Missisipi Delta Blues

From Memphis to New Orleans we followed the Highway 61, the route that blues followed to go from its birthplace, the Mississippi Delta, to Memphis. This emblematic road is full of tales and legends and it has been subject of many songs and movies. The cotton fields where the slaves worked and created the music, the extremely poverty that we have seen, the impossibly flat landscape for miles and miles... that was the most amazing thing I have seen in the US.

And the feeling. The feeling that you are where everything happened. No words.

The Delta is the place where WC Handy, considered by himself the father of the blues, listened the Blues for the first time. He listened first, according to his records, on a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Tutwiler nowadays is extremely poor. One can still see the foundations of the train station, where everything happens.

The lyrics of the first Blues were: "I will meet you when the southern crosses the yellow dog", referring to a junction between the main railways of the region. We went there as well.

We visited the two graves where Robert Johnson is believed to be buried, as well as the crossroad where he sold his soul to the devil, to be able to play the blues like no other.

The hospital where Bessie Smith died after a car crash is nowadays the most interesting Hotel I have ever seen.

Finally, as the end of the trip trough the Delta, we visited the Dockery plantations, the very first birthplace of the Blues. Here Charlie Patton, considered the first delta bluesman, learned the Blues.


I could describe you the location, but I will fail in describing you the atmosphere, the feelings, the legend... so I will stop here.

countdown to 07-07-07

In the crescent city, and I must admit, it overloads the senses... we just left the guys in the French Quarter following 3 great sets from the Trombone Summit at the Preservation Hall. These amazing hole-in-the-wall places that my compadres were able to seek out in all of the research etc. have made for an incredible trip! Honestly my contributions to the planning of the trip were definitely minimal, but I am learning a lot and am in awe of all of the sights, sounds, changes and environments we have found ourselves in. ... Quite a way to start of another year in the life and what better way to do it then among the company of friends. So cheers to those who are not present - in the flesh - on our excursion, but enjoying on the sidelines. Great to have you along! til soon.... the old laudy ;-)

Challenging arrival to New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

Són les 4.20 a.m. Tothom dorm i jo estic desvetllada. Sóc a les fosques asseguda a la moqueta d'un Holiday Inn prop del French Quarter, a New Orleans. Probablement, estic desperta perquè sóc l'energúmen que dorm més durant els trajectes en cotxe i perquè el primer contacte amb New Orleans ha estat una mica estressant.

Hem arribat cap a les 12.30a.m-1 a.m a New Orleans (NO) després d'un llarg dia al cotxe parant a tots els possibles naixements del blues. Creieu-me que n'hi ha tants com llegendes es puguin trobar als llibres. Camps de cotó, estacions de tren... per triar i remenar.

Un cop a NO, hem intentat arribar a l'hotel. Això que en un principi pot semblar fàcil es pot arribar a complicar bastant quan hi ha un festival de Hip-Hop anomenat "Essence Festivel" a la ciutat. Tots els carrers del French Quarter estaven tallats i tots els policies ens enviaven lluny, molt lluny del nostre hotel. Finalment, i encara no sé com, cap a les 2 hem arribat a l'hotel.

Salvats per tots! Llitet i demà serà un altre dia. DONCS, NO. Es veu que tot i haver trucat a la tarda per confirmar la nostra arribada cap al tard, la nostra habitació de $150/nit havia estat ocupada. Per què? Aquesta és una pregunta impossible de respondre encara a hores d'ara.

Una hora després, 5 trucades a diferents hotels i la pèrdua total de paciència ens han enviat a un altre hotel perquè degut al festival no tenen més habitacions. De moment, tenim habitació per avui (tot i que jo no l'estic aprofitant gaire). Demà... qui sap! Ens trucaran per aclarir la situació i decidir quin serà el nostre hotel definitiu.

Tots dormen com a lirons després de tot un dia al cotxe. I això és el que té un "road trip", que està ple de sorpreses pel camí.

mmm encara estic desvetllada, em sembla que aniré a fer un volt per l'hotel.

Seguirem informant.

pomets

Memphis

Beale Street...ain't Beale Street No More...

As the song claims, the street that once was the blues center of the world is nowadays a turistic atraction. Very little remains from the old neighborhood, but the music is still there; surrounded by the business and the money.

Kansas City

Hello everybody!

During the Great Depression and the prohibition, times were very hard for jazz musicians throughout the whole country except in Kansas City, where mafia man Tom Pendergast was ruling the city. Kansas City's relative wealth favored the growth of jazz clubs (up to 200 in the whole city) with plenty of job for musicians and provided the perfect environment for the next musical revolution (Xavi is skeptical about the concept of revolution in Jazz).

