JAZZ ROOTS
& SAVANNAH
2.
3.
1.
UNITED WE
JAZZ
PHOTOS | 1. BEN TUCKER AND BASS | 2. AL CUTTER’S SNAPPY SIX | 3. HOTEL SAVANNAH ORCHESTRA
JAZZ MUSIC, AMERICA’S ORIGINAL ART FORM,
HAS BEEN UNITING RACES AND CULTURES
SINCE THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. SAVANNAH
BOASTS A RICH JAZZ HISTORY FROM ITS EARLY
DOWNTOWN RED-LIGHT DISTRICTS, BAPTIST
CHURCHES AND CLUBS, ALL THE WAY OUT TO
TYBEE ISLAND WITH JOHNNY MERCER. JAZZ HAS
BEEN UNITING PEOPLE OF ALL RACES SINCE ITS
DAWN AND CONTINUES ON TODAY.
Wr i t t e n b y PAU L A S . F O G A RT Y P h o t o g r a p h s c o u r t e s y o f D R . B O O H O R N S T E I N
T E D DY A DA M S , P E T E R F I S H , DAV E S T RY K E R , & H OWA R D PAU L
JAZZ.
It makes us swing, bop, mess around,
scat and mop up. The word conjures the essence
of coolness and freedom. From the sophisticated
showmanship of Dizzy Gillespie to the bouncing,
scatting stylings of the great Louis Armstrong
to the lyrical swoons of Savannah’s own Johnny
Mercer, Jazz music today inspires a whole pop
generation of pork-pie-hat-wearing hipsters to
co-opt its coolness. Jazz is at once structured,
with its intricate notes and complex chord
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progressions, and also freewheeling, with its
mandate for conversational improvisation. When
Louis Armstrong tried to explain it, he said, “If you
have to ask what Jazz is, you’ll never know.”
JAZZ IS TRANSFORMING. It is the only American
art form to crush racial and economic barriers;
in today’s climate of racial division, we need it
now more than ever. Born of African syncopated
drumming, Ragtime music, the Blues, and military
brass, Jazz is the American language that brings
Although New Orleans
claims the birthplace
of Jazz, Savannah’s
rich history of Jazz
is equally important.
It developed
concurrently; yet
with a different more
African vibe. Jazz
was borne of Southern
black cultures that
JOHHNY, GINGER MERCER 1936 DESOTO HOTEL
LOCAL JAZZ SCENE LEGENDS
had no choice but to
improvise, to find a
way to integrate into a foreign place to which
they were subjugated. The Blues was nurtured
in black Baptist churches, working fields and
factories, wherein the “call” and “respond”
communication form of Jazz was derived. The
“hey’s” and the “ho’s” of today’s pop culture.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE CULTURES in New
Orleans’ Congo Square, starting in 1817, were
allowed to perform their tribal drumming,
singing and dancing for the first time, drawing
in white audiences with their foreign sounds
and exotic moves. The syncopation of this
African drumming is the seed of from which
sprang Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz music.
SAVANNAH HAS BEEN HOME TO Jazz giants
such as Louis Armstrong’s mentor, James
“King” Oliver, Johnny Mercer, Ben Riley, James
Moody, Kenny Palmer, Ben Tucker, and such
contemporaries as Teddy Adams, Howard Paul,
and Jody Espina. The Hostess City continues
to serve as a petri dish for nurturing great new
talent on the world stage of Jazz. The Coastal
Jazz Association was founded 35 years ago and
today carries on the traditions of Jazz music in
Savannah where, in its heyday, there were over
190 clubs offering Jazz music events in both
black and white social clubs and theaters along
West Broad (now MLK Boulevard), all the way
out to Tybee Island at the Tybrisa Pavilion.
DOWNTOWN SAVANNAH through the 1950s
was when the white folks went to black clubs to
be entertained, and Tybrisa was where whites
went to hear black bands and dance their feet
off to big swing bands with Johnny Mercer and
Cab Calloway. The evolution of this essentially
black art form has conjoined the races to
produce great white Jazz musicians including
Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman and
Stan Getz. ➻
us together in search of individual identity.
JAZZ IS HOT AND IRREVERENT. Its African
tribal syncopation, mixed with classical European
melodic structures excite people to exotic dance
moves, like the Camel, the Mess Around, and the
Turkey Trot. It is as comfortable in churches as it
is in a brothel.
GO
TYBRISA PAVILLION AND DANCE CARD, THE EARLY SCENE OF BIG BAND JAZZ CONCERTS
SAVANNAH’S SEA ISLAND SOUND
Unlike New Orleans, Savannah did not have a Colonial French Creole
heritage. Creoles were better heeled and freer than their African
counterparts. More educated, classically trained, and skilled, Creoles played
more structured music than Blues musicians.
