Cuban Influences on New Orleans Music

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Additional notes to Cuban Danzon Before There Was Jazz 1906 1929Arhoolie CD 7032

Cuban Influences On New Orleans MusicEssay by Jack Stewart

Many similarities exist between New Orleans vernacular music of the second half of thenineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century and Cuban vernacular musicfrom the same periods. Taken as a group the danza, the danzon, and the son in Cubacover roughly the same time period as pre-ragtime, ragtime, and jazz cover in NewOrleans.(i) Additionally the same type of debate rages on about the true ethnic origins ofCuban music that constantly surfaces concerning the origins of New Orleans music.(ii)Even though many may not see the similarities between Cuban and New Orleans music atfirst hearing, they are there. However, one of the biggest problems in seeing them isgetting past the differences, which are also there, and perhaps in at least equal number.

New Orleans and Cuba both have multi-cultural histories that include some of the sameracial and ethnic components-African, Italian, Native American, and Spanish- and theyare both part of the cultural system that exists on the edges of the Gulf of Mexico and theCaribbean. However, the Gulf serves to both unify and separate the respective cultures inthe same way that the Mediterranean Sea operates with its own particular peripheral"cultural confederation." New Orleans, Cuba, Mexico (especially Veracruz andTampico), Martinique, and others share many, but not all, of the same cultural elements.Also, New Orleans is part of the Mississippi River cultural system as well as that of theUnited States. Likewise, Cuba is part of the Central American cultural system as well asthat of Latin America as a whole.

Cuba and New Orleans are not a great distance apart geographically, with only 694 milesseparating New Orleans and Havana.(iii) Until thirty-five years ago, they were alsolocated along the same trade routes. Ships entering or leaving the Gulf of Mexico would
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most often stop at both Cuba and New Orleans. With at least some passengeraccommodations available on almost every freighter in addition to the passenger shipservice that existed.(iv) Furthermore, at the turn of the century both New Orleans andHavana had a reputation for being exotic places where good times could be had, and thisshared feature was not lost on the residents of either city, with the resultant travelbetween the two.

There was early Cuban immigration to New Orleans; the first significant Cubanmigration came to New Orleans in 1809. This group was actually refugees from theFrench colony of Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) that first sought asylum in Cuba in 1803as a result of the power struggle in Saint-Domingue. That revolution took place from1791 to 1804, and is historically referred to as the "Haitian Slave Uprising." After sixyears residence in Cuba, these refugees were forced out when Marques de Somerueles,Captain-general of Cuba, ordered expulsion of all Frenchmen whose presence mightprove dangerous.

The Saint-Domingue refugees that ended up in New Orleans were roughly nine thousand

in number, and at the time of their arrival in New Orleans were statistically listed asbeing approximately one-third "whites," one-third "free persons of color," and one-third"slaves."(v) The "whites" were probably pre-dominantly French in origin, since this wasa French colony. The "slaves" were most likely all enslaved Africans, probablypredominantly from Dahomey, whose former inhabitants culturally dominated Saint-Domingue.(vi) However, some of them may have been enslaved Africans acquired inCuba, in which case they may have been from the West African area of Carabalis, orLucumi (Yorubans) from the area northeast of Benin near the Niger Delta.(vii) They alsocould have been Mandingas originating anywhere from Senegal, Liberia, Ashanty orDahomey, or perhaps they were Gangas.(viii) One should note that the origins of theAfrican population in New Orleans during the French and Spanish regimes, respectively,

were also from these same sources.(ix) The "free persons of color" were possibly amixture in varying degrees of the two other groups, with perhaps a partial admixture ofNative American lineage.(x) Some may also have been free people of African origin whowent to the Caribbean via Europe.

How much Cuban musical culture, especially contemporaneous innovations, any of theserefugees brought with them after their nominal six-year stint in Cuba is not readilyapparent. However, the shortage of musicians that existed in New Orleans in 1810, seemsto have eased somewhat by 1811, so it is possible that some of the refugees weremusicians.(xi)

