Ancienne Belgique

  &    present New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. Where the blacks from the northern part of the city and the Creole immigrants from the southern part discovered one another, t...

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  &    present

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. Where the blacks from the northern part of the city and the Creole immigrants from the southern part discovered one another, that's were the genre began, a mix of African and European elements. Alan Lomax loved New Orleans and its musical history: he wrote the ultimate Jelly Roll Morton biography ‘Mister Jelly Roll’ and made the documentary ‘Jazz Parades: Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’. So an evening based around this theme – as part of our Lomax tribute – couldn't be lacking.

In autumn 2009, the AB will be organising a tribute to the American ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax (1915-2002). It is thanks to his pioneering work that anyone can now acquaint themselves with the earliest folksong recordings. Together with his father, he was responsible for the discovery of blues legend Lead Belly and folk icon Woody Guthrie. Lomax was later the most important staff member of the Archive of Folk Song or to the Library of Congress in Washington.

We'll start the evening with the documentary ‘Jazz Parades, Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’ by Alan Lomax himself. From piano bars and dusky taverns to colourful brass bands and wild street parades. The film is about New Orleans’ most unique and precious heritage: jazz. With performances by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Danny Barker and even a real funeral parade, Lomax shows us the origins of the New Orleans jazz. A genre in which 'community' takes on a prominent role. If you want to see the film ahead of time, then go to www.folkstreams.net

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band live is an event. They get their name from the concert hall of the same name of course, which was opened in 1961 by Allan & Sandra Jaffe, in the heart of the famous New Orleans French Quarter. Post Katrina, the mission of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band became even more obvious: to bring New Orleans jazz to the people in its original form. Some band-members have been doing that together for more than 40 years already, as the jazz band of the same name already began touring in 1963 and its former band-members learned their trade from big names like Jelly Roll Morton or Louis Armstrong. Wherever they ascend a stage, their music embodies a playful, timeless spirit and is always a huge party.

Jan De Smet, from De Nieuwe Snaar, will explain his fancy for CALYPSO from the main stage. Alan Lomax recorded many calypso songs during his stay in the Carribian. 'Oh, Oh, Pierement...wat denk jij wel dat je bent, als jij niet de Calypso kent... hij is verwant aan Nederland!' from 'Calypso' by Boudewijn de Groot (1975). In the film 'Bop Girl' (1957) is literally said that 'Rock'n'Roll' has passed its peak and that this temporary hype will be washed away by the latest musical trend: Calypso from Trinidad. Musical history has proved how wrong that idea was. Yet Calypso remained alive in popular music, albeit on the back-burner and almost unnoticed. The proof is delivered in an extremely musical reading by Jan De Smet, with countless music fragments and live versions of fine Calypso songs.

To close this party in style, we're going to dance in the ABClub with the unrivalled Blue Flamingo or rather Rotterdammer Ziya Ertekin. He's addicted to 78-rpm records and his superb mix-album ‘Blue Flamingo 78 r.p.m.’ is a time-warp to the 30's in which jazz, exotica and mambo ruled. Unique and deliciously crackling too. For those who think that MP3s and CDs sound good: get a load of the real shit!

About Preservation Hall

Blue Flamingo live