Interview with Leonard Bechet about early pre-jazz players and youngsters playing music

Audio file
Date recorded: April 4, 1949 to April 14, 1949
Contributor(s): Performer: Lomax, Alan; Performer: Bechet, Leonard; Recordist: Lomax, Alan
Subject(s):
Genre: interview/commentary
Culture: Louisiana Creole, Southern U.S.
Instruments: voice
Setting: At the home of Dr. Leonard Bechet
Location: New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States
Physical form: Reel to Reel
Tape number: T1001
Track Number: 5
Archive ID: T1001R05
Note: Dr. Bechet talks about the emergence of young people as musicians and early pre-jazz players – Robichaux, Sr.; the Gaspar brothers; Willie Cornish. He credits Manuel Perez and Buddy Bolden for "starting jazz," though at the time it was considered ragtime. Lomax asks about some of the early players Jelly Roll mentioned in the 1938 interviews: Happy Galloway, Bad Frank and his Piccolo Orchestra, Frankie Dusen, etc.
Belongs to: Leonard Bechet 4/49
About the session: Interviews with Dr. Leonard Bechet at his home in New Orleans. A dentist by trade and occasional trombonist, Bechet was the older brother of renowned clarinetist Sidney Bechet. He recalls the Bechet family's opinion of Sidney's involvement with the hot jazz circles, the differences between the Creole and black social scenes, pre-jazz Creole music, and discusses his current profession of dentistry. He led the Silver Bells Brass Band, featuring Sidney, until World War I and was a member of the Young Superior Brass Band in the 1920s.
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