Vol.. 11 - Nos.. 1 - 2

NEW ORLEANS JAZZ CLUB

Jan. - Feb.., 1960

George W. Cable

and

Two Sources of Jazz

By DR. HUGH L. SMITH Garden Grove, California

The effect of the Creole song on jazz has been noted in nearly every historical jazz study. Goffin, Borneman, Blesh and Finkelstein are among those who have treated the matter, while Marshall Stearns' comment in The Story of Jazz is a recent example: "As might be expected, the French influence is perhaps the greatest European influence on New Orleans jazz. It merged with rhumba rhythms to produce Creole songs...." 1

figure who sought out Creole songs with a collector's zeal and used them repeatedly in his novels; lie also sang them from the lecture platform in just about every section of America and even in England. Cable showed as well an avid interest in a better known jazz source, that of slave songs, rhy thms and dances. Employing the trans cendent powers of observation neces sary to an important novelist, he wrote of Creole and slave music in both fic tion and magazine articles in such a (Continued on Page 3)

George Washington Cable, the great New Orleans novelist, was a literary

1. Marshall Stearns, The Story of Jazz (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), p. 73.

GEORGE W. CABLE

(Continued from Page 1)

ambiguous social criticism in jazz (especially blues) lyrics as evolved from the songs of the Southern Negro. Cable's section on voodoo songs furnishes another example of his interest in a characteristic area of New Orleans music which is still to be felt in jazz today, for voodoo terms like "goofer dust" and "root man" (one who sells roots to cast spells with) have continued to appear in songs, particularly blues again, by such unsophisticated performers as Cripple Clarence Lofton and such businesslike units as the Buddy Johnson band. Voodoo, of course, is still a power in New Orleans and Harlem at least.

way as to suggest, and even stress, musical qualities which were later to become of interest to jazz as inherent elements of jazz.

Cable was a writer who in his time was thought by some critics to be the equal of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and he still enjoys a prominent position among the local colorists of American literature. Recent biographical studies by Arlin Turner and Philip Butcher indicate, in fact, a resurgence of interest in Cable.

Cable's observations of the early musical performances by slaves in New Orleans' Congo Square, as they appeared in his 1886 Century magazine article "The Dance in Place Congo," are a commonly quoted source in jazz scholarship. He also wrote a study of slave songs for Century in which he divided this genre into love songs, voodoo songs, the lay, the dirge, and songs of the woods and water. The article reproduced the music to several of these songs and even went so far as to comment on the social implications of the lyrics, which in one instance contrasted the octoroon mistresses of white gentlemen with the slaves who served and played music for their entertainment:

The spell, whether voodoo or not, that early New Orleans music cast over Cable is apparent in his fiction.

The Grandissimes. most highly regarded of Cable's novels today, presents one scene based upon the Calinda, a voodoo dance which Stearns says was connected with the zombiism of Haiti. Cable was fascinated by these musical dances with their Creole-French lyrics, and he pictures them as being performed by both slaves and their Creole masters, connecting the Negro and French musical cultures. In this instance the song accompanying the dance is being employed to satirize the younger Honors Grandissime, who has been guilty that day of publicly associating on friendly terms with the United States-appointed "Yankee governor" who is to rule New Orleans under the Louisiana Purchase. Cable actually employs the Calinda as a kind of Greek chorus in the structure of this section of the novel to dramatize the unreasoning displeasure of the Creole reaction to the doings of the afternoon:

Yellow girl goes to the ball; Nigger lights her to the hall. Fiddler man!

Now what is that to you? Say what is that to you, Fiddler man!

"It was much to him: but it might as well have been little. What could he do?" Cable adds, going ahead to explain that such lyrics were looked upon by whites as meaningless nonsense.2 It has since become commonplace for jazz writers to acknowledge and discuss the

(Continued on Page 4)

2George W. Cable, "Creole Slave Songs," Century Magazine. XXXI (April, 1886), p. 808.

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. - Feb., 196C   3

GEORGE W. CABLE

(Continued from Page 3)

Frowenfeld, with a term that has come to be synonymous with jazz: "The cathedral clock struck twelve and was answered again from the convent tower; and as the notes died away he suddenly became aware that the weird, drowsy throb of the African song and dance had been swinging drowsily in his brain for an unknown lapse of time."

Certain of the Muses were abroad that night. Faintly audible to the apothecary of the Rue Roy ale through that deserted stillness which is yet the marked peculiarity of New Orleans streets by night, came from a neighboring slaveyard the monotonous chant and machine-like tune-beat of an African dance. There our lately met marchande . . . led the ancient Calinda dance and that wellknown song of derision, in whose ever multiplying stanzas the helpless satire of a feeble race still continues to celebrate the personal failings of each newly prominent figure among the dominant caste. There was a new distich to the song tonight, signifying that the pride of the Grandissimes must find his friends now among the Yankees:

When the young apothecary Frowenfeld visits the Grandissime mansion Cable uses the African song and dance once more. Before Frowenfeld's departure some gesture of hospitable entertainment is felt to be necessary, and Cousin Raoul, the artistic member of the family, chants while the ill-fated slave Clemence performs an African dance:

Raoul began to sing and Clem

ence instantly to pace and turn,

posture, bow, respond to the song,

start, swing, straighten, stamp,

Miche Hon're, alle! h-alle!

wheel, lift her hand, stoop, twist,

Trouve to zamis parmi les Yankis. Dance calinda, bou-joum! bou-joum! Dance calinda, bou-joum! bou-joum!3

walk, whirl, tip-toe with crossed

ankles, smite her patens, march,

circle, leap - an endless improvi

It is an amusing oddity that Cable goes

sation of rhythmic motion to this

on to describe the effect of the music

modulated responsive chant. .. .'4

on the listener, his protagonist Joseph

(Continued on Page 5)

3George W. Cable, The Grandissimes (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929), pp. 121-122.