During the next two decades New Orleans' musical culture received infusions fromseveral entrepreneurs with connections to Cuba. On April 3, 1816, Don GayetanoMariotini (c.1780-1817), popularly known as Signore Gayetano, presented his legendary"Circus" in a structure which was a combination of a wooden stadium and a tent (whichafter some additional physical improvements the following year was called the "OlympicCircus") in Place Publique.(xii) In folklore his circus was later referred to as the "CongoCircus," and was said to have come from Havana.(xiii) According to the writings ofLafcadio Hearn in the 1880's, the circus presented at this site was a "popular fixture" of
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New Orleans life that was still "remembered" over sixty years later.(xiv) From 1816 to1885, the site's name evolved from Place Publique to Place du Cirque (or Circus Park orCircus Square) to Congo Plain(s) or Congo Square.(xv) While this circus specialized inequestrian acts, it also presented music, including a Spanish dancer and acts whichincluded hornpipes, both of which may have had a Cuban-influenced sound.(xvi) As theOlympic Circus it also presented opera in 1817, after the Orleans Theater was destroyed

by fire the previous year.(xvii) Concurrent with Gayetano's circus, but at an immediatelyadjacent site, a Mr. Renault presented, for a short period of time, animal fights in a smallarena.(xviii) As a result, it appears that both Renault's and Gayetano's enterprises becamemixed together in the subsequent folklore as the legendary Signor Gayetano's Circusfrom Havana with its wild animals.(xix) However, Gaetano, a native of Italy, with thetitle of "Don" on his burial certificate,(xx) had very possibly come to New Orleans byway of Havana, as was the case with many acts and musical personages in New Orleans.

John Davis, a ballroom operator, was one of the Saint Domingue refugees. He came toNew Orleans from Saint Domingue in 1809, apparently with the great migration viaCuba. When Louis Tabary's new and spacious Orleans Theatre burned in 1816, during its

first summer season, Tabary returned his operation to the smaller St. Philip StreetTheatre, a remodeled ballroom. However, before the end of the year the enterprisingDavis bought the land and the ruins of the Orleans Theatre. In November, 1819 he re-opened the theatre that was by then part of a complex that included a ballroom and ahotel. Davis reigned supreme in opera presentation in New Orleans until the legendarytheater operator John Caldwell arrived in New Orleans. Caldwell initially rented the St.Philip Theatre, then went to four nights a week at the Orleans, before building his owntheatre on Camp St. Caldwell was soon building another theatre, the St. Charles, whichwas to be the largest theatre in the United States. A week after its opening on March 6,1836, he enlarged his orchestra and engaged the G. B. Montressor Italian opera companyfresh from successes in London, New York and Havana. Later in the season Caldwell

also contracted the Havana troupe directed by Francis Brichta which was considered thebest opera company in the Western hemisphere.(xxi) The star of the company wasMadame Pantanelli who came to the St. Charles Theater with the personal endorsementof Rossini. In Havana, she had enjoyed a great success at the Tacon Theater.(xxii)Another Italian opera singer who came to New Orleans via Havana and the TaconTheater was the famous tenor Fornasari who arrived in New Orleans on May 28, 1836 tostar as Figaro in The Barber of Seville.(xxiii) Along with the soloists and chorus, Brictabrought three string instrumentalists to play first viola, cello, and bass in the orchestra aswell as conductor Luigi Gabici (c.1813-1862).(xxiv) Exactly what any of these Italian,Italian-Cuban, or Cuban opera musicians brought to New Orleans in the way of Cubanvernacular music is unknown. However, Gabici achieved prominence in New Orleans as

a composer, publisher and music teacher who had among his many students the famousCreole-of-color composer Edmond Dede (1827-1903)(xxv) and Thomas Tio (1828-1881), the first clarinet player and teacher in the Tio family lineage and the grandfather ofLorenzo Tio, Jr. (1893-1933).(xxvi) Additionally, Gabici and the others helped to furtherestablish the operatic tradition in New Orleans, a tradition which had already been longestablished in Havana. This shared operatic tradition was one of the important earlycultural similarities of the two cities' musical cultures.


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Numerous political connections between New Orleans and Cuba further facilitated thecultural and musical connections. "In 1823 John Quincy Adams described a law ofpolitical gravity whereby just as an apple must fall eventually to the ground, Cuba wouldone day fall to the United States."(xxvii) New Orleans endorsed this expression of"manifest destiny" and its history and location made it more aware of Cuba than wereother American cities. Several bronze plaques in the 500 block of Poydras Street in New

