Thomas Jacobsen fell in love with the music and lifestyle of New Orleans during a year as visiting professor at Tulane University. Just a few years later he took early retirement from Indiana University and moved to New Orleans, where he immersed himself in the music scene. The inspiration for the current book was Charles Suhor’s volume, Jazz in New Orleans: The Postwar Years through 1970, published through the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies in 2001. In order to continue Suhor’s account of the city’s rich jazz traditions, Jacobsen researched musical trends, musicians, and venues throughout the decades 1970 to 2000.
The first two chapters, a short prologue on the 1960s and an extended account of the 1970s entitled “Jazz Is Back,” are compiled from historical records and interviews. Most notably, Jacobsen chronicles continued friction between the commercialization of the French Quarter and the preservation of jazz as a living art form. The two chapters on the 1980s and 1990s, entitled “New Orleans Exposed to the World” and “A Golden Age for Traditional Jazz,” are very personal accounts by the author. As he immersed himself in the musical life of New Orleans, Jacobsen kept detailed records of the various clubs, musicians, and groups, as well as surrounding media that appeared and disappeared over the years. Each chapter closes with several pages of photos that provide us with a glimpse into the daily life of the Crescent City.
Even beyond the chronological accounts of musicians and in-depth discussions of clubs, festivals, and leading family empires, Jacobsen shares his insights and concerns about racial debates and dwindling audiences for jazz. Although New Orleans is arguably the birthplace of jazz, the city was never able to brand itself, as did Nashville (Music City) and Austin (Live Music Capital), with a slogan that includes jazz. Furthermore, tourists expect the traditional repertoire and brass bands in public venues and as a result progress of the art form has been somewhat stifled. Jacobsen blames ignorance by many city officials and citizens alike about jazz and its history for the lack of branding and missed opportunities. Fortunately the musicians have found alternatives for developing their unique voices outside of the tourist-driven venues. Many have documented their new directions on recordings and have traveled beyond the city, for example Los Hombres Calientes, Astral Project, and Dr. Michael White, to name just a few.
Overall, Jacobsen has created a very important and most detailed historical account of the players and venues over the past four decades in the cradle of jazz. Especially during times of dwindling audiences and little media recognition, this fundamental cultural product of the American melting pot needs to be documented and recognized. The collection is very personal and focused on Jacobsen’s preferred style of mainstream jazz, and hence its musical accounting is not quite comprehensive and there is little analysis of the musical products and styles. Personally, I would have been interested in a deeper look at some of the issues mentioned in the prologue, e.g., the fact that musicians who work seven nights a week barely make minimum wage with no health insurance. Jazz is the trademark of New Orleans and jazz is the essence of attracting tourists; such negligence of the main cultural goods speaks volumes about America’s continued culture wars. Passionate, enthusiastic, and thorough accounts such as Jacobsen’s The New Orleans Jazz Scene, 1970–2000 are much-needed documents of the social and economic impact of jazz, which has been called “America’s classical music.”
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[Review length: 581 words • Review posted on December 1, 2015]