4lbid., p. 404.

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

4

GEORGE W. CABLE

(Continued from Page 4)

"Oh, Senor, it will make you strong again to see these fields all cane and the long rows of negroes and negresses cutting it, while they ring their song of those droll African numerals, counting the canes they cut," and the bearer of good tidings sang them for very

There follows a series of calls and replies between Raoul and Clemence reproduced by Cable in the Creole dialect, which suggests something of the folk-mythology of the African leader and group response shouts, often mentioned as an influence on jazz solo and ensemble patterns.

joy.5

This time Cable divides the lyrics into syllables below each note as in ordinary sheet music.

The same scene stresses the African rhythmic force in this performance: "Frowenfeld was not so g r e a t l y amused as the ladies thought he should have been, and was told that this was not a fair indication of what he would see if there were ten dancers instead of one."

Cable applies this same unusual technique in another novel, Bonuventure, in which he reproduces a wedding song of the Acadian district of Louisiana.6 His readers can thus perform his novels on the piano to some small extent, reproducing for themselves some of the musical atmosphere he tries to convey. But it is through his interest in the poetic ambiguity of the Negro's songs, in the music and rhythms of his dances, and in the Creole contribution to New Orleans music that we are reminded of a captivating novelist who was clearly aware that original music was churning in New Orleans during the nineteenth century. Though Cable died a very old man in 1925 before he began to be quoted by jazz critics, it seems doubtful that he would be at all dismayed by the

It is Raoul's custom to entertain his family with both Creole and Negro songs, and Cable repeatedly includes the lyrics in Creole dialect. There are even two instances in The Grandissimes in which Cable the musician takes precedence over the novelist. Raoul is asked to sing a Negro boat song "which they sing as a signal to those on shore" when they go out "into the bayous at night, stealing pigs and chickens!" Cable furnishes the actual musical notation to this song as well as the lyrics. Rudi Blesh and others have made a good deal of the Negro's use of ambiguity in his songs for purposes of communication, signalling, and protection to himself.

(Continued on Page 19)

The notation device is used again in chapter XXIX when Don Jose, suffering bad crops, receives the cheering news that a new crop - sugar cane - has just been introduced into Louisiana, and that it is immune to the worms that have been destroying his indigo.

5Ibid., p. 245.

6George W. Cable, Bonaventure (New York: International Association of Newspapers and Authors, 1901), p. 63.

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

5

These Musicians Have Made The

HONOR ROLL

of the

New Orleans Jazz Club Museum

Artists sketch of proposed front of future New Orleans Jazz Club Museum

Immediately after our appeal in the November/December issue of THE SECOND LINE, a surprising number of musicians have sprung forward with invaluable contributions to the Jazz Museum which D. H. Holmes Company so kindly gave the NOJC.

Moreover, he's on the trail of Irving Fazzola's own clarinet, too! He's positive he can get it for us.

We already have Papa Jack Laine's old bass drum which he used for so many years in the early parade days. That too, is autographed. Papa also gave us an old beat-up trombone, which (he says) "One of the boys in my first band used".

First of all was Ray Bauduc. He called us to say that he was contributing the original drumhead of the "Bob Crosby Bobcats"! Wow! Was that a thrill!

The Ben Harrison's have donated Midget Harrison's undersized violin for the club to display. He was the pint-sized fiddler of the old "6 & 7'8" String Band of New Orleans.

Next, Sharkey stepped right up with his very first brown bowler, with the enormous red feather sticking out of the hatband. It's battered and worn, and bears the imprint of many hours of honest sweat and hard work, but in excellent condition. His autograph is on the very top, written in white ink. What a treasure to lay hands on!

Monk Smith. of the New Orleans Owls, thru Bill Kleppinger, (Monk is dead), contributed his guitar.

And so, it goes. We could make a rather long list of "promises", but these names are realities. Treasures which are being preserved for posterity. If you have any, please send them in!

Then Pete Fountain: he's promised one of his old very first clarinets, and his word is as good as the actual gift.

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

7

JULIA LEE

(the last of the great blues singers)

By CAREY JAMES TATE New Orleans

Recently, while sitting in a flashy Twelfth Street night club in Kansas City, Missouri, I saw a lonely redhead walk inside. Like many others, she came to tell her troubles to a busty Negro blues singer named Julia Lee.

Since Julia Lee's death on December 7, 1958, the bistros of Twelfth Street have dimmed through the loss of her entertainment. Her manager, Johnny Turmino, described her as "the last of the great blues singers."

The girl ordered a double shot of bourbon for Julia, and a VO for herself. Julia Lee listened to the redhead's story about her loose husband and then said assuringly, "Everything's gonna turn out all right, honey."

Milton Morris, a Troost Avenue night club owner who employed Julia for nearly twenty years, said, She was a fabulous character. She could sing the most beautiful songs you ever heard. A few years from now, people will start missing her. She will become a sort of legend."