Orleans' Central Business District mark the site of a building (now demolished) where theCuban liberation flag was flown in New Orleans in 1850. The plaques mark the spotwhere Narciso Lopez finally succeeded in raising an expedition to liberate Cuba. WhileLopez had failed elsewhere in the United States, he succeeded in New Orleans. With thehelp of Mississippi governor General John Quitman, and others, Lopez put together agroup of 750 men and invaded Cuba. Although the attempt failed they made their waysafely back to Key West. Back in New Orleans a year later (1851), Lopez put togetheranother expedition with Colonel W. L. Crittenden as second in command. This group wascaught in Cuba; fifty-one were executed, including Crittenden. As a result, rioters in NewOrleans attacked the Spanish consulate and other Spanish property. In 1854 NewOrleanians rigorously supported the Ostend Manifesto which justified wresting Cuba

from Spain if they would not sell it. However, when Cuban insurrection finally broke outfourteen years later (1868), post- Civil War New Orleans, with too many problems of itsown, did not have the resources to support the effort, but it did support the effort withmusic; in 1869, A. E. Blackmar published Viva Cuba: Passo Doble by Auguste Davis, aHispanic influenced piece in six-eight time. Five years later in 1873, when the formerConfederate blockade runner Virginius, now in the hands of pro-Cuban supporters, wascaptured by the Spanish, all political factions in the tumultuous New Orleansreconstruction politics, amazingly, united in outrage for Captain Fry, General Ryan andothers on board who were executed by the Spanish. In New Orleans, money was raisedand troops were offered to President Grant for an invasion to seize Cuba. Although theissue was eventually settled through diplomacy, pro-Cuban sentiment in New Orleans

was raised to an all time high level.(xxviii)

Several other performers who appeared at the St. Charles Theater came to New Orleansdirectly from Havana. One that may have actually transmitted culture between the twocities was Fanny Elssler, the world-famous Austrian-born ballet dancer, whoseappearance in New Orleans began March 6, 1840. In Havana she danced the Zapateado,one of the native Cuban dances,(xxix) and she may have possibly used Cuban dances insome of her New Orleans performances. Another of the world-famous entertainers thatperformed in New Orleans and arrived in the city via Cuba was Jenny Lind. In 1850, P.T. Barnum presented the "Swedish Nightingale's" tour of the Unites States. Afterappearing in a number of American cities, Lind performed in Havana for a month, then

sailed to New Orleans where she also performed for a month, giving thirteen concerts atthe St. Charles Theater.(xxx)

Between 1854, and 1862, New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)visited Cuba quite often. While there, he took a particular interest in Cuban music, andbefriended many prominent Cuban musicians including composers Manuel SaumellRobreno (1817-1870), Nicolas Ruiz Espadero (1832-1890), and Ignacio Maria Cervantes(1847-1905).(xxxi) Gottschalk's own composition Ojos Criollos (Les yeux creoles)


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Danse Cubaine, published in 1860, is one of his most pleasing and popular pieces, and ithas rhythms which are both Cuban and proto-ragtime, and is probably the best of hisseveral "Cuban" pieces.

Gottschalk's visits to Cuba seem to have helped foster musical connections which deservespecial mention. Several Cuban composers produced a long stream of danzas which seem

to have had a profound effect on American popular music, an effect which wasundoubtedly felt in New Orleans. These composers, of whom Manuel Saumell andIgnacio Cervantes, are the most prominent, offered a great many of these popular littletwo-part danzas, which were usually printed in magazines, rather than as sheet music. Asa result, their exact dates of publication are hard to determine, especially since some werepublished at different times with different names.(xxxii) A substantial percentage of theircompositions have what we would now call a "cakewalk" ending. The rhythms used inthe "finale" of many of these danzas, and the rhythm throughout all danzons, are the sameas the basic, simple, distinguishing rhythm of cakewalks. All of these forms use the "tied-note" syncopation that is also one of the several syncopated figures in ragtime. In Cubanmusic these figures are sometimes referred to as clave or rumba clave rhythms.(xxxiii)

Gotttschalk's Cuban visits seem to mark a turning point in the Cuban-New Orleansmusical connection. Prior to his Cuban tours and subsequent compositions, all of theCuban-New Orleans musical connections seem to have been limited to presentations ofCuban or Cuban-based musicians to New Orleans audiences. With the advent ofGottschalk's compositions this began to gradually change. Cuban music of varying typesbegan to be published in New Orleans. As well as being published in Europe,(xxxiv)Gottschalk's friend Nicolas Espadero was also published in New Orleans. His Meditation,for Violin and Piano, Opus 35, by N. R. Espadero, of Havana, was published by A. E.Blackmar in New Orleans (and New York) in 1868. Another piece was 2 Cuban Dances,Anita and By You, by C. Maduell, published by L. Grunewald in New Orleans (and

