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CUBAN INFLUENCES ON NEW ORLEANS
MUSIC
Essay by Jack Stewart
Many similarities exist between New Orleans vernacular
music of the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of
the twentieth century and Cuban vernacular music from the same periods.
Taken as a group the danza, the danzon, and the son in Cuba cover roughly
the same time period as pre-ragtime, ragtime, and jazz cover in New
Orleans.(i) Additionally the same type of debate rages on about the true
ethnic origins of Cuban music that constantly surfaces concerning the
origins of New Orleans music.(ii) Even though many may not see the
similarities between Cuban and New Orleans music at first hearing, they
are there. However, one of the biggest problems in seeing them is getting
past the differences, which are also there, and perhaps in at least equal
number.
New Orleans and Cuba both have multi-cultural histories that include some
of the same racial and ethnic components-African, Italian, Native
American, and Spanish- and they are both part of the cultural system that
exists on the edges of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. However, the
Gulf serves to both unify and separate the respective cultures in the same
way that the Mediterranean Sea operates with its own particular periferal
"cultural confederation." New Orleans, Cuba, Mexico (especially Veracruz
and Tampico), Martinique, and others share many, but not all, of the same
cultural elements. Also, New Orleans is
part of the Mississippi River cultural system as well as that of the
United States. Likewise, Cuba is part of the Central American cultural
system as well as that of Latin America as a whole.
Cuba and New Orleans are not a great distance apart geographically, with
only 694 miles separating New Orleans and Havana. (iii) Until thirty-five
years ago, they were also located along the same trade routes. Ships
entering or leaving the Gulf of Mexico would most often stop at both Cuba
and New Orleans. With at least some passenger accommodations available on
almost every freighter in addition to the passenger ship service that
existed.(iv) Furthurmore, at the turn of the century both New Orleans and
Havana had a reputation for being exotic places where good times could be
had, and this shared feature was not lost on the residents of either city,
with the resultant travel between the two.
There was early Cuban immigration to New Orleans; the first significant
Cuban migration came to New Orleans in 1809. This group was actually
refugees from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) that first
sought asylum in Cuba in 1803 as a result of the power struggle in Saint-Domingue.
That revolution took place from 1791 to 1804, and is historically referred
to as the "Haitian Slave Uprising." After six years residence in Cuba,
these refugees were forced out when Marques de Somerueles, Captain-general
of Cuba, ordered expulsion of all Frenchmen whose presence might prove
dangerous; The Saint-Domingue refugees that ended up in New Orleans were
roughly nine thousand in number, and at the time of their arrival in New
Orleans were statistically listed as being approximately one-third
"whites," one-third "free persons of color," and one-third "slaves."(v)
The "whites" were probably pre-dominantly French in origin, since this was
a French colony. The "slaves" were most likely all enslaved Africans,
probably predominantly from Dahomey, whose former inhabitants culturally
dominated Saint-Domingue.(vi) However, some of them may have been enslaved
Africans acquired in Cuba, in which case they may have been from the West
African area of Carabalis, or Lucumi (Yorubans) from the area northeast of
Benin near the Niger Delta.(vii) They also could have been
Mandingas originating anywhere from Senegal, Liberia, Ashanty or Dahomey,
or perhaps they were Gangas.(viii) One should note that the origins of the
African population in New Orleans during the French and Spanish regimes,
respectively, were also from these same sources.(ix) The "free persons of
color" were possibly a mixture in varying degrees of the two other groups,
with perhaps a partial admixture of Native American lineage.(x) Some may
also have been free people of African origin who went to the Caribbean via
Europe.
