1890 - 1920 Buddy Bolden's Band plays Standing, left to right: Jimmy Johnson, Buddy Bolden, Willie Cornish, William Warner. Sitting, left to right: Jefferson Mumford and Frank Lewis. Buddy Bolden, considered the "father of jazz," was born in New Orleans in 1877 and died in 1931. The peak of his career was from 1890 to 1920. He played music at Milneburg and other lakeshore resorts. First of the great New Orleans jazz figures was Buddy Bolden, a barber who blew his horn to glory. Deeper, deeper, Buddy Bolden plunged into his music...He dominated...New Orleans, playing at saloons, lakefront parties... Buddy made up one song after another His playing had one feature that later jazz authorities recognized as indispensable- "the trance,' and ability to sink himself in the music until nothing mattered but himself and the cornet, in fervent communion. As the 1900s approached...a small, bulkily built boy listened nightly to the silver magic of Buddy's notes. Nobody paid any attention to him then. He was young Louis Armstrong. The New Orleans sound had begun around 1900 with brass ensembles which, like ragtime, took the marching military bands as their models. In addition to cornets, trombones, and an occasional tuba these groups included clarinets, banjos or guitars, and fiddles. The bass and the piano were excluded because of their size, although the piano was a popular solo instrument in the dives, honky-tonks, and 'sporting houses." Buddy Bolden's band with Bunk Johnson was playing In honky-tonks as early as 1895, and the Olympia Brass Band existed on and off from 1900 to 1915 led by coronetist Freddie Keppard, with Joe Oliver playing second cornet and Alphonse Picou, Sidney Bechet, and Lorenzo Tio on clarinets. Oscar "Papa" Celestin formed the Original Tuxedo Orchestra in 1910. Keppard later led the Original Creole Band, while Joe 0liver worked for trombonist Kid Ory in his Brownskin Band. When Oliver left for Chicago, as Keppard had done, Louis Armstrong replaced him on coronet, There were probably a hundred of these seminal groups, and their players seemed infinitely interchangeable. All of them understood the basic premise of the music: collective improvisation. Source: New Oleans Online-Music http://www.neworleansonline.com/music/bolden.shtml Around the turn of the century, when the great Buddy Bolden was the king of New Orleans jazz, the legendary musician played his cornet all over town: Rampart and Perdido streets, Uptown, the lakefront and across the river. Source: Gambit Weekly-Blake Pontchartrain http://www.gambit-no.com/1998/0901/blak.html Buddy Bolden's music was never recorded.

1890 Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton is born 1890-1941 - Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton Jelly Roll Morton was was the first great composers and piano players of Jazz. An interesing quote from Jelly Roll, talking about his recordings (records): "Why would anyone be interested in those old things?" He wrote "Pontchartrain" and recorded "Bucktown Blues". From 1926-1930, Jelly Roll Morton and the Red Hot Peppers band included Jazz greats Baby Dodds(drums), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Kid Ory (trombone), and Johnny St. Cyr (banjo & guitar)--all born in New Orleans. Sources: Asbol Repertoire http://www.redhotjazz.com/jellyroll.html

1890's West End Garden Amusement Park Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection http://www.hnoc.org/ posted 2002-03-23

1890s - Spanish Fort Train We think this may be the famous "Smokey Mary". posted 2002-11-02

1890s Ferris Wheel Source: http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/photos/williams/williams48.htm

1890s Polo Race? West End at the foot of the New Basin Canal. One of several pleasure resorts on Lake Pontchartrain. At the time of this print, New Orleanians would have travelled to West End by rail, or they would have taken the Shell Road to listen to music, ride the ferris wheel, or to frolic in the lake like these polo (?!) players. Source: New Orleans Public Library--Images of the Month http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/mar99/mar9911.htm

1890s view of Bayou St. John With magnification one can see the sign for "Over The Rhine".

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1891 Inner Lake Pass Engraving of View of Inner Lake Pass, West End from an 1891 Atlas.

1891 Painting-the Lake and Milneburg Title of the Painting: Lake Pontchartrain Milneburg in the Distance Artist: George Gay Louisana State Museum Paintings Collection Lake Pontchartrain, Milneburg in the Distance-George Gay (c. 1858-1914) 1891 oil on canvas. Little is known of the Louisiana landscape painter, George Gay. Favoring coastal scenic vistas, Gay lived and worked in New Orleans from 1884 to 1897. His primitive style reveals limited formal art training.

1892 Horse Ferry Map This map was engraved by Fisk & Co. and published by Hunt & Eaton, New York, 1892, in The People's Cyclopedia. It shows steam and horse railroads, theaters, hotels, and other public buildings, as well as railroad and passenger ferries across the Mississippi River. A few of the specific features identified include the U.S. Mint, Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad, St. Charles Hotel, Exposition Park, Jackson Square, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Bayou Gentilly, Lake Pontchartrain, French Market, Freetown Ferry, Oakland Riding Park, Spanish Fort, the Shell Beach Railroad, Lower Protection Levee, and the University of Louisiana. posted 2002-11-30