enterprising ways of transporting even the bulkiest instruments and equipment. The bicycle is a very important tool in the kit of most musicians. Trailers are often fitted. Those fortunate enough to live close by may be able to walk to work, carrying their instruments like the gentleman with the sousaphone in the fourth photo below.

Photo of Barnabus Jones, courtesy of Bill Stock

Marla Dixon
Photo by Elena Davletova

Yes, a lot of effort goes into
getting the show on the road.

Post 11: TRADITIONAL JAZZ MUSICIANS IN NEW ORLEANS, 2015

While I was in New Orleans in April 2015, I had the privilege of conversations with several of the musicians I had previously seen and admired only on YouTube.

I also listened to several of the great bands playing in the bars and clubs (such as The Spotted Cat and The DBA and The Maison) and to dozens of street musicians (buskers, as we say in England).

It was a special thrill to chat with them wherever possible. Some - under pressure from their adoring public - could spare me only a few moments; but with others I managed to have quite long conversations, from which I learned a great deal about how they practise, rehearse and manage their lives.

They tend to live in rented shotgun houses just outside the French Quarter. Some of them are near enough to walk to work. But many use bicycles, often fitted with trailers, to take themselves and their kit to the spot where they will play.

They work long and hard - even on a birthday! For an illustration of this, look at this Facebook entry by guitarist Shine Delphi:
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.

You sometimes pass a band playing for tips at a certain spot and then - when you return five hours later - you find they are still there and still playing. What stamina they have! Here's the famous Doreen Ketchens, for example, playing a very long session in Royal Street.

Musical standards are so high. For example, I noticed street musicians have no problem playing terrific improvised 32-bar solo choruses even when they have a singer who chooses to sing in an 'awkward' key. Pretty well any of the musicians busking on Royal Street would be instant stars on the jazz scene here in England. But in England they would not make a living, whereas in New Orleans the tips from tourists give them just enough to live on.

There are now so many street musicians in New Orleans that competition for attention and for tips has become a problem. In Royal Street (the main location for buskers), you may be brilliantly singing songs accompanied by your own guitar, but there will be a five-piece band only 100 yards to your right and a solo classical violinist 100 yards to your left. So it's not easy to hold the attention of passers-by.

In addition, the streets are full of other 'entertainers' - the human statues, tap-dancers, the man who types instant poetry, the sword swallower, the magician, the exhibitionists (often vulgar) who expect tips just for posing in outrageous costumes, and so on.

I was told independently by two musicians (so it is surely true) that, if you want to play in a prime spot from 11a.m. (when music is allowed), you need some member of your band to man that position from 11p.m. the night before. All through the night, someone must be on the spot to hold it. Sometimes members of a band do this in 'shifts', with one arriving at 2a.m. to relieve the musician on duty since 11 p.m., and so on. How can they be fit to play after such a night? It's tough; and for this reason some who are now being offered decent gigs in the bars have decided not to play on the streets any more.

Of course there are other spots (such as on the Walk along the north bank of the Mississippi) where you could set up and play, but far fewer people pass by there.

When you talk to the musicians, it's not easy to get some of them to be serious on the subject of their talents. They constantly joke and belittle themselves.

But some of the musicians, notably Tommy Sancton, Ben Polcer, Charlie Halloran and John Dixon, were happy to chat about the technicalities of the music. What impressed me was how seriously they take it and how hard they work and practise. Often they will do two gigs (sometimes three) in a day - gigs of three hours or four hours each. On rare days when there is no gig, they still insist on the need to practise for a couple of hours. As one musician said, 'It's like being an iceberg. The public sees the little bit above the water; but there's a huge amount of hard work that goes on underneath the surface'.

I asked how important it was for trumpet, clarinet and trombone players to know the chord progression of a particular tune. To my surprise, they all considered it essential. Of course, they pointed out that - when you have played a tune many times - the chord sequence is 'in your fingers' and instinctive, so you no longer consciously think of it; but you must learn it in the first place. For an example that shows how thoroughly a trombone player knows his chord sequence, look at Barnabus Jones from twenty seconds into this video, where he is calling out the chord sequence of Dallas Rag for the benefit of other players: CLICK HERE.

Did they reach a point at which they had no need to learn any more tunes? Definitely not. The joy of mastering new tunes goes on and on. Ben Polcer - who as a young music graduate was among the first to migrate to New Orleans - is a brilliant player of both the piano and the trumpet. He has been one of the most important influential figures on the New Orleans scene since Hurricane Katrina. Yet he is still learning new tunes. He told me he can usually pick up a tune of the more 'straightforward' kind after hearing it a couple of times, especially as he will usually recognise familiar chord sequences within it. I had great pleasure hearing Ben play both instruments during my visit. You can watch his piano playing at close quarters if you click on this video of 'I Can't Escape'. And - with the same band - you can see him playing trumpet on 'The Original Dixieland One-Step' by clicking here.

One of the most exciting musicians on the current New Orleans scene is Aurora Nealand, who plays in various contrasting styles with different bands, some of which she leads.

Typical of the sort of thing Aurora does was this: her band started to play Dans Les Rues d'Antibes with its usual brisk up-tempo Introduction. Then they suddenly stopped and switched to a weird almost dirge-like bit of (what seemed to me ) free-style jazz. It was fun and went on for about a minute. Then they bounced back into Dans Les Rues and performed it in the conventional way, with some sensationally good solo choruses. Playful treatments such as that seem to be something Aurora is very keen to experiment with.

Aurora - like many of the musicians there - went to New Orleans intending to stay for about six months, mainly working at composing. But the culture soon got into her blood. Inspired by The Preservation Hall Band in her childhood, she had always loved traditional jazz. So she started to study it more deeply and soon found herself constantly playing on the streets - with various bands.

She is now one of the most brilliant and versatile reed players and band-leaders in the world. Aurora told me there is something very special about playing with bands in New Orleans. She said the technical standard of traditional jazz musicians in New York is extremely high; and yet compared with New York (where incidentally some of the New Orleans musicians spend a month or two in the summer), she found there was something more 'relaxed' and less cerebral about the music in New Orleans. This quality is hard to define; but it's there all right.