Houston, Tex.) in 1883. Two years later Grunewald also published both Maduell's MelioDanzon and his Encarnacion Danzon. These two pieces and the various danzas in thenumerous "Mexican" series published initially in New Orleans at the time of the World'sCotton and Industrial Exposition of 1884-85 are considered by some analysts to be atleast partly Cuban.(xxxv) However, Chloe Danza Mexicana, La Naranja Danza and ElNopal Danza Mexicana, which were arranged or composed by the noted quasi-NewOrleans composer W. T. Francis (1859-1916),(xxxvi) are considerably different in formfrom the Cuban danza and the use of "danza" in this context may just be the Spanishtranslation of "dance," especially since El Nopal is a waltz, and the companion piece ofthe same name, publisher, and date by Narcisso Martinez is a mazurka. The Junius HartMusic Company's Mexican Series of sheet music was the largest of these "Mexican"

catalogs. First published in 1884, as a mass merchandising device, this series containednot only Mexican music, but also music billed as Mexican. Hart used the Mexican Seriesas a marketing tool for anything in the way of Latin music.(xxxvii) However, Mexicanmusic had been influenced by Cuban music, especially that of the geographically closeYucatan peninsula and the coastal area of the adjacent cities of Tampico and Veracruz,where New Orleans's musically talented Tio family went on their Mexicanodyssey.(xxxviii) Mexico and Cuba have common multicultural antecedents in the sameway mentioned earlier with regard to New Orleans and Havana.


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Musical connections continued in 1890, when Adelaida, Cuban Dance, by A. Cardonawas published by the Louis Grunewald Co. The next year, 1891, Echoes From MexicanAnd Cuban Shores, Ahora (Now) and Entonces (Then), by Amelia Cammack, was alsopublished by Grunewald. Ahora is more syncopated and is New Orleans' version of adanza, whereas Entonces is a Mexican love song. The titles seem to imply that Cuban-

derived pieces were supplanting Mexican-derived ones as the latest in musical fashion.Some musical connection between New Orleans and Cuba must have been seen also byone I. Fenster who composed a piece published in San Francisco in 1899 entitledLouisiana from Havana, a Cuban-inspired piano/violin duet. Also, as a result of theSpanish-American War many commemorative pieces were composed by New Orleaniansand many were published by New Orleans publishers, but musically, these were notCuban.

The Spanish-American War however brought another type of musical interactionbetween the two cultures. Soldiers left from New Orleans to join in the fight. Althoughrecords of New Orleans pre-jazz bands involved in the war are sketchy, some evidence

exists. The most well documented Cuban travels of a New Orleans musical group arethose of the Onward Brass Band. This band traveled extensively, and played in Cuba in1884,(xxxix) as well as New York in 1891.(xl) The Onward Brass Band may have alsogone to Cuba again toward the end of the Spanish-American War, as an official militaryunit, and been stationed at the San Juan Hill Battlefield subsequent to the decisivebattle.(xli)

At the time of the Spanish-American War, bandleader Jack Laine organized a special 15piece musical group for military purposes and took part in local military preparations forthe war, but never embarked for Cuba, because of the armistice.(xlii) However, thisgroup may have played some Cuban or Cuban-derived music. Local New Orleans bands

also took part in the victory celebrations. At the "Victory over Spain Celebration in 9thWard," the 4th Battalion Band under Prof. Siegfried Christiansen (father of jazzman SigChristiansen) played at Macarty Square, where perhaps some Cuban music wasplayed.(xliii)

By the turn of the century the northeast section of the French Quarter had a large amountof Hispanic population of varying origins(xliv) and some number of these people wereundoubtedly Cuban. While recent census research shows that the actual amount of Cubanmigration to New Orleans was very small compared to Mexican migration,(xlv) theremay have been a number of musically influential Cubans in the city. When recalling theNew Orleans musical scene around 1900, ragtime pianist, composer and musical observer

Roy Carew recalled an "outstanding" Cuban pianist by the name of Gonzales whoclaimed that ragtime came from Cuba.(xlvi) Gonzales probably based his claim on thepreviously mentioned finale or end "ride out" syncopated phrases using tied note figuresthat are common to both Cuban danzas and American cakewalks. There were also otherCuban connections with New Orleans musicians. Bandleader Jack Laine's wife BlancheNunez was of immediate Cuban descent.(xlvii) Manuel Mello, one of Laine's best leadcornetists and assistant band leaders, had an alternate occupation or "day job" in the sugar


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business. This often took him to Cuba where he spent a lot of time working in Orienteprovince.(xlviii)

In 1905 (a year before the first of the recordings presented on this disc was issued) NewOrleans composer Paul Sarebresole (1875-1911) published a piece entitled ComeClean(xlix) that is similar in form to a Cuban danza. In this piece the second strain uses a

habanera rhythm. Additionally, the first strain of this piece used the same final figureemployed eighteen years later by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band on its recordings ofSnake Rag.(l) Although one is tempted to speculate on the circumstances of such aconnection, what can actually be concluded by this example is that as early as 1905, atleast some New Orleanians were mixing Cuban and proto-jazz motifs in the same piece,although in a different manner than done later.

