A Closer Walk: Interactive New Orleans Music History Map

Sarah T. Reed High School's marching band is breaking up, as reported by Verite News. The school's closure will send its members to other programs across the city, marking the end of a run in New Orleans East that began in 1988 with Michael Patterson, better known today as Mista Meana from the hip hop group Partners N Crime.

As he recalled in his memoir: "This was the first school I'd ever been in that had an elevator in it. It was brand spanking new."

When the band formed from scratch, he went out for cymbals, which he went on to play in Southern University's famous Human Jukebox Marching Band.

With Partners N Crime, Meana would record classics including "Pump Tha Party."

You can find more on New Orleans' marching band tradition, and an hour-long conversation with Meana about his memoir, on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/the-big-easy/

Bourbon Street in 1961: check out the sign for Poodle's Patio (it's the dark one toward the middle of the block), with a secondary sign advertising "Archibald at the Piano Bar."

Archibald had a hit in 1950 with "Stack-A-Lee"--a national breakthrough in the early years of R&B records from New Orleans. Born Leon Gross, Archibald grew up in the Uptown neighborhood now known as the Black Pearl (not far from bassist Peter "Chuck" Badie, who knew him in childhood).

The little we know about Archibald comes from author John Broven, who reports that he was unable to tour on the strength of his hit record due to a health issue. By 1961 he was settled into a residency on Bourbon Street, playing for some of the same locals he knew him as "Archie Boy," the boogie woogie pianist who used to perform at frat parties Uptown.

Poodle's Patio hosted other fine pianists as well, including the virtuoso James Booker. The club's name came from a burlesque routine by dancer Suzanne Robins,
who dyed her pet poodles loud colors and tossed them about with her feet onstage.

Read all about it on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/poodles-patio/

📸 Russell, William. Hogan Archive Photograph Collection, Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, Tulane University Special Collections, New Orleans, LA.

The great Lee Dorsey, looking clean as can be in this publicity photo, which we're guessing is ca. 1966. Anyone can wear one watch, but he has one on each wrist!

We suspect this was a sign of his prosperity after a successful run with collaborator Allen Toussaint in the mid-1960s. As you can see below the image, the photo was a promotion by Amy Records, which released Toussaint-produced hits including "Ride Your Pony" and "Working In The Coal Mine."

As you can also see, Toussaint and business partner Marshall Sehorn worked out of an office in Treme in this period, before they established their famous Sea-Saint studio in Gentilly. (If you know that big, grassy lot across from Armstrong Park on St. Philip Street, near the corner of Henriette Delille--it was there.)

You can find more on Dorsey and Toussaint on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/jazz-city-studio/

📸 public domain

The 1979 Mt. Moriah Baptist Church parade in Uptown New Orleans: Mahalia Jackson's former congregation taking to the streets of her old neighborhood, as they did every year for decades.

It looks the photographer, Michael P. Smith, might have taken this shot from the back of a freshly waxed convertible to get that reflection in the foreground.

We love the mix of people in this image: the man in front, who may have just snapped his fingers, wearing a visor over a bandana and sunglasses, is dressed for the street, while the bespectacled man behind him, in the very late-70's checked sport coat and diagonally striped tie, looks like he came from church.

Then there's the mix of the grand marshal, who looks to us like Anderson Stewart in an Olympia Brass Band hat, in front of a trombone player--possibly Charles Joseph--in a "Six Ward Dirty Dozen Brass Band" t-shirt.

You can find more about Mt. Moriah Baptist Church on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/mount-moriah-baptist-church/

📸 by Michael P. Smith, © The Historic New Orleans Collection

We're saddened by the loss of the rapper and dancer Willie Puckett, a fixture of New Orleans' bounce scene, who passed away yesterday, a few days shy of his 51st birthday.

Puckett, who was a drum major at Alcee Fortier under band director Elijah Brimmer, began his career in the early 1990s as a dancer behind Take Fo' Records artists DJ Jubilee and Da' Sha Ra'. He performed across the city, from the Riverboat Hallelujah to Club 49.