A few minutes later it was time for her act. At a Steinway piano, Julia hit a 4'4 beat rhythm with her stout left hand while singing in a soft velvetlike drawl to her own "Julia's Blues:"

Beginning a career through singing in speakeasies during prohibition days, Julia Lee soared to fame in 1945 when Dave Dexter Jr., editor of Down Beat Magazine and author of Jazz Cavalcade, put two of her songs, accompanied by Jay McShann's band, in a Capitol Records album called "History of Jazz - The Golden Era."

Baby, Baby, what's on yer troubled

mind?

Baby, Baby, what's on yer troubled mind? .. .

Until eight or ten years ago few people outside of the Midwest had ever heard of rolypoly Julia. In Kansas City, where she sang blues for more than three decades, she is as famous a name as former president Harry S. Truman, a native of Missouri. Her black lace dresses, glistening bangs and feather plumes in her hair, are as familiar to jazz fans as charcoal-broiled steaks from the local stockyards.

Disc jockeys picked Julia's record, "Trouble in cut of the four volume album and played it more than the others. Soon Capitol asked her to come to Hollywood for recording 12 more sides.

Julia took her drummer, Baby Lovett along and on the way out they wrote a risque tune called "Gotta Gimme Watcha Got." This sold out almost at once. Eventually music critics compared fifty-six-year-old Julia Lee with the late Bessie Smith, the greatest blues shouter of them all.

For years Midwesterners have admired Julia Lee for being a jolly mother confessor to the depressed spirits of her audiences. She usually en-7s a song with an invitation. "Let's sit down 'n' drink it over."

When Bessie Smith was singing "Down Hearted Blues" and "Empty Bed Blues" at New York in the 1920s, Julia Lee came to Kansas City from Boonville, Missouri, as a young girl.

Often I have watched her raise a glass of bourbon between song numbers, and tell her fans, "Lemme warm mah battery; after all, Ah gotta catch up wid all of yo'!"

(Continued on Page 10)

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

9

			JULIA LEE
		(Continued from Page 9)				Williams, Pete Johnson, Joe Turner, Joshau Johnson, and Charlotte Mansfield.
Graduating from Lincoln High School in 1917, she began to sing in night clubs on East Twelfth Street, a Negro district filled with pool halls and theatres, loan shops and pork tenderloin stands.
There, on hot summer evenings, musicians played torrid jazz that placed an infectious effect upon customers, who moved their bodies wildly while tapping their feet. Spiked beer sold in these places for a nickel in large tin cans, and hot spiced shrimp was served free of charge. Steaming crawdads, chittlins, barbecued ribs, and dime-adrink scotch were also on the menu.
As George Salisbury, a local Troost Avenue pianist. told me, "Why, man, there wasn't nothin' like it! Kaycee was going. And when Ah say `going' Ah mean our cats played around de clock 'n' nobody slowed down. When a man stepped out on Twelfth Streethe was out!"
						When Julia Lee's brother discontinued the band in 1935, alone, she became the star attraction. She then worked nearly twenty years at clubs on the South Side of town.
						In 1948 when Harry S. Truman won the election as president of the United States, a party was planned to celebrate the occasion, and among the musicians called to the White House for a command performance was Julia Lee and her drummer, Baby Lovett.
Julia Lee spent most of her career on Twelfth Street. although she made many out-of-town appearances in New Orleans. New York. Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Her first important booking was as intermission pianist at the old Kansas City Novelty Club with a band led by her brother, George E. Lee, who recently died in California.
						"It was really a wonderful surprise fo' both of us," Julia told me. "When we received de invitation Ah sent a telegram to W ash i n g t o n, saying: `WHITE HOUSE! WE ACCEPT!"'
In this group where Julia Lee sang were such rising jazz greats as Hot Lips Page, Charley Bass, Jo Jones, Abie Price, Clint Weaver, Chuck Berry. Tweedy Taylor. Bus Moten, Lester Young, and Ben Webster.
						Through all these years her method of singing never changed. It was always a good hearty beat which she called "Kansas City style with a terrific rhythm." This "terrific rhythm," prompted visiting celebrities, like Bob Zurke, Mildred Bailey. Red Norvo, and Benny Goodman, to always look her up when they hit town.
Among other musicians in Kansas City, who became celebrities with Julia Lee, were Benny Moten, Buck Clayton, Harry Swanagan, Ada Brown, Dickie Wells. Harlan Leonard, Charlie Parker, Thaymond Hayes, J e s s e Stone. Jack Washington. Andy Kirk, Chauncey Downs, Jan Allen, Mary Lou
						Other musicians as well as Julia Lee had their own definition of the distinct style of Kansas City jazz. Oklahoma
								(Continued on Page 11)
10						THE SECOND LINE. Jan. -Feb,, 1990

