New Orleans’ Jazz Legacy By Samantha Hilsenrod

1. New Orleans’ Jazz Legacy
By Samantha Hilsenrod
Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter, in 1953.
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, New York World-
Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. Posted at Wikimedia
Commons.

2. ● As a student at Tulane University in New Orleans,
Louisiana, I appreciate the deep cultural history the city
offers. Among other things, New Orleans is famous as the
birthplace of jazz.
● Also known as hot jazz or Dixieland music, traditional New
Orleans jazz developed in the early 20th century from the
music of the often raucous brass bands that accompanied
funeral processionals in Congo Square and other parts of the
city, such as the French Quarter.
● Early jazz combined elements of ragtime, French quadrilles,
and the blues, creating a uniquely American style of music.
● By 1910, New Orleans bands who toured in places like
Chicago and New York City began popularizing jazz as
dance music.

3. ● The band most commonly associated with Dixieland, Louis
Armstrong’s All-Stars, emerged in the 1940s.
● Born and raised in New Orleans, Armstrong was sent to reform
school at age 12 for firing a pistol in the air on New Year’s Eve.
● He learned to play the cornet there, and after being released two
years later, the young musician came under the tutelage of Joe
"King" Oliver, who performed at early jazz venues such as the
Funky Butt Hall.
● Oliver gave Armstrong his first cornet, encouraging him to
develop his skills. Needless to say, Armstrong gained
international recognition as a jazz musician over the next several
decades. “Louie” Armstrong garnered fame as much for his
unmistakable presence and charisma as for his virtuosic trumpet
playing and singing.
● By the late 1960s, when he appeared in Hello, Dolly!,
Armstrong represented a bygone era of Dixieland history in the
American popular imagination.

4. ● Jazz continues to play a vital part in New Orleans life to this
day; visitors and residents can listen to members of the
Marsalis jazz family, who nod to local tradition while
embracing new sounds.
● Preservation Hall, located in the heart of the French Quarter,
keeps traditional New Orleans jazz alive for the faithful.
● The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival remains a
notable annual event that features great musicians in a
variety of genres, including the Tulane Jazz Ensemble.
● Headliners at this year’s festival, which runs from April 29
to May 8, include Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, Wyclef
Jean, Mumford & Sons, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy.