Music of New Orleans
Encyclopedia
The music of New Orleans assumes various styles of music which have often borrowed from earlier traditions. New Orleans, Louisiana
is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of the genre. The earliest form was dixieland
, which has sometimes been called traditional jazz, 'New Orleans', and 'New Orleans jazz'. However, the tradition of jazz in New Orleans has taken on various forms that have either branched out from original dixieland or taken entirely different paths altogether. New Orleans has also been a prominent center of funk
, home to some of the earliest funk bands such as The Meters
.
in New Orleans in 1835, when slaves
would congregate there to play music and dance on Sundays. African music local music, including that of such local Whites as Louis Moreau Gottschalk
. Along with such popular European musical forms popular in the city, perhaps most notably the brass band
traditions, the cultural mix laid the groundwork for the New Orleans musical art forms to come.
By 1838 the local paper—the daily Picayune—ran a scathing article complaining about the emergence of brass bands in the city, which it stated could be found on every corner. In 1885 local authorities tried to outlaw such expression in the square, though the restriction was not long-lived.
continued to call his music "ragtime" throughout his life), along with such local terms as "hot music" and "ratty music".
The local New Orleans dance music style was already distinctive in the 19th century. When this style became what was later known as "jazz" remains a matter of debate and definition, although most New Orleans music historians believe what became known as New Orleans style jazz was the product of a series of developments, probably reaching it's famous form no earlier than the 1890s and no later than the mid 1910s.
By the 1890s a man by the name of Poree hired a band led by cornetist Buddy Bolden
, many of whose contemporaries as well as many jazz historians consider to be the first prominent jazz musician. The music was not called jazz at this time, consisting of marching band
music with brass instruments and dancing. If anything, Bolden could be said to have been a blues
player. The actual term "jazz" was first "jass", the etymology of which is still not entirely clear. The connotation is sexual in nature, as many of the early performers played in rough working class venues. Despite colorful stories of mid-20th century writers, the prostitution
district known as Storyville
was no more important in the development of the music than the city's other neighborhoods, but did play a role in exposing some out of town visitors to the style. Many instruments used were often acquired second-hand at pawn shops, including used military band instruments.
During this period ragtime
was becoming very popular in the United States
, and New Orleans musicians began to incorporate the music with an uptempo beat. It should be said that the Creole people of New Orleans also contributed greatly to the evolution of the artform, though their own music became heavily influenced by the pioneering work of Bolden. New Orleans-born musicians such as Louis Armstrong
, Sidney Bechet
and Jelly Roll Morton
all recalled the influence Bolden had on the direction of the music of New Orleans (Armstrong himself had no memory of Bolden, but was told about him by his mentor King Oliver), and jazz itself.
processions from the 1890s onward. The tradition drove onward with musicians such as Louis Armstrong
, Henry "Red" Allen and King Oliver. The presence of marching bands lives on today in The Big Easy, with musicians such as the Marsalis family doing some of their earliest work in such bands.
Much of New Orleans music today owes its debt to the early marching bands, even those marching bands which predate the birth of jazz music. In the late 19th century marching bands would often march through the streets of the city in second line parades. Some of the earliest bands originated from the Tremé
neighborhood, and the city gave birth to such bands as the Excelsior, Onward and Olympia brass bands. The Onward and Olympia bands each have sustained incarnations that continue performing to this day. Modern examples of the brass band tradition can be heard in the playing of groups like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
, or the Rebirth Brass Band
led by trumpeter Kermit Ruffins
.
The history of the marching band
in New Orleans is a rich one, with the various bands performing at virtually every major social event the city has to offer. They perform at funerals, picnics, carnivals and parades. The relationship between jazz bands and brass bands is one of co-influence. Jazz bands of this era began to go beyond the confines of the 6/8 time signature
the marching bands utilized. Instead, New Orleans jazz bands began incorporating a style known as "ragging"; this technique implemented the influence of ragtime
2/4 meter and eventually led to improvisation. In turn, the early jazz bands of New Orleans influenced the playing of the marching bands, who in turn began to improvise themselves more often. Again, yet another indication that jazz music is symbolic of freedom.
was first coined by Dan Emmett
in his song Dixie's Land in 1859, in reference to the slave trader Jonathan Dixie. It was not a positive term for African-Americans, as its usage defined any area of the south where slaves had not yet received emancipation
. Dixieland music can be defined in a number of ways, though its origin is to be found in New Orleans, present first in the music of King Oliver. It quickly spread north and became popularized along with the migration of southern blacks to areas like Chicago
. Today the term is used in reference to the music, which provides a general description of any form of jazz that is derived from early New Orleans jazz
.
