Negro music in America Program 6
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Negro music in America.
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They grow music in America. An exploration of it and its impact on American
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culture. Here is your host for the Cerezo Tony look at the box.
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While we were in New Orleans one of the great pleasures that I had was in meeting and talking to and hearing
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in person musicians I had known for years through their music on records.
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You have no idea how strong and vital the music of these old timers came through from them even though
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they're in their late 60s and 70s. It is a truly heartwarming experience to stand in
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Preservation Hall and see and hear these men set a whole roomful of people of all ages just
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swaying and tapping their feet and snapping their fingers. One of these wonderful young old
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men that we talked to is punch Miller a trumpet player. Born in 1997 he
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was self-taught as a youngster. Then he took a few cornet lessons from some teachers perfected his
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musical education and learned to read music while serving in the Army during World War One.
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When punch got back to New Orleans in 1980 found a vacancy and kid Henri's band
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this vacancy had been created by a young musician leaving Louis
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Armstrong who had just gone north bunch filmed as they can see very well had made a
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reputation for himself in New Orleans before he too left to travel. Among the big names of the
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whom Bonsa played were Jelly Roll Morton and Iris can tape. In
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1956 punt return to New Orleans where he is once again playing his kind of
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music with his kind of musicians. Now here's Paanch explaining what happened to him
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when he first went to Chicago.
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What would a mob when operates what is your car.
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That's what people thought but they were wrong.
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Me and Louis have a trumpet player you know played alike and we hear but when Luther went up
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there and he put up there hit me I started playing the same thing that he was playing.
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Yeah and the people got on to it up there and had about it like and when I went of The
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Apprentice I was trying to feel like we were doing was making a mistake
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as our John is saying I'm your limited lead singer or just think you are
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just as blue he'd say but he starts singing I would like to have the picking out of India
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and say China do you know where they were wrong. That could threaten us and there was
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but what we was playing here and that with who was King Arthur was playing up
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there. But restrained here and we went up there they all got together I wanted to split it
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and if people like it we would just go on using you know just as as
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good. Good run when we were got girl you had to sit in there.
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I displayed as part of tell me something I had always heard I don't know whether this is true or
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not. Maybe you can tell me you played a jelly roll. I always heard that a lot of
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musicians who played in general didn't like him as a growing threat of war.
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There were when I was with him there are like a rabbit
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or a buck drink and he said he didn't want to drink when he caught us when we cut relist
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we had a party not a point of diet I have right here Frank
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I was talking our inside coat pocket and got a strong pretty strong
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there was talking so he smelt it
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and he was put smart he went around talking to people. So you were drinking
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actually. There were very good. But as
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a rule of law and I did councils in the barrio where we had a bar in our part of the book
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that you know you're going to hear punch playing and singing.
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He's a really great entertainer of the young 70 years believe me in this recording you're
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about to hear punch plays with kid Howard who was also on the trumpet. Big Jim
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Robinson plays on trombone. Lester Santiago on piano Joe Watkins on
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drums John Papa Joseph on string bass and Louis Cottrell on
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clarinet. I'd like to call your attention to the fact that papa Joseph the bass player
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played his first engagement at the age of 12 in eighteen hundred eighty eight.
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This wonderful group first plays for us a great trouble in mind blues and bunch does the
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vocal.
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Long rather.
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Big.
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Dog.
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Something.
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Going.
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On. Oh.
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Come along and sad is love.
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Our next number is a very fine example of just any kind of song can lend
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itself beautifully to being played in the traditional New Orleans style from the
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1890s. Here's when you wore a tulip.
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Next week we'll listen to music from other parts of the South.
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Negro music get a stunning welcome as president transcribed by the
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SEIU Broadcasting Service. Join us next week as we continue our exploration
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of Negro music in America.
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That's is the SEIU Radio Network. This program was
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distributed by national educational radio. This is national
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educational radio network.
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This program has been transcribed using automated software tools, made possible through a collaboration between the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and Pop Up Archive. Please note that no automated transcription is perfect nor is it intended to replace human transcription labor. If you would like to contribute corrections to this transcript, please contact MITH at mith@umd.edu.