		JULIA LEE
	(Continued from Page 10)				stimulate even the tiredest of businessmen,
blues singer, Jimmy Rushing, said, "When Ah first went to Kansas City, Benny Moten's band had a little different beat than we used to carry... . It took me a month before Ah got used to it. But yo' couldn't get away from it. It had such a terrific beat. Yo' couldn't move from it. Ah used to see people bouncing to it. Ah've been on that beat ever since, 'n' now Ah can't get wid de other."
					"De waitresses," she said, "wore nothin', if yo'd overlook slippers 'n' a cellophane apron."
					A recent record album issued by Capitol Records, called "K.C. in the 30s," depicts on the cover, barmaids serving beer in one of these gin mills. Several of the discs are sung by Julia Lee.
					She was also currently featured with the Bill Nolan Trio in a movie called "The Delinquents." It was filmed and produced by Elmer Rhoden in Kansas City.
The incomparable C o u n t B a s i e, bandleader of the "Kansas City Seven," had fewer words to say but more snarp, "I don't go for that two-beat jive the New Orleans cats play, because my boys 'n' I gotta have four heavy beats to the bar 'n' no cheating!"
					"In de old days," Julia Lee explained, "Ah'd cat around sessions, but as yo' get older yer body, like a machine, slows down. Now Ah jest like to go home after work 'n' watch de late show on television."
During the depression years Julia Lee saw Kansas City as a place of contrasts. Dominated by the late Tom Pendergast's political machine, the town allowed -almost encouragedgambling, narcotics, and prostitution which served as a beacon "wide open" to tourists as well as musicians.
					During the heyday of Twelfth Street, Julia composed such rabid ditties as "Two Old Maids in a Foldin' Bed" and "De Fuller Brush Man." So popular were these numbers that many singers in Chicago and New Orleans now claim them to be their own songs.
Westbrook Pegler called it the Paris of the Plains. And news columnist John Cameron Swayze, a former Kansas Citian, said it was the only place where one could walk down the street and hear a voice shouting from some cubicle, "They're off at Texas!"
					One of Julia Lee's newer recordings, titled "King-Size Papa." sold more than 500,000 copies under the Capitol label. Other Lee favorites were "Snatch 'n' Grab It," and "Come On Over to Mah House, Baby." She also performed a number of ditties called "Songs Mah Mother Taught Me Not to Sing."
"Speakeasies," said Swayze, "had everything except the swinging door, and a picture etched on memory is that of an alert waiter, attired in stiffystarched white jacket, sitting primly in the front seat of a police car parked outside a 'speak.' He was listening for calls on the police radio as the officers of the law tarried at the bar within."
					In regard to these suggestive titles, Julia once told me, "Ah like to call mah songs `risky' numbers rather than `risque'-dat word is too fancy fo' me!"
					About seven or eight years ago when I first met Julia Lee at a Twelfth Street niters, she kept a white porcelain "kitty" on top of her piano. There were times when fans would stuff as
Once, when I was talking to Julia Lee during an intermission, she spoke of a couple of stag bars in the heart of the downtown district which could
						(Continued on Page 12)
THE SECOND LINE, Jan. - Feb., 1960									11

JULIA LEE

(Continued from Page 11)

great," he explained, "that hundreds of white people would drive out to watch these sessions."

much as $60 a night (in addition to her $150 a week salary). Beside her was a water pitcher to wash down jiggers of bourbon which customers bought her.

From this medium of entertainment the popularity of jazz music increased in Kansas City. Excursion boats, bringing musicians up the river from St. Louis and New Orleans, found fertile roots in this place destined to become known as "The Great Dance Town."

During intermission my father, a newspaper printer, and I went backstage to talk to her. She told us that she left Kansas City only a few times. The longest trip was to Chicago, she said, with one-armed trumpeter Wingy Mannone, but after three weeks she quit the job.

Louis Armstrong. Warren Dodds, and Roy Palmer were but a few musicians from New Orleans to expose their techniques in this rowdy upriver city. There were also Negro workers from turpentine camps of Mississippi and the waterfront of Galveston who introduced a rough, barrelhouse piano style which was being played in cheap Kansas City dives.

One thing is certain about Julia Lee: She always loved Kansas City, the locally known Heart of America. In speaking of never wanting to leave her hometown, she said, "If yer not happy, there's no percentage in de big mon

Soon Twelfth Street began to glitter with sporting houses, penny arcades, burlesque shows, and gut-bucket cabarets. Here an eleven-year-old boy by the name of Euday Bowman wrote a tune, "Twelfth Street Rag," which made the thoroughfare world famous. Along this way craps, chuck-a-luck, black-jack, and roulette wheels ran a la Las Vegas with no fear of police interference.

ey.,,

During the conversation my father pointed out of how he remembered when she performed at Negro dances in the pavilion at City Park in Kansas City, Kansas.

"Well, Ah'll be!" she said, surprisingly, "Why, Mr. Tate, Ah forgot all 'bout dat. Do yo' know dat was way back in 1927?"

At these dances, my father said, sleek black Cadillacs and orchid-colored Cord convertibles pulled up in front of the dancehall discharging Negro girls dressed in beautiful party formals and glittering jewelry.

For Julia Lee and other musicians this was Kansas City's golden era, "The Jazz Age." New dances were developing on Twelfth Street-"The Charleston," "Bunny Hug," "Chicago Dip," and "Texas Tommy."