Early New Orleans jazz musicians were aware of the Cuban sounds. Original DixielandJazz Band drummer Tony Sbarbaro was familiar with what he considered hot trumpetplaying on early Cuban recordings. He described them as playing their native music witha dirty "mud" tone, and as having the feeling of a good jazz beat, although the only place

they played "straight lead" tunes were in the big cities.(li) In a 1957 interview, ManuelManetta notes that as a young musician in 1917, Louis Armstrong only knew threepieces, which he played constantly. In his demonstration of these, Manetta plays Windand Grind, and a slow, un-named blues, and plays both with a habanera influence.(lii)Although it is hard to ascertain whether Manetta is illustrating his own interpretation orArmstrong's, the treatment apparently was a common style at the time since Baby Doddsnoted that the "blues were played in New Orleans in the early days very, very slow, andnot like today, but in a Spanish rhythm."(liii) Trombonist Emile Christian also uses ahabanera bass line behind a cornet-clarinet duet on I Lost My Heart In Dixielandrecorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1920.(liv)

Pamela J. Smith's extensive analysis of Cuban influences on New Orleans music usessuch pieces as Creepy Feeling, The Crave, and Spanish Swat, by Jelly Roll Morton, NewOrleans Stomp, by Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin, as recorded by King Oliver in 1923,Stock Yard Strut, as recorded by Freddie Keppard in 1926, Sweet Lorraine, as recordedby Natty Dominique and Johnny Dodds in 1928, Panama, as recorded in 1922 by theFriars Society Orchestra, West Indies Blues as recorded by A. J. Piron in 1928 andTampeekoe as recorded by the New Orleans Owls in 1928, to illustrate both the Cubanrhythms and how New Orleans jazz musicians modified them.(lv) The heavy use of suchmusical devices in New Orleans jazz was referred to by Jelly Roll Morton as the "Spanishtinge" and is sometimes called the "Latin tinge."(lvi) Smith, concludes that . . .

The Cuban contradanza, the danza, the danzon, and the habanera had distinct rhythmsthat affected early New Orleans jazz compositions. There were other musical styles inCuba; the Cuban bolero, for example, was a very popular genre throughout LatinAmerica. But it was the danza group--with its variant rhythms and dance forms, theCuban contradanza containing the germinal rhythm universally popularized by thehabanera, and the freedom of the guaracha and the danzon--that most readily translated toNew Orleans jazz.(lvii)


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S. Frederick Starr comes to a similar conclusion when hailing Manuel Saumell as theabsolute master of the contradanza and the head of the genealogy of lyrical, syncopatedmusic that extends through Gottschalk to a host of late-nineteenth-century Cuban mastersand thence to Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, and other creators of American

ragtime.(lviii)

In addition to music, Cuba and New Orleans both shared a cigar-making industry that notonly used Cuban tobacco, but in New Orleans at least, employed a long list of jazzmusicians and relatives of jazz musicians, and as mentioned earlier in the case of ManuelMello there were similar interests in the sugar industry. Substantial Cuban connectionswith New Orleans continued from the 1930's to the early 1960's. Cuban musical actscame to New Orleans quite often and performed at both black and white music venues.Successful Creole-of-color businessmen often vacationed in Cuba where less significantracial boundaries existed. After Fidel Castro came into power, many Cubans with New

Orleans connections relocated in the city. However, there is generally a differencebetween the early music heard on these recordings and the vernacular music played inNew Orleans at the same time which was loosely referred to by New Orleans musiciansas ragtime. With ragtime, and its peculiar sub-category New Orleans ragtime, thesyncopation is predominantly in the melody line, while the rhythm is a predominantly astraight march beat. Conversely, in most of the Cuban music on this record the melodyline is a predominantly Spanish or Latin melody with a very syncopated, rhythmicaccompaniment. (There are exceptions including #8 and # 17 of the recordings.)

The Cuban music on these recordings is not New Orleans jazz with a heavy Cuban"tinge." It is distinctly Cuban music and is very different from Cuban-influenced music.

The Cuban music on these recordings also has other influences other than just Africanand Spanish. At times there are distinct Italian and German influences. Except for the lastfew recordings, the Cuban music on these recordings is also different from the laterCuban dance music starting in the middle to late 1920's and popularized in Havana, NewYork, and Paris. This later music, which is predominantly "hot" Cuban-influenced fox-trots, bears more resemblance to the aforementioned New Orleans jazz sides.So what does this all prove, or show? It shows that New Orleans and Cuban vernacularmusics at the urn of the century had many similar elements, but that the elements wereutilized in different ways-producing finished products that were related but not the same.As both musics matured they borrowed additional elements from each other and for awhile became more similar, specifically in the dance music of the late 1920's. However,

later forms in both locations began to grow in different directions and the similaritiesbegan to diminish.

