Storyville or as the locals simply called “The District” was the area of New Orleans, residents and visitors of which attended for the carnal pleasures they could receive from living there numerous priestesses of love. Music lovers went there to listen to jazz virtuosos.
Actually, this “red light district”, or Storyville, was established in 1897 by the authorities of New Orleans to put prostitution to order. The authorities legalized these “activities” based on the schemes tested in the Dutch and German port cities. Storyville was named after Sydney Storey, city council member, who is considered one of the founding fathers of the district (Chilton 163).
Now it is difficult to judge, to what extent lovers of these “activities” benefited, but it is known that the brothel owners were obliged to publish the so-called "blue book", which described in detail the list of services and prices and other information.
Storyville lasted only twenty years. In 1918, the area was closed. This was succeeded by the murder of several soldiers of the American army that took place in Storyville (although servicemen were forbidden to visit it). Senior military officials demanded an end to prostitution in New Orleans. The city authorities tried to defend Storyville, but they did not succeed (Chilton 164-165).
Interestingly, the blacks were forbidden to visit prostitutes in Storyville, but the area became a center of jazz, which in those days was performed mostly by the blacks. This is explained by the fact that the owners of brothels sought to create the most comfortable atmosphere in their schools, which was not possible without good music. For this reason, many jazzmen started their careers mainly in Storyville and later achieved US and even world recognition.
In the thirties, in the midst of the Great Depression, most of the buildings in the former Storyville were demolished (Chilton 166). In the place of the former “District”, the construction of new buildings within the Iberville project began. In this case, not only dilapidated buildings, but also beautiful old mansions that served as an ornament of New Orleans, were destroyed (Chilton 166).
New Orleans was virtually the only city in the South, where, despite the segregation, there was no a Negro Ghetto itself, and the attitude to the blacks was completely different from the US average. No one was resented by the fact that a poor black bassist George "Pops" Foster lived in "decent" Adams Street neighboring with a house of a wealthy family of white clarinetist Leon Roppolo, and cornet Ebony Buddy Bolden and even shared a semi-detached house with white Shields brothers (Larry and Harry the clarinetists and Eddie the pianist) (Chilton 169). In any other city of the American South, this was completely impossible at that time.
Exactly the same thing happened with orchestras: the "white" and "black" and "mixed" together fought for "a place under the sun" not only in Storyville, but all throughout the New Orleans city (Griffiths 28). Where those musicians could find a job? The answer is completely everywhere: at private and public receptions, weddings and funerals, at "tea" evenings with dancing, Church of informal meetings, picnics, summer boat excursions, etc. What is more, the jazz and ragtime were performed both in Storyville and at receptions all over New Orleans (Griffiths 28). For example, the famous band of Joe "King" Oliver enjoyed the greatest success in Storyville, and at the same time was the most-invited "black" orchestra to the "white", and sometimes very prestigious, houses. The repertoire in the first and in the second case was the same.
Another thing is that, of course, not all white people enjoyed jazz. And these purists were actively writing articles in newspapers and magazines, branding "blemish music" and cursing its "corrupting influence". These numerous publications later led many critics to believe that jazz sprang solely as an art of the blacks. Rather, it could be said that jazz began as the music of the poor. Among the poor, there were far many white people in New Orleans (as well as Creoles, who were the “white”, but, according to the law, black) (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”). They all were communicating with each another, listening and playing the same music. And they made in this music influence of not only Negro roots, but also of the French and the Sicilian.
Another common misconception that is quite popular is that the alleged jazz as a style began to take shape at the turn of the XIX and XX century. Such statements were "fueled" by the sayings of famous jazz musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton, who, on the one hand, were not very much trusted, but, on the other hand, they were well trusted and in historical works of researchers. It was in the beginning of 1920-s when the famous orchestra "Creole Jazz Band" was performing in Chicago both "hot" improvised music and slightly modified ragtime, marches and waltzes. Some of them are known today, for example, an immortal "High Society" composition.
Music historian James Maher wrote about this the following: “We must not forget that all early jazz bands were primarily dance orchestras. That specific “hot” form of music, which began to emerge at the time, was at first only a very small part of what they usually performed” (Griffiths 36). This means that the present era of jazz came when the ragtime, salon pieces, marches, songs from operettas ceased to be popular. This happened only in the mid of 1920's (Griffiths 36).
It shall be noted that not all jazzmen left New Orleans. For example, the legendary (in the scale of New Orleans) pianist Fate Marable who was entertaining New Orleans audience since 1907, changed almost all the local musical bands that later formed the pride of jazz, helped them all – both black and white musicians – and found his luck, when in 1924 "Okeh" company sent a mobile sound recording studio to New Orleans, to the "cradle of jazz", to make recording of his songs (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”). Some jazz musicians, who, by the way, were not worse than the others, did not take root in the North, and went back. Some other musicians, as, say, clarinetist Sidney Arodin, lived in New Orleans, but were constantly traveling around the country and worked on a season basis in numerous places: they could not get used to the regularity and constant work (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”).
Finally, to sum it up, the following shall be mentioned. Jazz music that emerged in Storyville was the basis of an "early New Orleans jazz”. This style determines both the period of the history of jazz from the early decades of the previous century to the mid-1920s and the definition of the sound and style of music of the same period (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”). Gradually, with the increasing number of musicians professionally occupied in the entertainment of Storyville, the number of marching brass and street bands was reduced, and instead of them the so-called Storyville musical ensembles which were more individual in comparison to early brass orchestras that emerged in Storyville (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”). A characteristic feature of Storyville jazz was exceptionally high skills of collective performance alongside with improvisation of the same musical theme by a few performers at the same time. Jazzmen`s improvisational passages were simultaneous, but not random. The musicians were abiding certain orchestra-established patterns and performing styles (Historical New Orleans, “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”). Thanks to this nowadays jazz is a unique and widely popular musical style with its inimitable style and millions of followers all over the world.
Works Cited
Chilton, J. Who's who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street. Da Capo Press. 2005. Print.
Griffiths, D. Hot Jazz: From Harlem to Storyville. Scarecrow Press. 2008. Print.
Historical New Orleans. “Jazz, Storyville: The District, New Orleans”. storyvilledistrictnola.com. N.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.