"Julia Lee and the dancers were so

(Continued on Page 20)

12

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

		Sharkey Leaves On Extended Tour
	The famous little Bonano man has shooken N'Awlins dust offen hisself, and is spreadin' that hot stuff of hiss							Then, his next stop was New York City, at The Roundtable on East 50th Street, for a 4 weeks engagement. They will also record for "ROULETTE" records while in NYC. In February, they play the Sheridan-Jefferson Hotel for another two weeks, then Akron, Ohio for another two weeks. Follows Toledo. Ohio for another 14 days. Their next stop is the Grand View Inn, at Columbus, Ohio, for a similar engagement. The Blue Note in Chicago is next on the agenda, and here we desist for lack of info. As The Little Trumpeter moves along, he's promised the Old Editor to send in his future curriculum so we
					all over the good old USA. Taking along one of his finest aggregations in many years, his itinerary may ex
	tend to almost a six months span.
	In the group were: of course, Sharkey; Harry Shields, clarry: Joe Rotis, tramboon; Bob Coquille, dag house; Monk Hazel(sic), drums and Harvey Rubin on piano.
	Leaving New Orleans on December 19th, he opened at Louisville, Ky. at a large private party. From here, he went to Atlanta, and opened Christmas
								can keep you up to date-and maybe see if he isn't going to hit your very own home town. He's plenty worth your hearing, ladies and gents, so if
	night at a place called "Top of the Stairs". He remained here two weeks.
								you get the chance, jump at it !
	THE SECOND LINE, Jan. - Feb., 1960									13

'The 'New Bourbon Street

Jazz Society'

(of Jackson, Mississippi)

Yea, jazz fan, you're reading correctly! Your eyes ain't playin' you tricks. Here is a nucleus of rabid addicts who have banded together for their mutual enjoyment of "OUR" music. Dixieland music is their passion, and they go far and near to hear it. When Pete Fountain and Merl Koch played a concert in their vicinity, that was the crystallizing element!

exception, as he is quite a polished drummer, having played with Jules Barlow's Orchestra and almost every other orchestra in the Jackson vicinity. Other "instrumentalists" among this group of jazz lovers play harmonica, piano, sax, accordion, violin and clarinet.

They are unanimously dedicated to (1) spreading the word; (2) learning more about the music themselves; (3) helping promote jazz in their vicinity; (4) organize this society, which is primarily for evenings of listening pleasure, and learning more about it themselves.

On September 20, 1959, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Robert T. Cates, 3412 Galloway Avenue, the following charter members were signed up: H. Quentin Gulledge, originally from Little Rock, Ark.; Harry Gulledge, son of the first mentioned Gulledge, a native of Jackson; Frances Gulledge. of Newton, Miss.; Dianne Taylor, from Corinth; Huldah Gulledge of Mechanichburg(sic), Miss.; Lurline Sanders, hailing from Laurel; Paul Sanders, Carthage, Miss.; Hill Flowers, Florence; Ivor Flowers, Carthage, Miss.; Bob Cates, Longview, Miss.; Chris Cates, Pea Ridge, Miss.; and finally Merl Koch and Pete Fountain themselves.

Needless to add, the New Orleans Jazz Club is 100 per cent behind them, and offers any assistance they may need in promoting their sincere project. We congratulate Mr. Paul Sanders, as first president of the "New Bourbon Street Jazz Society". and wish him all the luck and cooperation possible from everybody.

All are enthusiasts of the first water. None are expert jazz musicians, but several of them are struggling for perfection on a varied assortment of instruments. Harry Gulledge is the one

14

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

	JANUARY MEETING
On Monday, January 11th, the regular monthly meeting of the N.O. Jazz Club was held. As is the custom, on the first meeting of each year, a "New" Board is selected by the membership, by nominations from the floor, followed by open balloting. Two weeks later, this Board meets in private session, and then elects the officers from their midst.			The Voorhies and Crais outfits caught fire right away, and the rapport between bands and audience was terrific. The "Straws" have improved immeasurably, and "beat their brains out" while on stage. But it was "Emma, The Bell Girl", who seemed to appeal to the audience most.
			Emma, a 90-pound, smiling pianist, whose fingers look like large spiders running across the keyboard, had surrounded herself with some of the finest old-time Negro musicians in the history of the Crescent City. There were the Humphrey brothers - Percy and Willie - on cornet and clarinet; Big Jim Robinson was on trombone; Creole George Guesnon was at the banjo chair; Ricard Alexis stroked t"e bass, and officiated at the drums. It was a solid, old time sound - probably the most `authentic' which has bobbed up around New Orleans since the original George Lewis Band.
Familiar names, "hangovers" from last year's Board, appear again in the selection. They arc: Pete Miller, Jo Schmidt, George Blanchir, D u r e l Black, Phillip Giroir, Louis Kohlmeyer, Angelo Melito, Harry Souchon, Lucille Kottwitz, Helen Arlt and Edmond Souchon. "New names" which were pleasant to find among those nominated were Mina Lea Crais (Sinske) and John Favaloro. Mrs. Crais served formerly on the Board, while Mr. Favaloro was for many years our very efficient treasurer. We welcome them both back, and know they will add much to the solid phalanx which the N.O. Jazz Club is presenting these days.
			Whereas all the bands were particularly excellent that night, we especially mention "Dirty Emma's Group" because it is so rare that this old time bunch of musicians get together. The NOJC was very lucky to have them that night. and to have t`- em in such fine fettle'.
Music afforded at the first meeting of the year featured "Sweet Emma, The Bell Girl" (Dirty Emma, to those close to her); Bruce Voorhies' "Shamrocks"; The Last Straws; Bill Crais' Pickup-Artists; Stu Bergen, Francis Murray, Al Bernard and several others.
			Board member (1959) Ross Reinhardt, and his charming wife, have been transferred to Jackson, Tennessee. This will be a very great loss to the NOJC, as their untiring efforts and enthusiasm - to say nothing of their knowledge - will defiritely leave a great gap in the ranks of "Top Members". Ex-Prexy George Blanchin is currently filling in (and ably) the vacancy left by Mr. Reinhardt.
As a rule, this meeting is usually a stinker as far as music is concerned, but this year things were completely reversed. It appears as though the musicians were not especially interested in who was to run the Club, and didn't want to be bothered harping around while the formality of nominations and voting went on. But they were there in droves this year! Impartial opinions rated the musical end of the meeting as one of the finest held in many many months.
THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960							15