Comments

1. La Gatita Blanca. Use of riffs in the same manner of the stock arrangement of St. LouisTickle, Barney & Seymore, Chicago, Victor Kremer, 1904, arr. F. E. Day.

6. Alza Colombia. Has a "back beat" similar to that used in New Orleans.


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8. El Automovil. The melody line to part of this piece is from Under The Bamboo Tree,Bob Cole, Jos. W. Stern & Co., New York, 1902. Noted performer and composer BobCole was associated with the equally successful Johnson Brothers. Judging from extantsheet music, this was a popular piece in New Orleans.

11. El premier Gordo. This has a bass drum backbeat similar to that used in New Orleans.

14. El Deutschland. This also has a drum backbeat.

16. Eden Concert. Some trumpet figures like New Orleans 1960's brass band style, i. e.semi-cacaphonous style like Milton Batiste.

17. Sandunguita. This has a syncopated "oriental" verse, a device that was popular inNew Orleans, and the piece is The Yama Yama Man, Collin Davis and Karl Hoschna,New York, M. Witmark & Sons, 1908, and was very, very popular in New Orleans,judging from extant copies.

18. Has Mexican mariachi harmonies.

20. Has harmonies that sound like street organs still popular in Oriente Province.

22. Apriete, pero no pises. This piece has the same Italian funereal aspect as does therecording of New Orleans Bump, by Jelly Roll Morton and his Orchestra.(lix) Jack Stewart

Foot Notes

i These three categories for each location are used strictly as a heuristic device for arough chronological comparison of the two culture's musics and their evolution. This

comparison is not perfect, since there is both overlap and ambiguity in trying to contrastany or all of the examples, individually or in groups. Therefore, this contrast should notbe taken as a simplistic misunderstanding by the author.

A chronology of these cuban musics has the contradanza introduced circa 1800, the danzacirca 1840, the danzon circa 1880, and the son circa 1910. Natalio Galan, Cuba Y SusSones, Valencia, Pre-Textos/Musica, 1983, p. 176; Radames Giro, Panorama De LaMusica Popular Cubana, "Los Motives Del Son," La Havana, Facultad De Humanidades,1995, pp. 213-223.ii An survey of histories, music criticism, and record liner notes, in both musics, leaveone almost bewildered with the extreme and strident differences of opinion. One analyst

has attempted to resolve the debate by developing three categories of Cuban vernacularmusic: 1) The coastal music has the heaviest African influence and includes the conga,the rumba, and the clave. 2) The inland music has the heaviest Spanish influence, and thepunto, the guajira, and the zapateo are examples of it. 3) A third type is the most hybrid--containing African and Spanish elements in balanced proportions; included in thiscategory are the danza, the habanera, the danzon, and the bolero. Pamela J. Smith,Caribbean Influences On Early New Orleans Jazz, Masters Thesis, New Orleans, TulaneUniversity, October 23, 1986, p. 40.


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iii The World 1930 Almanac And Book Of Facts, New York, The World, 1930, p. 752.

iv Frenchline, Compagnie Generale Transatlantique; United Fruit Company, "The GreatWhite Fleet;" Southern Pacific, Morgan Line Steamships, Times-Picayune, April 23,1916, p. B15, c. 8; Filleul's Tours. Times-Picayune, April 23, 1916, p. A10, c. 1.

v LaChance, pp.109-141.

vi Melville J. Herskovits, Dahomey, An Ancient West African Kingdom, 2 vols., NewYork, J. J. Augustin, 1928, 1: pp. 51-63 & pp. 78-95, as quoted in Hall, Social Control InSlave Plantation Societies, p. 66.

vii Elizabeth Donnan, ed., Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade toAmerica, 4 vols., Washington, D.C., Carnegie Institute, 1930-35, 1: p. 108; J. G. F.Wurdemann, Notes on Cuba, Boston, James Monroe And Co., 1844, p. 257; Philip D.Curtin, Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave

Trade, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1969; all as quoted in Hall, SocialControl in Slave Plantation Societies, pp. 54-55.

viii Ortiz, pp. 30-48; Wurdemann, p. 257; both as quoted in Hall, p. 55.

