Storyville’s Closing Had Little Effect on Jazz

Jazz has been described by observers as astute as guitarist Derek Bailey as the most romantic of music with its inbred myths. One of the longest lasting is that the music spread northwards from New Orleans after the Secretary of the U.S. Navy ordered the closing the of Storyville right-light district in 1917. That’s pretty far from the truth as Bruce Raeburn, director of Tulane University’s Hogan Jazz Archive tells The Times-Picayune’s Alison Fensterstock, Not only were there few gigs for anyone but pianists in the sporting houses, but by that time major figures such as saxophonist Sidney Bechet, cornetist King Oliver, trombonist Kid Ory and pianist Jelly Roll Morton were already performing the music on the vaudeville circuit.