#Big band sounding song bar close full#

#Big band sounding song bar close full#

Partially because of the cultural friction, these newcomers began settling upriver from Canal Street and from the already full French Quarter (Vieux Carre). Many arrived via the Caribbean and brought with them West Indian cultural traditions.Īfter the Louisiana Purchase, English-speaking Anglo- and African-Americans flooded into New Orleans. As early as 1721 enslaved West Africans totaled 30% of the population of New Orleans, and by the end of the 1700s people of varied African descent, both free and slave, made up more than half the city's population. The colony's culture was enriched not only from Europe but from Africa as well. Festivals were frequent, and Governor William Claiborne, the first American-appointed governor of the territory of Louisiana, reportedly commented that New Orleanians were ungovernable because of their preoccupation with dancing.

A more liberal outlook on life prevailed, with an appreciation of good food, wine, music, and dancing. The Creole culture was Catholic and French-speaking rather than Protestant and English-speaking. New Orleans differed greatly from the rest of the young United States in its Old World cultural relationships. France almost immediately sold the colony to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana territories were ceded to Spain in 1763 but were returned to France in 1803. The city was founded in 1718 as part of the French Louisiana colony. The Origins of Jazz - Pre 1895Ī review of New Orleans' unique history and culture, with its distinctive character rooted in the colonial period, is helpful in understanding the complex circumstances that led to the development of New Orleans jazz.

What follows is an overview of jazz history that provides a foundation for this study.

Researchers and historians are still learning about jazz history there are many and various opinions about what is important in the history of jazz.