How much Cuban musical culture, especially contemporaneous innovations,
any of these refugees brought with them after their nominal six-year stint
in Cuba is not readily apparent. However, the shortage of musicians that
existed in New Orleans in 1810, seems to have eased somewhat by 1811, so
it is possible that some of the refugees were musicians.(xi)
During the next two decades New Orleans' musical culture received
infusions from several entrepreneurs with connections to Cuba. On April 3,
1816, Don Gayetano Mariotini (c.1780-1817), popularly known as Signore
Gayetano, presented his
legendary "Circus" in a structure which was a combination of a wooden
stadium and a tent (which after some additional physical improvements the
following year was called the "Olympic Circus") in Place Publique.(xii) In
folklore his circus was later refered to as the "Congo Circus," and was
said to have come from Havana.(xiii) According to the writings of Lafcadio
Hearn in the 1880's, the circus presented at this site was a "popular
fixture" of New Orleans life that was still "remembered" over sixty years
later.(xiv) From 1816 to 1885, the site's name evolved from Place Publique
to Place du Cirque (or Circus Park or Circus Square) to Congo Plain(s) or
Congo Square.(xv) While this circus specialized in equestrian acts, it
also presented music, including a Spanish
dancer and acts which included hornpipes, both of which may have had a
Cuban-influenced sound.(xvi) As the Olympic Circus it also presented opera
in 1817, after the Orleans Theater was destroyed by fire the previous
year.(xvii) Concurrent with Gayetano's circus, but at an immediately
adjacent site, a Mr. Renault presented, for a short period of time, animal
fights in a small
arena.(xviii) As a result, it appears that both Renault's and Gayetano's
enterprises became mixed together in the subsequent folklore as the
legendary Signor Gayetano's Circus from Havana with its wild animals.(xix)
However, Gaetano, a native of Italy, with the title of "Don" on his burial
certificate,(xx) had very possibly come to New Orleans by way of Havana,
as was the case with many acts and musical personages in New Orleans.
John Davis, a ballroom operator, was one of the Saint Domingue refugees.
He came to New Orleans from Saint Domingue in 1809, apparently with the
great migration via Cuba. When Louis Tabary's new and spacious Orleans
Theatre burned in 1816,
during its first summer season, Tabary returned his operation to the
smaller St. Philip Street Theatre, a remodeled ballroom. However, before
the end of the year the enterprising Davis bought the land and the ruins
of the Orleans Theatre. In November, 1819 he re-opened the theatre that
was by then part of a complex that included a ballroom and a hotel. Davis
reigned supreme in opera presentation in New Orleans until the legendary
theater operator John Caldwell arrived in New Orleans. Caldwell initially
rented the St. Philip Theatre, then went to four nights a week at the
Orleans, before buliding his own theatre on Camp St. Caldwell was soon
building another theatre, the St. Charles, which was to be the largest
theatre in the United States. A week after its opening on March 6, 1836,
he enlarged his orchestra and engaged the G. B. Montressor Italian opera
company fresh from successes in London, New York and Havana. Later in the
season Caldwell also contracted the Havana troupe directed by Francis
Brichta which was considered the best opera company in the Western
hemisphere.(xxi) The star of the company was Madame Pantanelli who came to
the St. Charles Theater with the personal endorsement of Rossini. In
Havana, she had enjoyed a great success at the Tacon Theater.(xxii)
Another Italian opera singer who came to New Orleans via Havana and the
Tacon Theater was the famous tenor Fornasari who arrived in New Orleans on
May 28, 1836 to star as Figaro in The Barber of Seville.(xxiii) Along with
the soloists and chorus, Bricta brought three string instrumentalists to
play first viola, cello, and bass in the orchestra as well as conductor
Luigi Gabici (c.1813-1862).(xxiv) Exactly what any of these Italian,
Italian-Cuban, or Cuban opera musicians brought to New Orleans in the way
of Cuban vernacular music is unknown. However, Gabici achieved prominence
in New Orleans as a composer, publisher and music teacher who had among
his many students the famous
Creole-of-color composer Edmond Dede (1827-1903)(xxv) and Thomas Tio
(1828-1881), the first clarinet player and teacher in the Tio family
lineage and the grandfather of Lorenzo Tio, Jr. (1893-1933).(xxvi)
Additionally, Gabici and the others helped to further establish the
operatic tradition in New Orleans, a tradition which had already been long
established in Havana. This shared
operatic tradition was one of the important early cultural similarities of
the two cities' musical cultures.
Numerous political connections between New Orleans and Cuba further
facilitated the cultural and musical connections. "In 1823 John Quincy
Adams described a law of political gravity whereby just as an apple must
fall eventually to the ground, Cuba would one day fall to the United
States."(xxvii) New Orleans endorsed this expression of "manifest destiny"
and its history and location made it more aware of Cuba than were other
American cities. Several bronze plaques in the 500 block of Poydras Street
in New Orleans' Central Business District mark the site of a building (now
demolished) where the Cuban liberation flag was flown in New Orleans in
1850. The plaques mark the spot where Narciso Lopez finally succeeded in
raising an expedition to liberate Cuba. While Lopez had failed elsewhere
in the United States, he succeeded in New Orleans. With the help of
Mississippi governor General John Quitman, and others, Lopez put together
a group of 750 men and invaded Cuba. Although the attempt failed they
made their way safely back to Key West. Back in New Orleans a year later
(1851), Lopez put together another expedition with Colonel W. L.