The term dixieland is generally not used very much by New Orleans-based musicians, for there is good evidence that the term was imposed on them. For instance, the first band to actually use the term in reference to the music in their name was the all-white Original Dixieland Band. This band played no small role in the coinage of the term dixieland in reference to jazz in New Orleans, though they were not the innovators of the music. The only true barrier this band broke was being the first to record New Orleans music, which happened in New York City
of all places in 1917. It should be noted that despite the criticism Paul Barnes made about them, he also said that they had a "first class band".
An early student of Dixieland was the young Louis Prima, as well as his older brother Leon, both of whom lived outside the French Quarter in a working class neighborhood populated by Italian-American and African-American musicians. Into his early 20s, Louis Prima performed on trumpet and cornet throughout New Orleans before following in the path of his idol Armstrong, and moving North for career reasons, where he appeared at the Famous Door in New York City, eventually relocating to Las Vegas where, beginning in the mid-1950s, he regularly appeared with another New Orleans musician, saxophonist Sam Butera.
helped shape what was first widely known as "rhythm and blues
", which was at least an important ancestor of rock and roll
, if not the first form of the music. In addition to the local talent, early rockers from elsewhere such as Little Richard
recorded many of their early hits in New Orleans using bands of New Orleans musicians.
history. Master P
was the first mainstream rapper from New Orleans. His No Limit Records
and Birdman's Cash Money Records
helped discover talented young New Orleans rappers throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. Some seminal New Orleans artists from No Limit include Soulja Slim
, C-Murder, and Silkk the Shocker. Over the years, Cash Money likewise has signed and released albums by several New Orleans artists including BG
and the Big Tymers
, and perhaps most famously Lil' Wayne. The city was also the birthplace of bounce music
.
scene which began to take real form in the late 1980s. Bands such as Eyehategod
, Down
, Exhorder
, Crowbar, Soilent Green
, Goatwhore
, Kingdom of Sorrow
, and Superjoint Ritual
are either based in the city, or have a majority of their members hailing from the area. Artists such as Mike Williams
, Jimmy Bower
, Brian Patton, Phil Anselmo
, Kirk Windstein
, Pepper Keenan
, Pat Bruders
, and Kyle Thomas are New Orleans residents.
The city is known for the "Louisiana sound", which was pioneered by Exhorder, who was the first band to combine doom metal
and up-tempo thrash metal
. As a result, New Orleans is often recognized as the place where sludge metal
was born. Several of these metal groups share a style which draws inspiration from Black Sabbath
, Melvins, hardcore punk
as well as Southern rock
. There is still variance within the sounds of the scene, however. Eyehategod features very harsh vocals and guitar distortion
; Down has a style closer to classic rock
; Crowbar's music has mostly slow tempos and a downtuned guitar sound; and Soilent Green has a sound which is closer to grindcore
.
It's quite usual for a member of one of these bands to be part of another band from New Orleans or Louisiana. Collaborations by members of a band on another are also fairly common. Jimmy Bower is one of the founding members of Eyehategod, he is also a member of Down, he is a former member of Superjoint Ritual and has worked several times with Crowbar. Pepper Keenan, member of Corrosion of Conformity
, is a member of Down and also worked on Eyehategod's album Dopesick
. Kirk Windstein is founding member of Crowbar and member of Kingdom of Sorrow and Down. Phil Anselmo is member of Down, former member of Superjoint Ritual as well as various metal acts based in New Orleans; he also has a hardcore punk
side project along with Mike Williams of Eyehategod and Hank Williams III
named Arson Anthem
. Brian Patton is a member of Eyehategod and Soilent Green. L. Ben Falgoust II is the singer of Goatwhore and Soilent Green.