Head of Local 174						Contributor to
Puts On Fine Jazz Show							The Second Line Passes Away
Dave Winstein, president of Local 174 in New Orleans, continues to put on very interesting and authentic jazz programs over radio station WWL. Its on Saturday night, and lasts for one hour. Usually he plays records developing a theme, an epoch, or certain individual bands or musicians. He is pertinent in his remarks, keeps his words to a minimum, and can be counted on for authenticity. Frequently, he will either have a "live" or taped interview with one of the famous musicians whose records he is featuring. We congratulate him - AND WWL for encouraging such a program to emanate from their station.
						Sad news has reached "THE SECOND LINE" from Mrs. Arthur Katona, widow of Professor Arthur Katona, of the passing away of this good friend of the N. O. Jazz Club. Art passed away in July of the past year, of a heart attack.
						Mr. Katona contributed an excellent article in the June issue, 1953. It is called: "What price commercial glory?" It lamented the increasingly "commercial" leanings of good Old Satchmo. This article followed a simi
Of course, the N.O. Jazz Club, continues its uninterrupted programs over this same station (for the past 10 years!), on Saturday night at 11 p.m. WWL is a 50,000-watt clear channel station, and reaches every part of the USA at this time. It is interesting to note however, that the fan mail which comes in each week following our programs, vary as the seasons vary. During the winter months, the mail comes in droves from the north, extending way up into Canada. While during the warmer months, the central and southern parts of the USA and even Latin America are heard from.						lar sad report by THE SECOND LINE after Louie appeared in New Orleans on concert tour that same year.
						Mr. Katona was Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Colorado A & M College, and resided at the time in Fort Collins, Colo. Thence, he moved to Wheatridge, Colo., and finally to Golden. In 1955, Professor Katona wrote a letter to Mayor Morrison, praising the work of the N. O. Jazz Club, and strongly suggested to our mayor that he set the wheels in motion towards erecting a monument to jazz in our Crescent City. He was an enthusiastic following of authentic jazz, liking both the old N. O. type and the white Dixie version of same.
Frequently WWL will be picked up from overseas, and astounding letters from Casa Blanca and such far away places will suddenly amaze our program director.
						Mr. Katona is survived by his widow, and one son (Artie) who is a senior in high school and plays trombone in a band in Golden, Colorado. Their group is called "The Futile Five". Mrs. Katona still carries on in the tradition, and permits the youngsters to visit her home to play the N.O. records Art Sr. collected, and also to read his numerous books on jazz, and especially his "SECOND LINE" collection. The New Orleans Jazz Club belatedly sends deepest condolence.
						THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

NEW FORMAT

New Orleans Tourist Gets Chinese Slant On Jazz

"JAZZ NOTES", the official organ of the Indianapolis Jazz Club, has taken on a new format. It is 12 pages long, and is in the form of a well-clone mimeographed cony, or offset. But it's clean and fresh, done on much Letter paper, and the contents are getting more and more universal. The N.O.J.C. has many good friends in his organization, and we urge anyone in the vi

Mrs. Henry Graham, of 1205 Phillip Street, New Orleans, has just returned from a world-tour which included the Orient. On arrival in New Orleans she called Prexy (1959) Pete Miller, and recounted an interesting experience she had while in China.

cinity of Indianapolis to contract Don Loving, at 217 East 62nd Street, and try to attend one of their fabulous club meetings. We also suggest that you subscribe to their "JAZZ NOTES", which is published once a month, and sells for 10 cents a copy, or 51.20 a year. Their address is P. 0, Box 55, Indianapolis 6, Indiana.

It was her good fortune to encounter one "F. V. Lopes" in Hong Kong. As soon as this gentleman found out she hailed from New Orleans, he immediately asked her all about the jazz situation in our city. It seems that Mr. Lopes is a correspondent for "DOWN BEAT" and several other large American periodicals, and that he has form

ed a very active jazz club in Hong Kong. There are some 350 members,

and meet regularly to listen to records, and discuss jazz in general.

We call attention to the Sept.-Oct. '59 issue of "THE SECOND LINE",

when our "Crusader for Jazz" was named Ryuji Kuhno and hailed from

Tokyo, Japan. Seems to us though `our' kind of music is getting all around the

globe with less and less trouble! We thank Mrs. Graham for her interesting

news item from Hong Kong.

THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960

17

			N.O.J.C. and Jazz Museum on International European Hook-Up
When announcements were made that the D. H. Holmes Company had been kind enough to donate to the New Orleans Jazz Club a building to house a Museum of Jazz, the clippings, accompanied by an Editorial which appeared in the Times-Picayune. were photostatted and sent to all important j a z z magazines in this country and overseas.					this morning at eleven a.m., at TAI 9332 in Paris, Delaunay."
					Needless to say, your old editor was right at the phone on the appointed time, and in less time than it takes to get an extension in your own office
					building (and just as clearly!), he and Mr. Delaunay were mapping plans for the content of the 10-minute t a 1 k.
The fastest and most enthusiastic response which was received in New Orleans, was from none other than the famous Charles Delaunay. His home is in Paris, and he is Editor of France's most important and popular periodical. He is also High Mogul in "Vogue Records", also located in Paris. His fame as an authority on jazz is well known throughout the world.					About half of the tare which was made and sent immediately elucidated on the plans for the museum, what we expect to house. requests for mementos, etc., while the second half was given over to plugging the good old N.O. Jazz Club (and asking for members!) We believe that the broadcast emanated from Radio Lausanne, Switzerland, and included France, Belgium, England and possibly two other countries. (We expect further information about this at a later date).
On December 21st, Mr. Delaunay sent the following cablegram to the editor of "THE SECOND LINE": "Can devote 10 minutes to N.O. Jazz Club Museum in big continental New Year's Day radio broadcast. Please phone me
					Thank you, very very much Charles Delaunay and the Radio Lausanne !We are indeed grateful to you!
		NEWS FROM SUNNY CAL
From the Southern California Hot Jazz Society Bulletin we glean the following: "Concerts, Inc. presents - Saturday, January 16th, 1960: The Duke-of Dixieland - Bob Scobey Jazz Band - Pete Kelly 7-8:30 p.m., Santa Monica Civic Auditorium." Admission $1.75 to $3.75.					Asgrove Cabaret. 8262 Melrose, Los Angeles, Calif. Featuring Barbara Dane (Blues Singer) and Memphis Slim. Starting Jan. 13th "THE GOSPEL SINGERS".
Joe Darensbourg and the Dixie Flyers play daily at Armantrout's, Ventura Blvd.. Sherman Oaks, Calif. (except Sundays).
Ben Pollock's. 8250 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. Features New Orleans Creole Jazz Band. Sundays: 5:30 to 10 p.m.
	18   THE SECOND LINE, Jan. - Feb., 1960

		GEORGE W. CABLE
	(Continued from Page 5)						ured collection in the words of Mark Twain. He has "Slathers" of them!
attention that has been lavished on New Orleans music since his day, however sophisticated it may have become since the times of which he wrote.
							Several years ago, M e r r i l l Hammond, the international record collector and jazz authority, formed the "Tulsa Jazz Study Club", and naturally Dr. Smith became an ardent member. He was elected president of this fine organization, and together with our good friend Burl Johnson, the club prospered. It was here that it was discovered that among the numerous hidden talents of the young Dr. Smith, he was also quite a musician - playing both the cornet and the Piano. He denies anything but a "strictly rank amateur" ability, but his conferees of the TJSC have told us differently. His wife has a degree in classical music, so he feels conscience stricken when he practices with her in the house. His son is a high school freshman, who is studying string bass, and leans towards the Red Mitchell category. Of which Dr. Smith approves.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Dr. Hugh L. Smith is 38 years old, married, and has one 14 year old son. He was born in Dallas, Texas, and
				holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Tulsa. Also, a Ph.D. in American literature from the University of New Mexico. He taught at the University of Wichita in 1956-57, and is presently teaching
Dr. Hugh L. Smith at Long Beach State College, in California.
Articles by him have been published on such subjects as T. S. Elliot, John Steinbeck; on jazz literature, his articles have appeared in the New Mexico Quarterly, Rocky Mountain Modern Language Assn. Bulletin, and the English Journal. He has discussed jazz on the radio in Tulsa and in Albuquerque,
							We sincerely hope that this article will be the forerunner of more astute pieces such as these. Such is the goal of "THE SECOND LINE" for 1960. We are anxious to hear from our readers on their reaction to this most excellent article by Dr. Hugh L. Smith, Jr. And - thank you again, Hugh! It's a swell job.
N. M. The "Pilot Program" of the Long Beach State College had him take an interview for an educational series, quite recently.
He became interested in jazz while in high school, at LaGrange, Illinois, during the late '30s, when Benny Goodman and Bob Crosby had their very great early units. His interests in jazz are very cosmopolitan, with his likes extending from Jelly Roll and Oliver, Bix, Goodman, Basic, Curtis Counce, Art Blakey and Brubeck.
He began collecting records back in 1940, and is unable to approximate the exact number. He estimates his treas
THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960											19

JULIA LEE

(Continued from Page 12)

girls tap dance and sing songs, with the old wild light in their eyes. Will another great blues singer like Julia

In those days moralists frowned on girls who put their arms around a man's neck during a dance. Others saw it as a completely spectacular time!

Lee come along, one of these days?

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Carey James Tate was born in Kan

Today, Kansas City is hardly like the machine-run days of Tom Pendergast. Many musicians, like Julia Lee, are dead. Others have simply moved to cafes in New York and Chicago.

ing high school and two years of junior college, he worked part - time, writing for the Kansas City Star a n d Kansas City Kansan news papers. He a 1 s o handled the feature page of his college newspaper and was placed on the honor coil for journalism.

Gone are the jam sessions, dime-a-drink scotch, and even free shrimp....

