Black History : JAZZ FUNERAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT...

[Isaiah]

THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FUNERALS
REJOICE WHEN YOU DIE A Photographic Book by Leo Touchet



The jazz funerals in New Orleans are an ever changing phenomenon. They are a reflection of life, revealing the passions and philosophies of the living as well as the departed. Frequently, the funerals are arranged according to the wishes of the deceased who has pre-selected the music, and sometimes even the musicians to play the music. They are, above all, a tribute to life rather than a concession to death. These photographs were all taken between 1968 and 1970, and collectively, form an unique historic document of the funerals during that period. The photographs in this exhibition are grouped into three sections:

THE SPECTATORS drawn by curiosity, form a supporting cast and sometimes number in the thousands. They gather to vicariously sample "a happening".

THE FUNERAL PROCESSIONS to the church are a communion of souls. They are open demonstrations of an abiding faith in God and his judgement.

THE SECOND LINES follow the bands. Leaving the cemetery, the mood switches to one of unleashed emotions expressed in dance and music.

These photographs represent an attempt to show the sadness and dignity, the pride and humility, the stillness and motion, the silence and the music of the jazz funeral and the people who are a part of them.


http://www.leotouchet.com/rejoice/exhibit/index.html


PEACE!
ISAIAH

 

[MississippiRed]

Na that's what I'm talkin bout....man the funeral for Magnolia Slim aka Soulja Slim who was killed Thanksgiving 04 had one of the largest Jazz processions I've ever seen....It was a bit different from the tradition but was still the same premise....they took James( Soulja Slim) body out of the hores drawn carriage and carried it up in the air above their shoulders and instead of the slow precession Rebirth jump started the second liners right from the beginning all the way to the grave and all the way back.....that's how I want to be sent off bruh...real big bruh......man you brangin out th big guns ain't ya.....I don know if they reddy fa all this henh....


MississippiRed

 

[Isaiah]

Na that's what I'm talkin bout....man the funeral for Magnolia Slim aka Soulja Slim who was killed Thanksgiving 04 had one of the largest Jazz processions I've ever seen....It was a bit different from the tradition but was still the same premise....they took James( Soulja Slim) body out of the hores drawn carriage and carried it up in the air above their shoulders and instead of the slow precession Rebirth jump started the second liners right from the beginning all the way to the grave and all the way back.....that's how I want to be sent off bruh...real big bruh......man you brangin out th big guns ain't ya.....I don know if they reddy fa all this henh....


MississippiRed

Yeah, brother, I actually heard about that, and have a page on it... I got to find it, but I'll present some of it... It's about the High Cost of FUNERALS in NOLA...

Peace!
Isaiah

 

[Isaiah]

REJOICE WHEN YOU DIE *** ANOTHER BOOK ON JAZZ FUNERALS.

Brass Bands and Jazz Funerals:
Danny Barker's New Orleans

No doubt, much of the story of early New Orleans jazz between the years 1880-1920 has been lost forever. However, one of the most fascinating resources are oral histories from the musicians who were alive at the time.

Danny Barker, who was best known as a musician and composer, was also a pioneering jazz researcher, and started his Jazzland Research Guild in the 1940s.


In 1896, Lincoln Park opened and became a focal point of New Orleans social and musical life:

Lincoln Park catered to every kinda people. You had real respectable influential colored people -- school teachers, lawyers, the cream of the city's upper crust. They had social affairs in the main dance hall. Brass bands played; and elderly folks sat, listening or dancing to schottisches, quadrilles, one-steps and waltzes.

The Jim Cullum Jazz Band provides the musical backdrop for these stories with traditional New Orleans favorites from the turn of the 20th century, such as My Bucket's Got a Hole In It, Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor, and Oh, Didn't He Ramble.

Mr. Bagneris recalls Danny Barker's tireless efforts to encourage youngsters to preserve their musical heritage. "I remember dropping by to see Danny and his group and hearing him explain to the children the traditional New Orleans funeral with music. Here's what Danny told them they would be losing, if they didn't cherish the customs: 'At a Jazz Funeral the sad wailing of the horns always hits you deep inside. If that soul music don't get you, something's wrong with you.' "

Mr. Bagneris has collaborated with New Orleans photographer Leo Touchet in creating the book Rejoice When You Die: The New Orleans Jazz Funerals.

Danny Barker was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1909, into one of the aristocratic families of New Orleans music, the Barbarins. He was a nephew of Paul Barbarin, who taught him to play drums before he specialized on the ukulele. His grandfather, Isidore Barbarin, was an important figure in the great Onward Brass Band, the marching band where King Oliver and Louis Armstrong got their start.

He formed the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band and helped revive interest in the New Orleans brass band tradition.

Through the years, Danny kept on playing the music he loved and telling his stories. Danny Barker passed away in 1994 at the age of 85.

Based on Riverwalk script ©2001 by Margaret Moos Pick

 

[Isaiah]

THE COST OF DEATH

With the poor already bearing the brunt of the city's murder epidemic, finding the money to bury the dead only magnifies the grief


Sunday February 15, 2004


By Tara Young
Staff writer

The rapper's head was covered in a "soulja rag" bearing his name in rhinestones. James "Soulja Slim" Tapp looked as if he could spring from the sparkling army-green casket in the funeral home and perform one last time.

Several thousand mourners joined the funeral procession that December day, transforming Washington Avenue into a pulsating sea of people. Abandoning jazz funeral tradition, the pallbearers removed Tapp's casket from the horse-drawn carriage and lifted it high above the crowd, and it bobbed as they walked and danced down the street.

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The Rebirth Brass Band kept the mood uptempo. Having played at more than 30 funerals of young murder victims already that year, the musicians well knew what their audience wanted: Skip the traditional dirges and start right in with jubilant, rump-shaking second-line music.

Unlike their elders, who prefer a somber start, the young folks who are losing so many of their friends to street violence want to party right away, said Rebirth member Philip Frazier. He led the second line for Tapp, his stepson.


Money matters

Tapp's funeral was an orgy of sound, dancing and glitz. But far more often, families of murder victims struggle to meet even the basic costs of burying their kin. Memorial T-shirts might have become a fashion necessity at even the thriftiest funerals, but brass bands and horse-drawn carriages are entirely out of reach for most families

http://www.nola.com/speced/cycleofdeath/index.ssf?/speced/cycleofdeath/costofdeath.html


Peace!
Isaiah