18th and Vine was the happening district, bustling around the clock; so we spend most of our time in its streets. Nowadays, 18th and Vine is a depressed neighborhood starting to rise again, bringing life to the sidewalks again thanks to the National Jazz Museum and the Blue Room, a jazz club featuring the best kansas city musicians linked to the museum.

Among the very few historic landmarks, the Mutual Musicians Foundations is still operating. There we met again Ray, the colorful and very friendly gentleman that takes care of the place. Amazingly, he still remembered us from the previous visit one year ago. He showed us around again and introduced us to the daughters and granddaughters of Jay Hootie McShann, one of the greatest Kansas city musicians who passed away recently. Jay Hootie McShann hired Charlie Parker for his band when Charlie was only 17. We were chatting with them while watching one of the very late live recording of his grandfather, performing at the same building we were in.

Upstairs in the Foundation, there is a piano played once by Scott Joplin, the father of Ragtime, and Count Basie. For us this building is very special, and represents more than anything else the spirit of Jazz and the Kansas City style. We stayed there as much as possible

Late in the afternoon, some of the components of the "Smooth Groovers", an old band from Kansas City, invited Xavi to play some tunes with them on the piano. These men had incredible memories of their teenage years, when Kansas City was the capital of Jazz. "In Kansas City, it is Cristhmas everyday", the drummer said. That was awesome!!



Then we found the location of the house of Charlie Parker, minutes away from 18th and Vine and the Reno Club in 12th and Vine. From here, he walked at nights to listen the jam sessions of Lester Young and the Band of Count Basie, while his mother worked cleaning the Union Station.

We found also the grave of Charlie Parker at the Lincoln Cemetery. Upon David's request, we listen there "Lover Man", one of his master piece and more historical recordings. That was also awesome!!



Finally, we attended a jam Session at the Blue Room, the jazz club located at the very corner of 18th and Vine. We listened there amazingly talented young musicians from Kansas City, as well as very experienced performers (one of the best drummers I ever seen!!).

That was the perfect end point for a very special day at the historical 18th and Vine District.

Day 3 (Kansas City)

This awesome pianist played for the jazz trackers in the Mutual Musicians Foundation in Kansas City, the same location where Jay Mcshann, Count Basie, Scott Joplin, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and all the Kansas City musicians played once.

Chicago

Hello everybody.

Chicago has been playing a key role in the history of music in the last hundred years: the swing, the Chicago blues, the big bands, ballrooms... Unfortunately, not many of the places were this revolution took place are still there.

The district where the black musicians lived once around 1920, Bronzeville, was once a metropolis for emigrants from the south, full of jazz clubs and dance halls. Today, the district is still very depressed and poor, most of the emblematic buildings were demolished, being the paintings in the drive thru of a McDonalds in 35th street the only evidence that once there the history of music was written.

The tour in Bronzeville started in the Lincoln Gardens, the place where King Oliver and his band was in residence, when Louis Armstrong, a young musician from New Orleans arrived in the city. The legend says he asked the cab driver for King Olivier and the driver knew that the Lincoln gardens was the destination of Armstrong. Armstrong started the first musical revolution, playing at the Lincoln Gardens as a second trumpet.

Nowadays, this corporate building stands in the former location of the Lincoln Gardens. No commemorative plaque or monument is there.

Next stop was the Pekin Inn, first place in Chicago to employ pre-jazz musicians and location where they supposedly investigated new sounds, mixing ragtime with other music. Today, only an apartment building complex is there.

The Dreamland Ballroom, the first dance hall in the city, where the most distingushed musicians played, is an empty lot undergoing construction.

The tour continues turning right into 35th street. This street was once the world center for jazz, but today is a depressed neighborhood, where very little remains from the good times. It is certainly not the street where you feel save driving a fancy car like “Pender” or walking with a camcorder.

A hardware store is in the building where once stood the Sunset café, a ballroom where dancers from everywhere in the city came to listen the best big bands.

The wall in the office still conserves the original paintings, which saved the building from demolition, according to one employee. She kindly opened the office and showed us the painting upon request. She also noticed that people is coming nowadays more than ever asking to see the paintings.

In the front door, a scanned copy of a newspaper picturing the early decoration of the Sunset café is the only sign of the history of the building.

Finally, before leaving Bronzeville, we visited the house that once belonged to Louis Armstrong and his wife Lil Harding, a jazz pianist and band leader, walking distance to the 35th street, where both worked with King Oliver band.


As an ending point of our stay in the Windy City, we visited the Green Mill, the most historic of the jazz clubs in Chicago. The Green Mill opened in 1907, as one of the first clubs in the city, and still remains open today. The Green Mill was the scenario of many mafia related stories and movies, as well as good concerts in his 100 years of non stopping activities.

A venue of modern jazz featuring Chicago musicians (awesome drummer!!!) releasing a new album, followed by a Bebop with a Hammond Chicago band.