Yet, on certain parts of East Twelfth Street, there are traces of an earlier day-the smell of pig snout sandwiches and Southern fried chicken, taprooms and drug stores, "tonsorial palaces" and record shops.

Carey Tate

In New Orleans, where 19r. T a t e

East Twelfth is nearly all "dark." Here feet shuffle endlessly, and everywhere sounds the blare of jazz music that the street has helped give to the world. On sidewalks little boys and

went to Tulane University, he wrote a book, titled Strawberry Hill, a regional story about his childhood steeped in German and Russian surroundings.

Mr. Tate is single.

At present he is working on a novel about prostitution, the setting in New Orleans and Kansas City of the 1870's.

His hobbies include weight-lifting, swimming, painting, and collecting jazz records. In regard to this music, Mr. Tate states that he has no ability to play an instrument. "That's the reason why I appreciate jazz," he says. Your editor has found this story of Julia Lee so fascinating, that although we were pressed for space in this issue, not one single word was deleted or changed. We offer our sincere thanks to Mr. Tate, and invite him back with open arms anytime he gets the urge to give out with an article. Things as good as this should be spread as high and as wide as we of THE SECOND LINE are able to.

20

THE SECOND LINE. Jan. - Feb., 1960

		JAZZ CLUB						RESURRECTED!
George H. Buck, formerly with radio station W.J.N.O. in West Palm Beach, Fla., moved to Columbia, S. C.. with his brand new wife Caroline. about one year ago. He operates radio station W.C.O.S. in that city, and has organized another nucleus for a fine jazz club in that city. It will be recalled that he was one of the guiding lights in the "Jazz Society of the Palm Beaches". (Which organization, incidentally, is going great guns). The Club in South Carolina is called the "Columbia Jazz Club, Inc." and is located at Box 811, Columbia, S. C. Barbara Wilkinson is the editor of their splendid magazine, "The Cat's Meow". Congrats and all good wishes for a long and prosperous life!						Commodore Records, very dormant for a long time after the closing of their famous store on 42nd Street in NYC, is suddenly resurrected! These are the famous old 78s that appeared when shellack was at a premium, and whose surfaces made the jazz fans wince (in spite of the fine music thereon). They have been reissued on fine, quiet 12" L.P.s, with a much more attractive package. Among their releases are the famous Jelly Roll N.O.
						Memories; The Ralph Sutton Beiderbeck Suite; Bunk Johnson, N.O. Style; Eddie Condon, Jam Session at Commodore (which contains the super-famous "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"4 completely different tracks - contrasting Maxie Kaminsky and Muggsy Spaniers styles); Wild Bill Davidson; Billie Holiday; and Edmond Hall. Write "Commodore Record Co., Inc., 252 D Lake Ave., Yonkers, N. Y. - or if you want quick action, write Mina Lee Crais at the Vieux Carre Music Shop in New Orleans.
The Mr. Buck mentioned above is one and the same gent who owns "Jazzology Records". He has issued some splendid material with Bill Davidson and Tony Parenti, and has two items from New Orleans which he hopes to get out before too long.
	JAZZ IN CANADA
"CODA", published in Toronto, Canada, by our good friend John Norris, is one magazine that is bound to make the big time. It is improving with each issue, and shows thought and
planning. Carrying news items from Montreal, London, Argentina, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Oshawa. New Orleans, Chicago, Dayton, Indianapolis. Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Newport, its coverage is without peer. Moreover, you will find splendid articles to please all tastes (both traditional and modern); record reviews, book reviews, and many interesting other subjects. Our congratulations to the editorial board, and to the "Man Behind tile, Gun".
THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960											21

			TEAGARDEN FEATURED BY INTERNATIONAL MUSICIANS
The January, 1960 issue of "THE INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN" (official organ of the AF of L-Musicians Union) carries a very wonderful tribute to our old friend Jack Tea garden. A full page picture adorns the cover of the mag, and there is a two-page spread inside. It is written by Dom Cerulli, and two more wonderful shots of "Big T" are included.						er. There is much sincere `inside' feeling and analysis of Jack's character - which is usually absent in such type articles.
Interesting was the fact that Jack started at age 16 (back in 1921) with the same "Peck"' Kelley about who "THE SECOND LINE" has recently written so much about. "Big T" is credited with being the gentleman who "widened the scope of the trombone, both in technique and in lyrical quality". The article is written with feeling and with understanding, and does great credit to both Teagarden and the writ						Indianapolis Jazz Club Invites Two Orleaneans
						As a result of the DOWN BEAT rating of 4-Stars, two New Orleaneans are taking a flying trip to Indianapolis, Indiana. Merl Koch, very great pianist with Pete Fountain's Bateau Lounge group - with Mouldy Old Doc Souchon, appear at The Indianapolis Jazz Club Concert, Sunday, January the 24th. The concert is to feature only these two men, and has been transferred to the campus o Indiana University Medical Culture Union auditorium. This place seats about 350, and was deemed more intimate than a larger auditorium, when only two guests were on the program. Articles about these two visitors have appeared in the Indianapolis Jazz Club bulletin "JAZZ NOTES", and also in the Marion County Medical Society Journal (which is unofficially co-sponsoring the concert). Souchon is to open up with a half hour lecture, to be followed by piano solos by Koch, and guitar and vocal stuff by the old Doe himself. They might even cook up a tune or two together!
22						THE SECOND LINE, Jan. -Feb., 1960