Performing the Devil’s Music: Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band

Performing the Devil’s Music Performing the Devil’s Music Free for HNOC members $10 for nonmembers In the early 20th century, cultural critics, concerned citizens, politicians, and religious leaders fueled moral panic as they rushed to label jazz, or ‘jass,’ as “the devil’s music.” Break out your devil horns and don your dancing shoes for HNOC’s next Courtyard Sessions concert featuring Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Jazz Band. They’ll be playing a set list full of tunes that scandalized polite society in their day. Attendees are encouraged to wear costumes in the spirit of the season! A cashless bar will be available during two back-to-back 45-minute sets. Admission is free for HNOC members and $10 for nonmembers. Standing room only; limited seating is available for guests with accessibility needs. Courtyard Sessions are presented as part of French Quarter Fridays, featuring live music, happy hours, and engaging activities in HNOC’s French Quarter courtyard. Dr. Michael White is an accomplished, multi-faceted New Orleans-based clarinetist, bandleader, composer, musicologist, jazz historian, and educator widely regarded as one of the leading authorities and culture-bearers of traditional New Orleans jazz music. He has performed in over two dozen foreign countries, played on over 50 recordings, received countless awards, made multiple national television appearances, and been featured in major media publications. In 1980 White began teaching Spanish at Xavier University, while he maintained a career as a gigging musician. His relationship with the university would grow over the years and led him to being awarded the Rosa and Charles Keller Jr. Endowed Chair in the Humanities—a position held until his recent retirement. Dr. White does extensive work hosting workshops and teaching New Orleans music, including guest coaching at the Julliard School of Music. Since 1995, he has served as the main consultant for traditional jazz for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2002, he began producing the Culture of New Orleans Series at Xavier University, a highly successful program featuring more than two dozen lectures, concerts, and film presentations featuring the authentic traditions and people of New Orleans. The Original Liberty Jazz Band was formed in 1981 by clarinetist Michael White as an effort to preserve and extend the authentic traditional New Orleans jazz style. After the passing of the older members, several younger musicians—including several descendants of early generation jazz families— filled in the ranks. The Original Liberty Jazz Band has often been cited as being the best, most authentic, and most exciting traditional jazz band in New Orleans today. The Original Liberty Jazz Band has toured and performed all over the world at festivals, universities, and concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Wolftrap, Kennedy Center, Apollo Theater, Playboy Jazz Festival, DC Jazz Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and countless other venues. The band is featured in the documentaries Liberty Street Blues and Maroon. Dr. Michael White and the band have frequently been profiled on television, on radio, and in the press. The group has appeared on several acclaimed recordings under Dr. Michael White’s name. HNOC Members receive free admission to Courtyard Sessions performances and (1) complimentary drink. Members will see their ticket discount display after logging in and adding tickets to their cart. HNOC’s Courtyard Sessions are supported by a grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association (NOTA). Become an HNOC member for as little as $45 and unlock free admission and one complimentary drink at all French Quarter Friday events, while enjoying all the great year-round benefits of HNOC membership. Enjoy live music, happy hours, and curated experiences in HNOC’s French Quarter courtyard. The jazzman was also a gifted writer and storyteller who put his own spin on the archetypes of African American folklore, from badmen and blues mamas to “day people and night people.” Founder Al Jackson’s scholarship and personal history come together in Treme’s Petit Jazz Museum. At the turn of the 20th century, a music-loving serial killer proclaimed that only jazz lovers would be safe from his reign of terror. For decades, studio photographer John E. Kuhlman spent his free time taking pictures of jazz musicians. HNOC is now home to that part of his archive. Ory and his trombone helped shape jazz from the 1920s onward. His papers include photographs, correspondence, sheet music, instruments, and more. The music of New Orleans is the living product of dynamic cultural interactions played out over centuries in this diverse southern port city. Explore the musical legacy of New Orleans’s own Boswell Sisters, who where among the first stars of radio’s golden age. by Danny Barker edited by Alyn Shipton, with an introduction by Gwen Thompkins