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of the genre. The earliest form was dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
, which has sometimes been called traditional jazz, 'New Orleans', and 'New Orleans jazz'. However, the tradition of jazz in New Orleans has taken on various forms that have either branched out from original dixieland or taken entirely different paths altogether. New Orleans has also been a prominent center of funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, home to some of the earliest funk bands such as The Meters
The Meters
The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...
.
Early 19th century
The African influence on New Orleans music can trace its roots at least back to Congo SquareCongo Square
Congo Square is an open space within Louis Armstrong Park, which is located in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, just across Rampart Street north of the French Quarter. The Tremé neighborhood is famous for its history of African American music....
in New Orleans in 1835, when slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
would congregate there to play music and dance on Sundays. African music local music, including that of such local Whites as Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
. Along with such popular European musical forms popular in the city, perhaps most notably the brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
traditions, the cultural mix laid the groundwork for the New Orleans musical art forms to come.
By 1838 the local paper—the daily Picayune—ran a scathing article complaining about the emergence of brass bands in the city, which it stated could be found on every corner. In 1885 local authorities tried to outlaw such expression in the square, though the restriction was not long-lived.
Jazz
The term "jazz" (early on often spelled "jass") did not become popular until the mid and late 1910s, when New Orleans musicians first rose to prominence in other parts of the USA and the New Orleans style needed a new name to differentiate it from the nationally popular ragtime. Before then, the New Orleans style was frequently simply called "ragtime" (Sidney BechetSidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
continued to call his music "ragtime" throughout his life), along with such local terms as "hot music" and "ratty music".
The local New Orleans dance music style was already distinctive in the 19th century. When this style became what was later known as "jazz" remains a matter of debate and definition, although most New Orleans music historians believe what became known as New Orleans style jazz was the product of a series of developments, probably reaching it's famous form no earlier than the 1890s and no later than the mid 1910s.
By the 1890s a man by the name of Poree hired a band led by cornetist Buddy Bolden
Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden was an African American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of rag-time music which later came to be known as jazz.- Life :...
, many of whose contemporaries as well as many jazz historians consider to be the first prominent jazz musician. The music was not called jazz at this time, consisting of marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
music with brass instruments and dancing. If anything, Bolden could be said to have been a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
player. The actual term "jazz" was first "jass", the etymology of which is still not entirely clear. The connotation is sexual in nature, as many of the early performers played in rough working class venues. Despite colorful stories of mid-20th century writers, the prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
district known as Storyville
Storyville
Storyville was the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917. Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District.-History:...
was no more important in the development of the music than the city's other neighborhoods, but did play a role in exposing some out of town visitors to the style. Many instruments used were often acquired second-hand at pawn shops, including used military band instruments.
During this period ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
was becoming very popular in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and New Orleans musicians began to incorporate the music with an uptempo beat. It should be said that the Creole people of New Orleans also contributed greatly to the evolution of the artform, though their own music became heavily influenced by the pioneering work of Bolden. New Orleans-born musicians such as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
and Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
all recalled the influence Bolden had on the direction of the music of New Orleans (Armstrong himself had no memory of Bolden, but was told about him by his mentor King Oliver), and jazz itself.
Second line
The use of brass marching bands came long before jazz music through their use in the military, though in New Orleans many of the best-known musicians had their start in brass marching bands performing dirges as well as celebratory and upbeat tunes for New Orleans jazz funeralJazz funeral
Jazz funeral is a common name for a funeral tradition with music which developed in New Orleans, Louisiana.The term "jazz funeral" was long in use by observers from elsewhere, but was generally disdained as inappropriate by most New Orleans musicians and practitioners of the tradition...
processions from the 1890s onward. The tradition drove onward with musicians such as Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Henry "Red" Allen and King Oliver. The presence of marching bands lives on today in The Big Easy, with musicians such as the Marsalis family doing some of their earliest work in such bands.
