Word: band
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...those six years, I had learned the clarinet. I had gotten to sit in with some great bands at Preservation Hall, and had worked frequently with the Olympia Brass Band at parades and funerals. I had gotten to know and love these noore old men and had been through some unforgettable experiences with them...
THERE WERE OTHER great bands playing there, too. In 1961, someone had discovered that there was a whole city full of traditional jazzmen. Some were almost unknown; others had been forgotten, lost, or given up for dead. Some had never played for white audiences before. Some had led proud, full bands before the depression. Nearly all of them had played with the greats of New Orleans jazz in their youths--Armstrong, Edmund Hall, Johnny Dodds, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet. These were just fellow musicians to these old men. There were only a handful of active musicians when Preservation Hall opened...
Slow Drag Pavageau had been the regular bassist with the George Lewis band and with Bunk Johnson before that. He had worked with George for almost 30 years, and had toured all over Europe with him. He had been the grand dad of the group, and now--at 80--he was hospitalized with stomach cancer. Drag was a delightful little man, a creole who spoke little English that was intelligible, and a lot of creole French that no one understood but him. He had grown up--like many New Orleans jazzmen--in a French speaking family, and seemed to personify...
...Yeah. We took Bunk on as a second trumpet. He and Evan started soundin' real nice together--man, we had us a band then. Well, about two nights before Thanksgivin', we was up on the bandstand, and this fella name of John Gilbey come runnin' into the dance hall with a butcher knife. Said Evan been messin' around with his wife. Evan didn't have no time to run, so he grabbed me by the shoulders and ducked down behind me." George raised his eyebrows and smiled his ironic smile, "Man I thought I was finished then. That man reached...
...next day, three brass bands and several thousand people turned out on a gray, rainy day to bid George Lewis farewell. The Eureka Brass Band was there, the Olympia, and a third brass band made up of the young musicians who were in town. The latter had come a long way to hear the music and see the city. They had come from Japan, Sweden, Connecticut, San Francisco, and England. They had gradually gotten better and better seats for the performance, and now they were themselves on stage, playing dirges for their fallen hero...