Crittenden as second in command. This group was caught in Cuba; fifty-one
were executed, including Crittenden. As a result, rioters in New Orleans
attacked the Spanish consulate and other Spanish property. In 1854 New
Orleanians rigorously supported the Ostend Manifesto which justified
wresting Cuba from Spain if they would not sell it. However, when Cuban
insurrection finally broke out fourteen years later (1868), post- Civil
War New Orleans, with too many problems of its own, did not have the
resources to support the effort, but it did support the effort with music;
in 1869, A. E. Blackmar published Viva Cuba: Passo Doble by Auguste Davis,
a hispanic influenced piece in six-eight time. Five years later in 1873,
when the former Confederate blockade runner Virginius, now in the hands of
pro-Cuban supporters, was captured by the Spanish, all political factions
in the tumultuous New Orleans reconstruction politics, amazingly, united
in outrage for Captain Fry, General Ryan and others on board who were
executed by the Spanish. In New Orleans, money was raised and troops were
offered to President Grant for an invasion to seize Cuba. Although the
issue was eventually settled through diplomacy, pro-Cuban sentiment in New
Orleans was raised to an all time high level.(xxviii)
Several other performers who appeared at the St. Charles Theater came to
New Orleans directly from Havana. One that may have actually transmited
culture between the two cities was Fanny Elssler, the world-famous
Austrian-born ballet dancer, whose appearance in New Orleans began March
6, 1840. In Havana she danced the Zapateado, one of the native Cuban
dances,(xxix) and she may have possibly used Cuban dances in some of her
New Orleans performances. Another of the world-famous entertainers that
performed in New Orleans and arrived in the city via Cuba was Jenny Lind.
In 1850, P. T. Barnum presented the "Swedish Nightingale's" tour of the
Unites States. After appearing in a number of American cities, Lind
performed in Havana for a month, then sailed to New Orleans where she also
performed for a month, giving thirteen concerts at the St. Charles
Theater.(xxx)
Between 1854, and 1862, New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk
(1829-1869) visited Cuba quite often. While there, he took a particular
interest in Cuban music, and befriended many prominent Cuban musicians
including composers Manuel
Saumell Robreno (1817-1870), Nicolas Ruiz Espadero (1832-1890), and
Ignacio Maria Cervantes (1847-1905).(xxxi) Gottschalk's own composition
Ojos Criollos (Les yeux creoles) Danse Cubaine, published in 1860, is one
of his most pleasing
and popular pieces, and it has rhythms which are both Cuban and
proto-ragtime, and is probably the best of his several "Cuban"
pieces.Gottschalk's visits to Cuba seem to have helped foster musical
connections which deserve special mention. Several Cuban composers
produced a long stream of danzas which seem to have had a profound effect
on American popular music, an effect which was undoutedly felt in New
Orleans. These composers, of whom Manuel Saumell and Ignacio Cervantes,
are the most prominent, offered a great many of these popular little
two-part danzas, which were usually printed in magazines, rather than as
sheet music. As a result, their exact dates of publication are hard to
determine, especially since some were published at different times with
different names.(xxxii) A substantial percentage of their compositions
have what we would now call a "cakewalk" ending. The rhythms used in the
"finale" of many of these danzas, and the rhythm throughout all danzons,
are the same as the
basic, simple, distinguishing rhythm of cakewalks. All of these forms use
the "tied-note" syncopation that is also one of the several syncopated
figures in ragtime. In Cuban music these figures are sometimes referred to
as clave or rumba clave rhythms.(xxxiii)
Gotttschalk's Cuban visits seem to mark a turning point in the Cuban-New
Orleans musical connection. Prior to his Cuban tours and subsequent
compositions, all of the Cuban-New Orleans musical connections seem to
have been limited to presentations of Cuban or Cuban-based musicians to
New Orleans audiences. With the advent of Gottschalk's compositions this
began to gradually change. Cuban music of varying types began to be
published in New Orleans. As well as being published in Europe, (xxxiv)
Gottschalk's friend Nicolas Espadero was also published in New Orleans.
His Meditation, for Violin and Piano, Opus 35, by N. R. Espadero, of
Havana, was published by A. E. Blackmar in New Orleans (and New York) in
1868. Another piece was 2 Cuban Dances, Anita and By You, by C. Maduell,
published by L. Grunewald in New Orleans (and Houston, Tex.) in 1883.
