Jelly Roll Morton recalls the Mardi Gras Indians of turn-of-the-century New Orleans; their street battles, spyboys, and songs. Recorded by Alan Lomax at the Library of Congress, Summer 1938.
Wow, hearing the voice of the legendary Jelly Roll Morton is cool on its own, but talking about the history of one of the more intriguing and mysterious aspects of Mardi Gras is doubly cool. A friend and I discovered a Wild Magnolias album in our college radio station's archives and played it back in the early 90s and I got hooked quickly. If you're interested in the history of Mardi Gras Indians and find yourself in New Orleans, go check out the Backstreet Museum.
I read the transcript so many times. THANK YOU for making this precious recording of Jelly Roll (Ferdinand Lamothe) available. Alan Lomax was a genius.
From Indian chants to Verdi operas, there seems to be no music that escaped Jelly Roll's hearing: he absorbed it all--and the ability to do so made his own compositions the richer for it.
It’s great to hear from a pioneering figure like Jelly Roll Morton talk about the Native American influence on Jazz and Blues in the very crucible of the genres. That never really gets mentioned in the histories of the subject.
Note that the "Indian Tribes" he's talking about aren't actual Native American tribes, it's a Black-American tradition from New Orleans. It's kinda hard to describe, look up "Mardi Gras Indians" for more info. I don't know to what extent Native Music had on Jazz & Blues, probably not very much, but I'd bet there's probably some connection somewhere.
The Native influence was huge: The Native American nation was welcoming to run away African American slaves and assimilated thousands over the centuries leading up to the genesis of jazz music. The similarities between the native and african tribal cultues is huge and you may read William Katz who writes about the Black Indians.
@whoahna8438 thank you for setting the record straight. We live in a climate these days where other groups are trying to take credit for black american creativity.
@@truthsaviour8804 Yes I'm aware and we also live in a climate where our own are trying to discredit any African ancestry and self identification we have. That Newspaper is just one example but there are many more from around the country like the parade in Philly with the AFRO-American float around 1911 I believe; during the civil war in Louisiana with Les Corps d'Afrique (the African Corps) and there are others also.
Wild Man Rock the original Creole Wild West Wild Man! Like Jelly Roll, a product of that downtown, old 7th ward Creoles. Represent. We know who we are!
Can someone tell me how these African slaves would get the freedom to go and watch and learn the customs of how the Indians would war with other Indian tribes?
Yes: read about Black Indians by William Katz. Run away African slaves had been assimilated by Native Americans for centuries. They married, had children and lived together sharing and absorbing culture...
Also in the French colony of Louisiana slaves had a lot more freedom and many slaves were Indians also in Louisiana so they just snuck off the plantations because they knew the lands
Scott Joplin was influenced by Europeans composers. We don't see it as cultural appropriation, or at least not in a bad way. Stop with that, jazz music is made of tons of influences, that's its identity. People should stop using this expression without a real valuable reason
