Curated by
e/Prime Media & Randy Fertel
High Society Rag: the First Venues for Jazz Tour
In late 19th century New Orleans, bands were called on to play everything from holiday celebrations to lawn parties to funeral processions. The music that would come to be called jazz wasn’t born at one particular time or in one particular place—it evolved among musicians skilled at moving an array of different audiences, from honky tonks and brothels to dance halls and society balls. While black musicians lived under an oppressive racial order, the music they pioneered was in demand from a wide swath of the city.
Places in this Tour
- Lincoln and Johnson Parks
- Red Onion
- Little Gem Saloon and Buddy Bolden Mural
- Iroquois Theater
- Eagle Saloon / Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall
- Union Sons Hall (aka Funky Butt Hall)
- Elks Lodge No. 30
- Junius Hart Piano House and Alamo Dance Hall
- Alamo and No Name Theaters
- Storyville
- Frank Early’s My Place Saloon
- Perseverance Masonic Lodge No. 4
- Society of Inseparable Friends Hall
- Etoile Polaire (Polar Star) Lodge No. 1
- Lusitania Dance Hall/New Lusitanos Benevolent Association
- Perseverance Society Hall
- Francs Amis Hall
- Woodmen of the World Hall
- West End
- Spanish Fort
Images
Looking down Basin Street in Storyville. The famous madams had houses in a line just beyond Tom Anderson’s on the corner.
Courtesy of the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University