Two years later Grunewald also published both Maduell's Melio Danzon and
his Encarnacion Danzon. These two pieces and the various danzas in the
numerous "Mexican" series published initially in New Orleans at the time
of the World's Cotton and Industrial Exposition of 1884-85 are considered
by some analysts to be at least partly Cuban.(xxxv) However, Chloe Danza
Mexicana, La Naranja Danza and El Nopal Danza Mexicana, which were
arranged or composed by the noted quasi-New Orleans composer W. T. Francis
(1859-1916),(xxxvi) are considerably different in form from the Cuban
danza and the use of "danza" in this context may just be the Spanish
translation of "dance," especially since El Nopal is a waltz, and the
companion piece of the same name, publisher, and date by Narcisso Martinez
is a mazurka. The Junius Hart Music Company's Mexican Series of sheet
music was the largest of these "Mexican" catalogs. First published in
1884, as a mass merchandising device, this series contained not only
Mexican music, but also music billed as Mexican. Hart used the Mexican
Series as a marketing tool
for anything in the way of Latin music.(xxxvii) However, Mexican music had
been influenced by Cuban music, especially that of the geographically
close Yucatan peninsula and the coastal area of the adjacent cities of
Tampico and Veracruz, where New Orleans's musically talented Tio family
went on their Mexican odyssey.(xxxviii) Mexico and Cuba have common
multicultural antecedents in the same way mentioned earlier with regard to
New Orleans and Havana.
Musical connections continued in 1890, when Adelaida, Cuban Dance, by A.
Cardona was published by the Louis Grunewald Co. The next year, 1891,
Echoes From Mexican And Cuban Shores, Ahora (Now) and Entonces (Then), by
Amelia Cammack,
was also published by Grunewald. Ahora is more syncopated and is New
Orleans' version of a danza, whereas Entonces is a Mexican love song. The
titles seem to imply that Cuban-derived pieces were supplanting
Mexican-derived ones as the latest in musical fashion. Some musical
connection between New Orleans and Cuba must have been seen also by one I.
Fenster who composed a piece published in San Francisco in 1899 entitled
Louisiana from Havana, a Cuban-inspired piano/violin duet. Also, as a
result of the Spanish-American War many commemorative pieces were composed
by New Orleanians and many were published by New Orleans publishers, but
musically, these were not Cuban.
The Spanish-American War however brought another type of musical
interaction between the two cultures. Soldiers left from New Orleans to
join in the fight. Although records of New Orleans pre-jazz bands involved
in the war are sketchy, some evidence exists. The most well documented
Cuban travels of a New Orleans musical group are those of the Onward Brass
Band. This band traveled extensively, and played in Cuba in 1884,(xxxix)
as well as New York in 1891.(xl) The Onward Brass Band may have also gone
to Cuba again toward the end of the Spanish-American War, as an official
military unit, and been stationed at the San Juan Hill Battlefield
subsequent to the decisive battle.(xli)
At the time of the Spanish-American War, bandleader Jack Laine organized a
special 15 piece musical group for military purposes and took part in
local military preparations for the war, but never embarked for Cuba,
because of the armistice.(xlii) However, this group may have played some
Cuban or Cuban-derived music. Local New Orleans bands also took part in
the victory celebrations. At the "Victory over Spain Celebration in 9th
Ward," the 4th Battalion Band under Prof. Siegfried Christiansen (father
of jazzman Sig Christiansen) played at Macarty Square, where perhaps some
Cuban music was played.(xliii)
By the turn of the century the northeast section of the French Quarter had
a large amount of hispanic population of varying origins(xliv) and some
number of these people were undoubtedly Cuban. While recent census
research shows that the actual amount of Cuban migration to New Orleans
was very small compared to Mexican migration,(xlv) there may have been a
number of musically influential Cubans in the city. When recalling the New
Orleans musical scene around 1900, ragtime pianist, composer and musical
observer Roy Carew recalled an "outstanding" Cuban pianist by the name of
Gonzales who claimed that ragtime
came from Cuba.(xlvi) Gonzales probably based his claim on the previously
mentioned finale or end "ride out" syncopated phrases using tied note
figures that are common to both Cuban danzas and American cakewalks. There
were also other Cuban connections with New Orleans musicians. Bandleader
Jack Laine's wife Blanche Nunez was of immediate Cuban descent.(xlvii)
Manuel Mello, one of Laine's best lead cornetists and assistant band
leaders, had an alternate occupation or "day job" in the sugar business.
This often took him to Cuba where he spent a lot of time working in
Oriente province.(xlviii)
In 1905 (a year before the first of the recordings presented on this disc
was issued) New Orleans composer Paul Sarebresole (1875-1911) published a
piece entitled Come Clean(xlix) that is similar in form to a Cuban danza.
In this piece the second strain uses a habanera rhythm. Additionally, the
first strain of this piece used the same final figure employed eighteen
years later by King
Oliver's Creole Jazz Band on its recordings of Snake Rag.(l) Although one
is tempted to speculate on the circumstances of such a connection, what
can actually be concluded by this example is that as early as 1905, at
least some New Orleanians were mixing Cuban and proto-jazz motifs in the
same piece, although in a different manner than done later.
Early New Orleans jazz musicians were aware of the Cuban sounds. Original
Dixieland Jazz Band drummer Tony Sbarbaro was familiar with what he
considered hot trumpet playing on early Cuban recordings. He described
them as playing their native music with a dirty "mud" tone, and as having
the feeling of a good jazz beat, although the only place they played
"straight lead" tunes were in the big cities.(li) In a 1957 interview,
Manuel Manetta notes that as a young musician in 1917, Louis Armstrong
only knew three pieces, which he played constantly. In his demonstration
of these, Manetta plays Wind and Grind, and a slow, un-named blues, and
plays both with a habanera influence.(lii) Although it is hard to
ascertain whether Manetta is illustrating his own interpretation or
Armstrong's, the treatment apparently was a common style at the time since
Baby Dodds noted that the "blues were played in New Orleans in the early
days very, very slow, and not like today, but in a Spanish rhythm."(liii)
Trombonist Emile
Christian also uses a habanera bass line behind a cornet-clarinet duet on
I Lost My Heart In Dixieland recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
in 1920.(liv)
Pamela J. Smith's extensive analysis of Cuban influences on New Orleans
music uses such pieces as Creepy Feeling, The Crave, and Spanish Swat, by
Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Stomp, by Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin,
as recorded by King Oliver in 1923, Stock Yard Strut, as recorded by
Freddie Keppard in 1926, Sweet Lorraine, as recored by Natty Dominique and
Johnny Dodds in 1928, Panama, as recorded in 1922 by the Friars Society
Orchestra, West Indies Blues as recorded by A. J. Piron in 1928 and
Tampeekoe as recorded by the New Orleans Owls in 1928, to illustrate both
the Cuban rhythms and how New Orleans jazz musicians modified them.(lv)
The heavy use of such musical devices in New Orleans jazz was referred to
by Jelly Roll Morton as the "Spanish tinge" and is sometimes called the
"Latin tinge."(lvi) Smith, concludes that . . .
The Cuban contradanza, the danza, the danzon, and the habanera had
distinct rhythms that affected early New Orleans jazz compositions. There
were other musical styles in Cuba; the Cuban bolero, for example, was a
very popular genre throughout Latin America. But it was the danza
group--with its variant rhythms and dance forms, the Cuban contradanza
containing the germinal rhythm universally popularized by the habanera,
and the freedom of the guaracha and the danzon--that most readily
translated to New Orleans jazz.(lvii)
S. Frederick Starr comes to a similar conclusion when hailing Manuel
Saumell as the absolute master of the contradanza and the
head of the geneaology of lyrical, syncopated music that extends through
Gottschalk to a host of late-nineteenth-century Cuban masters and thence
to Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, and other creators of American
ragtime.(lviii)
In addition to music, Cuba and New Orleans both shared a cigar-making
industry that not only used Cuban tobacco, but in New Orleans at least,
employed a long list of jazz musicians and relatives of jazz musicians,
and as mentioned earlier in the case of Manuel Mello there were similar
interests in the sugar industry. Substantial Cuban connections with New
Orleans continued from the 1930's to the early 1960's. Cuban musical acts
came to New Orleans quite often and performed at both black and white
music venues. Successful Creole-of-color businessmen often vacationed in
Cuba where less significant racial boundaries existed. After Fidel Castro
came into power, many Cubans with New Orleans connections relocated in the
city.