After making a name for himself as a dancer (DJ Jubillee famously shouted him out with "Go Willie Puckett, Go Willie Puckett, Go!"), Puckett became a solo artist for Take Fo'. Here's what OffBeat Magazine had to say about his 1997 debut:

"The same label that’s famous for bounce dance music from DJ Jubilee and others is packing dance floors all over town with another hype bounce track called 'Doggie Hopp.' Take Fo’ Records’ latest rap/dance sensation Willie Puckett is driving crowds crazy with a new dance craze that has kids shakin’ like a dog. 'It’s like flippin’ and flexin’ your body,' says Puckett. 'The crowd loves me. They love my dance style.'"

Indeed they did. And future bounce stars including Fifth Ward Weebie and Big Freedia would follow his path from dancer to recording artist.

You can find more on bounce on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/tours/bounce-baby-bounce-new-orleans-homegrown-hip-hop-tour/

It might be a little soggy at Jazz Fest today, but a new drainage system installed at the Fair Grounds in 2014 will keep it from looking like this...

Back in the day (1980 in this photo), the infield mud swallowed many a flip-flop, and, as seen here, inspired the occasional festival-goer to go full slip-and-slide. It was a simpler time, with more tetanus and hay spread over the racetrack.

We encourage everyone heading out to the Fair Grounds to bring their shrimp boots and hand sanitizer!

📸by the estimable Jules Cahn courtesy of the Historic New Orleans Collection

David Byrne of the Talking Heads has been visiting New Orleans long before making appearances at Jazz Fest. As one might expect, he has excellent taste: in the 80s he squeezed his way into the Glass House, a tiny barroom in Central City that was at the cutting edge of a new style of brass band music.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band held a Monday night residency here that helped them develop a new spin on New Orleans' brass band tradition, incorporating elements of funk, R&B, bebop, and whatever else they pleased. The few dozen dancers who could fit inside were integral to the process--the music was designed to keep bodies in motion.

Byrne, who tested boundaries in his own music, and explored its relationship to dance on stage and on screen, must have been rapt.

There's more on the Glass House on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/the-glass-house/

📸 by Michael P. Smith, © The Historic New Orleans Collection

On your way in and out of Jazz Fest, don't forget to pull up ACloserWalkNola.com on your phone to find unmarked music heritage sites near the Fairgrounds.

If you walk along the bayou, you can check out the building that once housed Dorothy's Medallion Lounge, where Johnny Adams and Walter "Wolfman" Washington played into the wee hours alongside a snake dancer.

If you go down Esplanade, you can discover where rock legend Alex Chilton used to live, and see the building where generations of brass band musicians and Cash Money Records co-founder Bryan Williams went to high school.

If you come from Gentilly, you'll see the site of Seafood City, the base of operations for Scram Records, for which Eddie Bo recorded his classic "Hook and Sling."

It's all here: https://acloserwalknola.com/tours/jazz-fest-tour-heritage-sites-near-fair-grounds/

📸 of Professor Lonhair performing at Jazz Fest by Michael P. Smith, © The Historic New Orleans Collection

Just remembering my old boss, Clarence Gatemouth Brown. His birthday was yesterday April 18, 1924.

I started playing in Gate’s band in 1991 until he passed in 2005. It’s what brought me to New Orleans. During my tenure, I had the privilege of performing all over the world alongside Gatemouth. Great years and a great friend.

The Meters playing Jazz Fest in 1974, a couple of months before the release of their album "Rejuvenation." They certainly look energized here, with bassist George Porter, Jr. shooting a smile to drummer Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste. That's percussionist Alfred "Uganda" Roberts in the foreground (Cyril Neville would soon take over that role in the band).

This photo also captures the quaint early years of Jazz Fest's production at the Fair Grounds. Note the modest dimensions of the stage and the lack of backstage "wings"--a child leans his elbows on the platform directly behind Modeliste. The background shows open grass in the race track's infield, where someone has parked a car.

You can find more on the musical history of the Fair Grounds--which predates Jazz Fest--on A Closer Walk: https://acloserwalknola.com/places/the-fair-grounds/

📸 by Michael P. Smith, © The Historic New Orleans Collection