Two Time Grammy Award-winner Chris Thomas King talks about the beginnings of Blues in the SelfTour New Orleans French Quarter walking tour App.
New Orleans is known as the home of Jazz. But before they called it Jazz, it was known to us Creoles as the Blues. Yes, contrary to popular notions New Orleans is the authentic home of the Blues. Fact is Buddy Bolton and Jelly Roll Morton was laying the Blues down here long before it made its way to the Mississippi Delta
As I describe in the SelfTour™ App. in the French Quarter used to exist an area called “Storyville.” An appropriate name for this area of legalized prostitution in the early 1900s.
Here establishments ranged from cheap “cribs” or 50 cent joints, to a row of elegant mansions for well-heeled customers where services could cost over $10. Guidebooks were published with descriptions, prices, particular services and the “stock” each house offered. It is also the area where Jazz and the Blues flourished. Establishments hired piano players such as Professor Tony Jackson who Jelly Roll Morton, his protégé, said could sing opera as well as the blues.
Contrary to popular legend Creole Blues bands such as the one fronted by trombonist Kid Ory and trumpeter Joe King Oliver, who taught musical genius Louis Armstrong everything he knew about the blues rarely played in small Storyville parlors. They played instead in honkeytonks and dance halls on the edges of Storyville. These players could read music but decided they had a better idea. They broke with conformity and expressed their music with a spirited feeling.
They say the Blues is sad. But that’s not true here. Our brand of blues makes you want to dance in the streets!
“Le Bleus was born in Louisiana” sings Chris Thomas King in his recent hit blues album “Hotel Voodoo.” Chris is also well known as an actor from his performances in the films “Ray” and “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” and is currently performing in the award-winning stage play “Lackawanna Blues.”
Other locations visited on French Quarter walking tour App include Bourbon Street, Pirate’s Alley, Preservation Hall, French Market, the VooDoo Museum, famous homes, some with very haunting stories, and other legendary sites which attract millions of visitors annually.
For more information see our New Orleans French Quarter Walking Tour.