However, there is generally a difference between the early music heard on
these recordings and the vernacular music played in New Orleans at the
same time which was loosely referred to by New Orleans musicians as
ragtime. With ragtime, and its peculiar sub-category New Orleans ragtime,
the syncopation is predominantly in the melody line, while the rhythm is a
predominantly a straight march beat. Conversely, in most of the Cuban
music on this record the melody line is a predominantly Spanish or Latin
melody with a very syncopated, rhythmic accompaniment. (There are
exceptions including #8 and # 17 of the recordings.)
The Cuban music on these recordings is not New Orleans jazz with a heavy
Cuban "tinge." It is distinctly Cuban music and is very different from
Cuban-influenced music. The Cuban music on these recordings also has other
influences other than just African and Spanish. At times there are
distinct Italian and German influences. Except for the last few
recordings, the Cuban music on these recordings is also different from the
later Cuban dance music starting in the middle to late 1920's and
popularized in Havana, New York, and Paris. This later music, which is
predominantly "hot" Cuban-influenced fox-trots, bears more resemblance to
the aforementioned New Orleans jazz sides.So what does this all prove, or
show? It shows that New Orleans and Cuban vernacular musics at the turn of
the century had many similar elements, but that the elements were utilized
in different ways-producing finished products that were related but not
the same. As both musics matured they borrowed additional elements from
each other and for a while became more similar, specifically in the dance
music of the late 1920's. However, later forms in both locations began to
grow in different directions and the similarities began to diminish.
Foot Notes
i These three categories for each location
are used strictly as a heuristic device for a rough chronological
comparison of the two culture's musics and their evolution. This
comparison is not perfect, since there is both overlap and ambiguity in
trying to contrast any or all of the examples, individually or in groups.
Therefore, this contrast should not be taken as a simplistic
misunderstanding by the author. A chronology of these cuban musics has the
contradanza introduced circa 1800, the danza circa 1840, the danzon circa
1880, and the son circa 1910. Natalio Galan, Cuba Y Sus Sones, Valencia,
Pre-Textos/Musica, 1983, p. 176; Radames
Giro, Panorama De La Musica Popular Cubana, "Los Motives Del Son," La
Havana, Facultad De Humanidades, 1995, pp. 213-223.
ii An survey of histories, music criticism, and record liner notes, in
both musics, leave one almost bewildered with the extreme and strident
differences of opinion. One analyst has attempted to resolve the debate by
developing three categories of Cuban vernacular music: 1) The coastal
music has the heaviest African influence and includes the conga, the
rumba, and the clave. 2) The
inland music has the heaviest Spanish influence, and the punto, the
guajira, and the zapateo are examples of it. 3) A third type is the most
hybrid--containing African and Spanish elements in balanced proportions;
included in this category are the danza, the habanera, the danzon, and the
bolero. Pamela J. Smith, Caribbean Influences On Early New Orleans Jazz,
Masters Thesis, New Orleans, Tulane University, October 23, 1986, p. 40.
iii The World 1930 Almanac And Book Of Facts, New York, The World, 1930,
p. 752.
iv Frenchline, Compagnie Generale Transatlantique; United Fruit Company,
"The Great White Fleet;" Southern Pacific, Morgan Line Steamships,
Times-Picayune, April 23, 1916, p. B15, c. 8; Filleul's Tours.
Times-Picayune, April 23, 1916, p. A10, c. 1.
v LaChance, pp.109-141.
vi Melville J. Herskovits, Dahomey, An Ancient West African Kingdom, 2
vols., New York, J. J. Augustin, 1928, 1: pp. 51-63 & pp. 78-95, as quoted
in Hall, Social Control In Slave Plantation Societies, p. 66.
vii Elizabeth Donnan, ed., Documents Illustrative of the History of the
Slave Trade to America, 4 vols., Washington, D.C., Carnegie Institute,
1930-35, 1: p. 108; J. G. F. Wurdemann, Notes on Cuba, Boston, James
Monroe And Co., 1844, p. 257; Philip D. Curtin, Africa Remembered:
Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade, Madison,
University of Wisconsin Press, 1969; all as quoted in Hall, Social Control
in Slave Plantation Societies, pp. 54-55.
viii Ortiz, pp. 30-48; Wurdemann, p. 257; both as quoted in Hall, p. 55.
ix Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, Baton Rouge,
Louisiana State University Press, 1992, passim., esp. Chaps. 2,3,4,5,6,9,&
App. A; Arnold R. Hirsch & Joseph Logsdon, eds., Creole New Orleans, Baton
Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1992, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, "The
Formation of Afro-Creole Culture," pp. 58-87.
x Hugh Thomas, Appendix III, "Who were the Cuban Indians," Cuba or The
Pursuit of Freedom, updated edition, New York, Da Capo Press, 1998, pp.