After the Civil War the Creoles and freed Africans started playing together,
mixing classically structured music with tribal African drumming, Ragtime,
and the raw Blues, creating the sound of New Orleans Dixieland Jazz. This
was shared throughout the country by legends such as Sidney Bechet, Jelly
Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Mahalia Jackson.
Savannah was never exposed to this cultural melting pot, and according
to Professor Charles Elmore in his book, All That Savannah Jazz, blacks in
Savannah, “were developing jazz with a sea island, and not a Creole flavor.”
SAVANNAH BRASS AND RED LIGHTS
Horns, trumpets, trombones and drums, to the fore! The available
instruments left after the war dictated the form that Jazz would take, but
the musicians always determined its substance. From the beginning, no Jazz
number has ever been played the same way twice; this is part of its intrigue.
At the turn of the century, Dixieland brass bands in Savannah led parades
and funeral processions, and performed in parks and theaters from Lincoln
Park to Star and Pekin Theaters on West Broad, and in churches and brothels
all over town.
“SAVANNAH’S BROTHEL SCENE WAS
SUCH THAT IT WAS LISTED AS ONE
OF THE ‘30 MOST IMMORAL CITIES IN
AMERICA’ BY THE BALTIMORE AFROAMERICAN IN 1920.”
Like New Orleans’ Storyville, Savannah had red-light districts in
Frogtown, Yamacraw, and elsewhere. Savannah’s brothel scene was such
that it was listed as one of the “30 Most Immoral Cities in America” by the
Baltimore Afro-American in 1920. The city then appointed a Jazz Inspector
and passed an anti-Jazz ordinance to end what Professor Elmore cites as,
“lascivious new music, which encourages immoral behavior by fast men and
loose women,” but, this being Savannah, it was short-lived.
Jazz was everywhere throughout the city. Descendants of slaves would
gather in the afternoons with tour trolleys full of attendees at the Heritage
Planation off Bay Street to hear great brass bands. Imagine them playing such
great spirituals as “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Down By the Riverside,”
all together; yet segregated.
Savannah Jazz Festival
September 18 – 24
Venues include – Rancho
Alegre, Hotel Indigo, Mansion
on Forsyth, Forsyth Park
Sponsors include – City of
Savannah, Dr, Brad Durham,
Miner Family Wines, Bernard
Williams, Enmark, Critz Auto,
Seacrest Partners
Acts include – Dave Stryker,
King Solomon Hicks, Peter
Fish Group, Don Braden
Audrey Shakir
facebook.com/
savannahjazzfestival
savannahjazzfest.com
DUNBAR THEATER ONE OF MANY JAZZ VENUES
ALONG WEST BROAD STREET IN THE HEYDAY
Coastal Jazz Association
Monthly Concerts
Hotel Indigo
201 W Bay Street
hotelindigosavannah.com
facebook.com/CoastalJazzSav
Rancho Allegre
Fri – Sat, The Jody Espina Trio,
and others
402 Martin Luther King Jr.
Blvd
Savannah
4490 Bluffton Park Crescent
Bluffton, SC
C O A S TA L J A Z Z
A S S O C I AT I O N
coastaljazz.org
LEARN
Savannah Jazz Hall of Fame
coastaljazz.org
READ
Charles Elmore, All That
Savannah Jazz
Julius “Boo” Hornstein, Sites
and Sounds of Savannah Jazz
THE 1950S DESOTO HOTEL JAZZ DANCE SCENE
struck his golf cart in 2013. He
was so loved here that his funeral
was nothing less than a Savannah
celebration with over 1500 people
at the church service followed
by a parade and Jazz festival.
Hannah’s was open in three
different venues for over 13 years,
making it the longest running Jazz
club in modern history. Since its
closing in 2002, Jazz legends like
Teddy Adams are hard-pressed
for venues. Adams said that
Hannah’s was to Savannah what
The Jazz Corner is to Hilton Head
today, currently in its 17th year of
operation.
THE LOSS OF A LOCAL LEGEND
For a city who was hostess to Jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Joe “King”
Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters and Johnny Mercer in theaters, the
Municipal Auditorium, and the DeSoto Hotel regularly from the 1920s to the
1950s, Savannah’s state of music today is baffling. There are have been no
dedicated venues in which to hear Jazz music alone, or with food, or with a
dance floor since the closing of local Jazz legend Ben Tucker’s Hard Hearted
Hannah’s in Savannah.
