♪ Welcome, welcome to Roots of Jazz and Blues with your host, King Henry, here on W-A-Y-O-L-P Rochester. This is the last show of the Pledge Drive. If you have not already, please go to wayofm.org slash donate. For just $5 a month, you can obtain a full membership with great benefits and swag at all donation levels. When you donate, please select this show as a favorite so I'll know to keep producing it. If you're listening to this show online at a different time of the year, you can still come and donate. Well, so far we've been talking about the Roots of Jazz from Ragtime and the Blues. Today we travel to New Orleans to look at another source of jazz, namely Creole music. This is the music of the descendants of French colonial Louisiana. This mixed race people played folk music that combined the tunes of French villages with African rhythms. It's been played since before the American Revolution, but the first recording was in the late 1920s. Still, this provides a window on the distant past. Let's listen to a 1928 recording of On the Way to Lafayette. The story of is a man pleading with his wife who refuses to stop seeing other men. He sings, Let's go to Lafayette to change your name. We'll call you Mrs. Machivious Camoe. Honey, you're too pretty to act like a tramp. How do you think I'm going to manage without you? ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ You can still go to Lafayette. It's 150 miles west of New Orleans and is the historic heart of Cajun culture. If you go there, go to the La Poissiere Cajun Dance Hall that's been operating since 1955. Alternatively, head 30 miles north of New Orleans, across the bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, to Mandeville, to the Dewdrop Social and Benevolent Dance Hall. This was founded in 1885 by an African-American Benevolent Association, and you'll hear Cajun and jazz concerts every other week. Moving on from traditional Creole music to jazz based on Creole roots, we'll hear several New Orleans jazz bands. We'll start with Kid Ory. He was born in a French-speaking, mixed-race Creole family. He played the trombone and pioneered glissando, or gliding technique. From 1922, Edward Kid Ory, Creole trombone. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Kid Ory had a long, successful career. He was still making music and touring 40 years later. Let's hear him in Paris in 1954 playing Muskrat Ramble. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Another bandleader with a many decades-long career was also nicknamed Kid. The full name of his band was Kid, Thomas Valentine, and his Algiers Stompers. Algiers refers to a district in the parish of New Orleans. Now, although Kid Valentine was a fixture on the New Orleans jazz scene since 1925, he never issued a record until 1960. Still, this music from 1960 is pretty much what he was playing all those years earlier. Here is Kid Valentine and the Algiers Stompers, that's aplenty. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The next band leader was a true king of jazz. Joseph Nathan Oliver called himself King Oliver. He was born in Louisiana. He began his career in New Orleans. In the 1910s he played with Kid Ory. He later moved to Chicago and formed a group with the cream of the crop of New Orleans musicians. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band included King Oliver himself on cornet and Louis Armstrong on second cornet. Let's listen to 1923 recording of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band playing Dipper Mouth Blues. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Dipper Mouth was the nickname of Louis Armstrong. Next, let's listen to King Oliver's Jazz Band playing Dipper Mouth Street Blues from that same year. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ By 1925, the Creole Jazz Band had broken up. Louis Armstrong had formed his own band. Oliver formed a new band, King Oliver and the Dixie Syncopators. Following song by the Dixie Syncopators shows off Oliver's experiments with trumpet mutes. He discovered that a rubber plunger could be used to make a wah-wah sound. So here from 1926, King Oliver and the Dixie Syncopators playing wah-wah-wah. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ We'll close out King Oliver with both sides of a record. I'm going to play some of my favorites from my personal collection, Ant Haggard's Blues and Speakeasy Blues, both from 1928. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Morton moved first to Chicago, then New York City, and finally Washington, D.C. In 1926, he signed a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company and produced records in Chicago at their excellent studios. He produced a huge number of hits, two from that first year you're probably familiar with from innumerable covers. The Black Bottom Stomp, followed by Dr. Jazz. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ At age 49, Morton made a historic album of solo piano recordings of his compositions. Our last song today is from a 78 in my collection named The Naked Dance. Next week we will be going back to the blues. Now have you pledged? Please go to wayofm.org and show that you support this show. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