1523-43.
xi Henry A. Kmen, Music In New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State
University Press, 1966, p. 192.
xii Courrier De La Louisiane, April 1, 1816, p. 3, c. 3; April 5, 1816, p.
3, c. 4; December 4, 1916, Prospectus for the Olympic Circus.
xiii Herbert Ashbury, The French Quarter, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
1936, p. 97. " `Tis Monsieur Gaetano, Who comes out from Havana, With his
horses and his monkeys!... noted as: From George W. Cable's collection of
Negro folk-songs. Quoted by Lafcadio Hearn in the Historical Sketch Book
and Guide to New Orleans; New York, 1885; pages 297-8. Ashbury (p.98) also
relates a folk tale that says that Gaetano had a tiger and bison; both the
story and the assertion are perhaps more rooted in legend than fact.
xiv Ashbury, pp. 96-98.
xv Jerah Johnson, "New Orleans's Congo Square, Louisiana History, Spring,
1991, p. 138.
xvi Courrier De La Louisiane, Apr. 1-Dec. 23, 1816, passim.; Dec. 9, 1916,
p.5, c. 2.; Gazette De La Louisiane, Jan. 24, 1818, c.4.
xvii Kmen, pp. 84-86.
xviii L'Ami Des Lois, Nov. 7. 1817, p.2, c.3; Courier De La Louisiane,
Nov. 7, 1817, p.3, c.3.
xix Johnson, pp.136-137.
xx Certificate of Burial, Archdiocese of New Orleans, November 3, 1817,
certified August 20, 1994, by Jack Belsom.
xxi Henry Arnold Kmen, "The Music of New Orleans," The Past As Prelude New
Orleans 1718-1968, New Orleans, Tulane University, 1968, pp. 210 - 232.
xxii John S. Kendall, The Golden Age of the New Orleans Theater, Baton
Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1952, p.144.
xxiii Kendall, p. 145.
xxiv Kmen, Music In New Orleans, p. 151.
xxv Lester Sullivan, "Composers of Color of Nineteenth-Century New
Orleans," Black Music Research Journal, Chicago, Columbia College, 1988,
Vol 8, No. 1, p.54; James M. Trotter, Music And Some Highly Musical
People, Boston, Lee and
Shepard, New York, Charles T. Dillingham, 1881, p.340, Marcus B.
Christian, "Edmond Dede," Dictionary of American Negro Biography, New
York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1982, p. 168.
xxvi Charles E. Kinzer, The Tio Family And Its Role In The Creole-Of-Color
Musical Traditions Of New Orleans, The Second Line, Vol. XLIII, No. 3,
Summer, 1991, pp.19-21.
xxvii Henry A. Kmen, "Remember the Virginius: New Orleans and Cuba in
1873," Louisiana History, Vol. XI, No. 4, Fall 1970, p. 313.
xxviii Kmen, pp. 313 - 331.
xxix Kendall, pp. 176-179.
xxx Kendall, pp. 273-277.
xxxi Vernon Loggins, Where The Word Ends, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State
University Press, 1958, pp.172-197; S. Frederick Starr, Bamboula!, New
York, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 171-194, 257-260, 287-309.
xxxii Elias Barreiro, interview, April 2, 1998. Mr. Barreiro is a Cuban
guitarist now teaching at Tulane University in New Orleans; he has
recorded many Cuban danzas and provided biographical and musical
information for Guitar Music of Cuba, compiled and transcribed by Elias
Barreiro, historical and performance notes by Stephen B. Rekas, Pacific,
Missouri, Mel Bay Publications, 1996.
xxxiii Pamela J. Smith, Caribbean Influences On New Orleans Jazz, Masters
Thesis, New Orleans, Tulane University, Oct. 3, 1986, pp. 40-44; Hafiz
Shabazz Farel Johnson and John M. Chernoff, "Basic Conga Drum Rhythms In
African-American Musical Styles," Black Music Research Journal, Chicago,
Columbia College, Spring 1991, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 68.
xxxiv Pamela J. Smith, Caribbean Influences On Early New Orleans Jazz,
Masters Thesis, New Orleans, Tulane University, October 23, 1986, p. 17.
xxxv Al and Diana Rose, interview, New Orleans, June, 1991--Diana Rose has
played and catalogued numerous pieces in various "Mexican Series;" John
Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge, Tivoli, N. Y., Original Music, 1985, pp.