ix Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana StateUniversity Press, 1992, passim., esp. Chaps. 2,3,4,5,6,9,& App. A; Arnold R. Hirsch &Joseph Logsdon, eds., Creole New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State UniversityPress, 1992, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, "The Formation of Afro-Creole Culture," pp. 58-87.

x Hugh Thomas, Appendix III, "Who were the Cuban Indians," Cuba or The Pursuit of

Freedom, updated edition, New York, Da Capo Press, 1998, pp. 1523-43.

xi Henry A. Kmen, Music In New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State UniversityPress, 1966, p. 192.

xii Courrier De La Louisiane, April 1, 1816, p. 3, c. 3; April 5, 1816, p. 3, c. 4; December4, 1916, Prospectus for the Olympic Circus.

xiii Herbert Ashbury, The French Quarter, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1936, p. 97." `Tis Monsieur Gaetano, Who comes out from Havana, With his horses and hismonkeys!... noted as: From George W. Cable's collection of Negro folk-songs. Quoted by

Lafcadio Hearn in the Historical Sketch Book and Guide to New Orleans; New York,1885; pages 297-8. Ashbury (p.98) also relates a folk tale that says that Gaetano had atiger and bison; both the story and the assertion are perhaps more rooted in legend thanfact.

xiv Ashbury, pp. 96-98.


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xv Jerah Johnson, "New Orleans's Congo Square, Louisiana History, Spring, 1991, p.138.

xvi Courrier De La Louisiane, Apr. 1-Dec. 23, 1816, passim.; Dec. 9, 1916, p.5, c. 2.;Gazette De La Louisiane, Jan. 24, 1818, c.4.

xvii Kmen, pp. 84-86.

xviii L'Ami Des Lois, Nov. 7. 1817, p.2, c.3; Courier De La Louisiane, Nov. 7, 1817, p.3,c.3.

xix Johnson, pp.136-137.

xx Certificate of Burial, Archdiocese of New Orleans, November 3, 1817, certifiedAugust 20, 1994, by Jack Belsom.

xxi Henry Arnold Kmen, "The Music of New Orleans," The Past As Prelude New

Orleans 1718-1968, New Orleans, Tulane University, 1968, pp. 210 - 232.

xxii John S. Kendall, The Golden Age of the New Orleans Theater, Baton Rouge,Louisiana State University Press, 1952, p. 144.

xxiii Kendall, p. 145.

xxiv Kmen, Music In New Orleans, p. 151.

xxv Lester Sullivan, "Composers of Color of Nineteenth-Century New Orleans," BlackMusic Research Journal, Chicago, Columbia College, 1988, Vol 8, No. 1, p.54; James M.

Trotter, Music And Some Highly Musical People, Boston, Lee and Shepard, New York,Charles T. Dillingham, 1881, p.340, Marcus B. Christian, "Edmond Dede," Dictionary ofAmerican Negro Biography, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1982, p. 168.

xxvi Charles E. Kinzer, The Tio Family And Its Role In The Creole-Of-Color MusicalTraditions Of New Orleans, The Second Line, Vol. XLIII, No. 3, Summer, 1991, pp.19-21.

xxvii Henry A. Kmen, "Remember the Virginius: New Orleans and Cuba in 1873,"Louisiana History, Vol. XI, No. 4, Fall 1970, p. 313.

xxviii Kmen, pp. 313 - 331.

xxix Kendall, pp. 176-179.

xxx Kendall, pp. 273-277.


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xxxi Vernon Loggins, Where The Word Ends, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State UniversityPress, 1958, pp.172-197; S. Frederick Starr, Bamboula!, New York, Oxford UniversityPress, 1994, pp. 171-194, 257-260, 287-309.

xxxii Elias Barreiro, interview, April 2, 1998. Mr. Barreiro is a Cuban guitarist nowteaching at Tulane University in New Orleans; he has recorded many Cuban danzas and

provided biographical and musical information for Guitar Music of Cuba, compiled andtranscribed by Elias Barreiro, historical and performance notes by Stephen B. Rekas,Pacific, Missouri, Mel Bay Publications, 1996.

xxxiii Pamela J. Smith, Caribbean Influences On New Orleans Jazz, Masters Thesis, NewOrleans, Tulane University, Oct. 3, 1986, pp. 40-44; Hafiz Shabazz Farel Johnson andJohn M. Chernoff, "Basic Conga Drum Rhythms In African-American Musical Styles,"Black Music Research Journal, Chicago, Columbia College, Spring 1991, Vol. 11, No. 1,p. 68.

xxxiv Pamela J. Smith, Caribbean Influences On Early New Orleans Jazz, Masters

Thesis, New Orleans, Tulane University, October 23, 1986, p. 17.

