r. I did not know that one of the things that helped popularize brass bands was the ordinance of New Orleans that restricted prostitution to black neighborhoods. This caused between fifteen hundred and twenty two hundred prostitutes to set up shop in an area that became known as Storyville. Even though Storyville wasnt great in morality it was great economically for New Orleans. It made it possible for many businesses to flourish. Among those businesses were Sporting houses. These Sporting houses employed Brass Bands. Brass bands also played funerals, amusement parks, and other community events. Buddy Bolden, a jazz pioneer, led quite a few New Orleans Brass Bands. During this time the Creoles and the blacks had no choice but to integrate. Creoles hadnt really valued black music, and blacks knew that it wasn't appreciated. Nevertheless that didnt stop them from playing their hearts out. In fact that prompted them to play as loud as possible in order to overwhelm the Creoles. Buddy Bolden was one of the blacks that had the ability to do just that. Along with his strong sound that he strived for, he improvised standard ragtime and blues pieces. Unfortunately he didnt have as much control over his life that he had over his trombone. He became an alcoholic, contracted syphilis, and then ultimately dies in a mental institution. It is sad that he died without knowing his contribution to the development of what we now call jazz. I made a conscious decision to highlight the information in this book that I had never read about in the past. On the contrary you should know that this book contains very detailed information on the parts of black American music history that is popular in today's society. It covers everything from slave songs to Motown. ...