35-36--Roberts has noted that the extant sheet music from the Junius Hart
Mexican Series contains one danzon (also noted as a danza) and seven
danzas.
xxxvi W. T. Francis, Chloe Danza Mexicana, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1885;
W. T. Francis, arranger, La Naranja Danza, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1887;
W. T. Francis, El Nopal Danza Mexicana, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1885.
xxxvii Peggy C. Boudreaux, Music Publishing In New Orleans In The
Nineteenth Century, Masters Thesis, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Louisiana
State University, August, 1977, pp. 92-100.
xxxviii Kinzer, p. 21.
xxxix Brock, Jerry. During reasearch at the Cuban Archives, Brock found
evidence of a trip to Cuba by this band in 1884.
xl Seroff, Doug and Lynn Abbott, "100 Years From Today," 78 Quarterly,
Vol. 1, No. 7, 1992, p. 89.
xli According to bandleader Jack Laine's cornetist Ray Lopez, a send-off
parade for black troops on their way to Cuba during the Spanish-American
War, apparently featured two bands-one with Buddy Bolden that stayed in
New Orleans-and another that left on the ship with the troops. From
research currently in progress, by Stephanie Brown and Maureen S. Wright,
grandaughters
of Sylvestre Coustaut, who was a leader and/or founder of the Onward Brass
Band, it appears that the Onward Brass Band is most likely the band that
Jack Laine's cornetist Ray Lopez remembers as the band that accompanied
the black troops on the ship to Cuba. This seems to also combine with
information noted in Samuel Charters musicians' index. Additionally,
according to research in progress by historian John McCusker, if all
information correlates, then the ship which carried members of the Onward
Brass Band and others to Cuba may have been the USS Berlin. Note: Ray
Lopez, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, August 30, 1958,
Reel III (transcribed excerpt on Buddy Bolden by Ralph Adamo); Company
Muster Rolls, June 17, 1898 - August 17, 1898, Company B, Station of
Company at San Juan Hill, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Samuel B.
Charters, Jazz New Orleans, 1885-1963, New York, Oak Publications, 1963,
pp. 7 & 15; John McCusker, interview, April, 1998.
xlii Jack "Papa" Laine, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University,
May 23, 1960, p. 11.
xliii Daily Item, August 18, 1898, as quoted in the Levy Index, Hogan Jazz
Archive (newspaper now missing); New Orleans Bee, August 18, 1898, p. 7,
c. 2. Note: Levy Index says Prof. Siegfried; Bee says Prof. Christiansen.
xliv Chink Martin, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University,
October 19, 1966, p. ?????
xlv Recent census research by noted jazz scholar Prof. Lawrence Gushee and
his students found very few New Orleans residents of Cuban origin,
compared to a large number of residents originally from Mexico.
xlvi George W. Kay, "Remembering Tony Jackson," The Second Line, Nov.-
Dec. 1964, p. 6.
xlvii Jack "Papa' Laine, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University,
May 23, 1960, p. 14; her parents were from Cuba and she spoke only Spanish
until she went to school.
xlviii Manuel Mello, oral history interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane
University, August 3, 1959, pp. 8, 11, & 26,
xlix Paul Sarebresole, Come Clean, New Orleans, The Cable Company, 1905.
l King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Snake Rag, Richmond, Indiana, Gennett
5184, 11391, April 6, 1923, and Chicago, Okeh 4933, 8391-A, June 22, 1923.
li Tony Sbarbaro, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University,
February 11, 1959, pp. 10-12.
lii Manuel Manetta, oral history interview, Hogan Jazz Archive , Tulane
University, March 28, 1957, Reel II, p. 4.
liii Larry Gara, The Baby Dodds Story, Los Angeles, Contemporary Press,
1959, p. 11.
liv Original Dixieland Jaz Band, I Lost My Heart In Dixieland, London,
Columbia 815, 76756, January 10, 1920.
lv Pamela J. Smith, pp. 49-52.
lvi John Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge, Tivoli, New York, Original Music,
1985, pp. 38-39 & passim.
lvii Pamela J. Smith, pp. 52-53.
lviii S. Frederick Starr, p. 184.
lix Victor Studio #1, Camden, New Jersey, July 10, 1929, Victor
V-38078;49456-1&2
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