xxxv Al and Diana Rose, interview, New Orleans, June, 1991--Diana Rose has playedand catalogued numerous pieces in various "Mexican Series;" John Storm Roberts, TheLatin Tinge, Tivoli, N. Y., Original Music, 1985, pp. 35-36--Roberts has noted that theextant sheet music from the Junius Hart Mexican Series contains one danzon (also notedas a danza) and seven danzas.

xxxvi W. T. Francis, Chloe Danza Mexicana, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1885; W. T.Francis, arranger, La Naranja Danza, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1887; W. T. Francis, ElNopal Danza Mexicana, New Orleans, Junius Hart, 1885.

xxxvii Peggy C. Boudreaux, Music Publishing In New Orleans In The NineteenthCentury, Masters Thesis, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Louisiana State University, August,1977, pp. 92-100.

xxxviii Kinzer, p. 21.

xxxix Brock, Jerry. During reasearch at the Cuban Archives, Brock found evidence of atrip to Cuba by this band in 1884.

xl Seroff, Doug and Lynn Abbott, "100 Years From Today," 78 Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 7,

1992, p. 89.

xli According to bandleader Jack Laine's cornetist Ray Lopez, a send-off parade for blacktroops on their way to Cuba during the Spanish-American War, apparently featured twobands-one with Buddy Bolden that stayed in New Orleans-and another that left on theship with the troops. From research currently in progress, by Stephanie Brown andMaureen S. Wright, grandaughters of Sylvestre Coustaut, who was a leader and/orfounder of the Onward Brass Band, it appears that the Onward Brass Band is most likely


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the band that Jack Laine's cornetist Ray Lopez remembers as the band that accompaniedthe black troops on the ship to Cuba. This seems to also combine with information notedin Samuel Charters musicians' index. Additionally, according to research in progress byhistorian John McCusker, if all information correlates, then the ship which carriedmembers of the Onward Brass Band and others to Cuba may have been the USS Berlin.Note: Ray Lopez, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, August 30, 1958,

Reel III (transcribed excerpt on Buddy Bolden by Ralph Adamo); Company MusterRolls, June 17, 1898 - August 17, 1898, Company B, Station of Company at San JuanHill, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Samuel B. Charters, Jazz New Orleans, 1885-1963, New York, Oak Publications, 1963, pp. 7 & 15; John McCusker, interview, April,1998.

xlii Jack "Papa" Laine, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, May 23, 1960,p. 11.

xliii Daily Item, August 18, 1898, as quoted in the Levy Index, Hogan Jazz Archive(newspaper now missing); New Orleans Bee, August 18, 1898, p. 7, c. 2. Note: Levy

Index says Prof. Siegfried; Bee says Prof. Christiansen.

xliv Chink Martin, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, October 19, 1966,p. ?????

xlv Recent census research by noted jazz scholar Prof. Lawrence Gushee and his studentsfound very few New Orleans residents of Cuban origin, compared to a large number ofresidents originally from Mexico.

xlvi George W. Kay, "Remembering Tony Jackson," The Second Line, Nov.- Dec. 1964,p. 6.

xlvii Jack "Papa' Laine, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, May 23,1960, p. 14; her parents were from Cuba and she spoke only Spanish until she went toschool.

xlviii Manuel Mello, oral history interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University,August 3, 1959, pp. 8, 11, & 26,

xlix Paul Sarebresole, Come Clean, New Orleans, The Cable Company, 1905.

l King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Snake Rag, Richmond, Indiana, Gennett 5184, 11391,

April 6, 1923, and Chicago, Okeh 4933, 8391-A, June 22, 1923.

li Tony Sbarbaro, interview, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, February 11, 1959,pp. 10-12.

lii Manuel Manetta, oral history interview, Hogan Jazz Archive , Tulane University,March 28, 1957, Reel II, p. 4.


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liii Larry Gara, The Baby Dodds Story, Los Angeles, Contemporary Press, 1959, p. 11.

liv Original Dixieland Jaz Band, I Lost My Heart In Dixieland, London, Columbia 815,76756, January 10, 1920.

lv Pamela J. Smith, pp. 49-52.

lvi John Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge, Tivoli, New York, Original Music, 1985, pp.38-39 & passim.

lvii Pamela J. Smith, pp. 52-53.

lviii S. Frederick Starr, p. 184.

lix Victor Studio #1, Camden, New Jersey, July 10, 1929, Victor V-38078;49456-1&2

1999 Jack Stewart and Arhoolie Productions. All rights reserved.

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