Spotlight: New Orleans
As has been already discussed, jazz was created in New Orleans in the 1890s by the melting pot that lived there at the time. The cultures of these different people came together and created a new genre of music that had influences from all over the world. What is rarely talked about however is the emergence of female jazz musicians in New Orleans. Female jazz musicians were paramount in the growth of jazz music and the permeation of the up-and-coming genre throughout the country, especially to our second spotlight, New York. The most sensible way to look at the female contribution to the advancement of jazz is to look at it in a timeline format, to be able to see chronologically the impact that women had and still have.
1890s- Rural black Southerners migrate to New Orleans to escape racist violence
1897- Storyville is established by City Ordinance.
1910s- Ann Cook performs in Storyville, sings jazz songs.
1917- City Ordinance attempts to racially segregate Storyville, does not succeed, but Storyville eventually closes.
1917- Camille Nickerson founds the B-Sharp Club to harvest a place where people could play “Negro Music” while focusing on African American and Creole songs.
1918- Jazz is more widely accepted amongst New Orleans bourgeoisie.
1924- Lil Hardin and Louis Armstrong marry. Armstrong goes to New York while Lil creates Lil’s Hot Shots.
1927- Ann Cook is one of the few musicians to record in New Orleans in the 1920s.
1935- Harlem Playgirls, an all female African American group plays Mardi Gras concerts in New Orleans.
1948- New Orleans Jazz Club founded, promotes the origins of jazz, allows for a place for jazz musicians to work.
1961- The Jazz Museum and Preservation Hall open.
1967- Emma Barrett becomes a band leader at Preservation Hall.
1970- New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is started (continues to this day).
1972- Charlotte McCullom Boutney is the first black board member of the New Orleans Jazz Club.
1987- Bule Lu Barker receives an honor on her 74th birthday by an all-woman radio crew.
1994- January 13th is deemed “Blue Lu and Danny Barker Day.”
1998- Blue Lu Barker dies and receives a full jazz funeral.
Women were vital to the melting pot that was New Orleans and the creation and manifestation of jazz. Ann Cook, Camille Nickerson, and Lil Hardin were among the pioneers in the conception of jazz as a genre. Without these women in New Orleans, jazz would not be anything like it is today. Below, Germaine Bazzle and Jackie Harris discuss New Orleans.