Tucker died tragically when a speeding motorist on Hutchinson Island
SAVANNAH TROMBONE VIRTUOSO, TEDDY ADAMS
AUGUS T / SE P T E M B E R 2016
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CHID PRODIGY KING SOLOMON HICKS,
COMING TO THE JAZZ FESTIVAL
COURTESY, DR. BRAD DURHAM
PASSING THE
TORCH
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD –
FIND ING JAZZ IN SAVANNAH TODAY
Today, Savannah Jazz lives on due to the efforts of the Coastal Jazz Association
whose President, and great Jazz guitarist, Howard Paul said, “The fact that
there is no true music venue here is a reflection of the economic fact that it
was once so deeply rooted in the African American culture, which is struggling
today.”
Our biggest scene is the Savannah Jazz Festival. Unlike the Savannah Music
Festival, it is a week of totally free concerts produced by the CJA and sponsored
in part by the City of Savannah’s Department of Cultural Affairs. It hosts both
internationally acclaimed and regionally prominent artists. “We really provide
a community service with this festival because it unites people of all color
and class, improving our quality of life,” Paul explained. This year’s concert
is September 18 through 24 with shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in
Forsyth Park.
CJA hosts monthly concerts for members and guests in the new The Hotel
Indigo on Bay Street. Aside from these concerts, and the Jazz Festival, you
can find some of the best Jazz at Rancho Allegre; The Cuban Restaurant on
Martin Luther King Boulevard. Juan Rodriguez, the owner, understands the
importance of Jazz. Each weekend at Rancho, you can find The Jody Espina
Trio featuring rising stars like Maggie Evans, Bill Harris and Mitch Hennes, and
other young musicians.
Other regular venues include Ruth’s
Chris Steak House lounge where Paul often
plays with such legends as Tony Monaco
and Quentin Baxter. And the big band
sounds from the Tybrisa era remain alive
through Jeremy Davis’ Equinox Orchestra
featured monthly at The Westin Savannah
Harbor. Even “Gypsy Jazz” of the Hot Club
of Paris can be heard thanks to regular
local appearances by Ricardo Ochoa’s
Velvet Caravan.
EMMY AWARD-WINNING PETER FISH,
COMING TO THE JAZZ FESTIVAL COURTESY,
BERNARD WILLIAMS AND ENMARK
WORLD RENOWNED DAVE STRYKER,
COMING TO THE JASS FESTIVAL
COURTESY, MINER FAMILY WINES
Teddy Adams and Howard
Paul-both Savannah Hall of
Fame inductees—mentor
the next generation. Adams,
who played at the end of the
Tybee scene in 1956 and in
the West Broad clubs, served
HOWARD PAUL AND JOHN FADDIS AT SAVANNAH JAZZ FESTIVAL
in the Air Force in Japan
HOWARD PAUL MENTORING STUDENTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
after the Vietman War, where
he played with legends such as
Bob Blakey, Sadao Watanabe,
Rufus Reid, and many more.
He said because we have no
dedicated Jazz venues, our
young talent leaves Savannah.
Adams has had tremendous
success in placing his
students in the country’s most
prominent conservatories
and grooming them for
significant careers. “We need
more students and programs
in schools, because they are
the ones who encourage Jazz scenes.” His Teddy Adams and the Future of Jazz
Band is comprised of members as young as 15 who are learning from a master,
and it is a beautiful thing to watch.
The Coastal Jazz Association nurtures new talent by providing scholarships
in Jazz each year to Georgia Southern and Armstrong State. It also awards
“IF YOU HAVE TO ASK WHAT
JAZZ IS, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW.”
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
stipends to schools including Savannah Country Day and Savannah Arts
Academy. The CJA also stewards the Savannah Jazz Hall of Fame whose
members include many internationally acclaimed artists including Ben Riley,
and Sahib Shihab.
Paul, also the President of the vaunted Jazz guitar company, Benedetto
Guitars, in Savannah, serves the National Association of Music Merchants’
Taskforce (NAMM), educating Congress on the importance of music education.
“Learning music at a young age helps with communication, math and
engineering skills of all kinds,” said Paul.
MOPPING UP – THE LAST BEAT
Blacks and whites, rich and poor, the educated and the unschooled have all
been unified through the American art form of Jazz music. The thing is, that the
notes and the chords do not care what color or from what class you are. Wynton
Marsalis summed it up perfectly in the awesome PBS documentary, Jazz, A
Film by Ken Burns, “Jazz music celebrates life – the range of it; the absurdity of
it; the ignorance of it; the greatness of it; the intelligence of it; the sexuality of it;
the profundity of it. And it deals with it!”
Our own Johnny Mercer calls to us to enjoy the “Days of wine and roses
laugh and run away, like a child at play,” so get out and discover Savannah Jazz
in surprising venues and at the Savannah Jazz Festival. Everyone can play.
“JAZZ MUSIC CELEBRATES LIFE –
THE RANGE OF IT; THE ABSURDITY
OF IT; THE SEXUALITY OF IT; THE
PROFUNDITY OF IT.”
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