Much of New Orleans music today owes its debt to the early marching bands, even those marching bands which predate the birth of jazz music. In the late 19th century marching bands would often march through the streets of the city in second line parades. Some of the earliest bands originated from the Tremé
Treme
Tremé is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are Esplanade Avenue to the north, North Rampart Street to the east, St. Louis Street to the south and North Broad Street to the west...
neighborhood, and the city gave birth to such bands as the Excelsior, Onward and Olympia brass bands. The Onward and Olympia bands each have sustained incarnations that continue performing to this day. Modern examples of the brass band tradition can be heard in the playing of groups like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...
, or the Rebirth Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé...
led by trumpeter Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins is a jazz trumpeter, singer and composer from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has been heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan and Eddy Jefferson. Ruffins accompanies a large portion of his songs with his own vocals, and he says that the highest note he can hit...
.
The history of the marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
in New Orleans is a rich one, with the various bands performing at virtually every major social event the city has to offer. They perform at funerals, picnics, carnivals and parades. The relationship between jazz bands and brass bands is one of co-influence. Jazz bands of this era began to go beyond the confines of the 6/8 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
the marching bands utilized. Instead, New Orleans jazz bands began incorporating a style known as "ragging"; this technique implemented the influence of ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
2/4 meter and eventually led to improvisation. In turn, the early jazz bands of New Orleans influenced the playing of the marching bands, who in turn began to improvise themselves more often. Again, yet another indication that jazz music is symbolic of freedom.
Dixieland
The term dixielandDixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
was first coined by Dan Emmett
Dan Emmett
Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett was an American songwriter and entertainer, founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition.-Biography:...
in his song Dixie's Land in 1859, in reference to the slave trader Jonathan Dixie. It was not a positive term for African-Americans, as its usage defined any area of the south where slaves had not yet received emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
. Dixieland music can be defined in a number of ways, though its origin is to be found in New Orleans, present first in the music of King Oliver. It quickly spread north and became popularized along with the migration of southern blacks to areas like Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Today the term is used in reference to the music, which provides a general description of any form of jazz that is derived from early New Orleans jazz
New Orleans Jazz
New Orleans Jazz may refer to:*Dixieland, a style of jazz music*New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park*Utah Jazz, a professional National Basketball Association franchise that was previously based in New Orleans and known as the New Orleans Jazz, in recognition of the jazz music of New Orleans*A...
.
The term dixieland is generally not used very much by New Orleans-based musicians, for there is good evidence that the term was imposed on them. For instance, the first band to actually use the term in reference to the music in their name was the all-white Original Dixieland Band. This band played no small role in the coinage of the term dixieland in reference to jazz in New Orleans, though they were not the innovators of the music. The only true barrier this band broke was being the first to record New Orleans music, which happened in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
of all places in 1917. It should be noted that despite the criticism Paul Barnes made about them, he also said that they had a "first class band".
An early student of Dixieland was the young Louis Prima, as well as his older brother Leon, both of whom lived outside the French Quarter in a working class neighborhood populated by Italian-American and African-American musicians. Into his early 20s, Louis Prima performed on trumpet and cornet throughout New Orleans before following in the path of his idol Armstrong, and moving North for career reasons, where he appeared at the Famous Door in New York City, eventually relocating to Las Vegas where, beginning in the mid-1950s, he regularly appeared with another New Orleans musician, saxophonist Sam Butera.
Rhythm & blues and rock & roll
A new style came out of New Orleans after World War II. Prominent musicians such as Fats DominoFats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
helped shape what was first widely known as "rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
", which was at least an important ancestor of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, if not the first form of the music. In addition to the local talent, early rockers from elsewhere such as Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
recorded many of their early hits in New Orleans using bands of New Orleans musicians.
Hip hop
New Orleans has a rich hip hopHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
history. Master P
Master P
Percy Robert Miller , better known by his stage name Master P or his business name P. Miller, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, and producer. He is the founder of the popular label No Limit Records, which went bankrupt and was relaunched as New No Limit Records through Koch...
was the first mainstream rapper from New Orleans. His No Limit Records
No Limit Records
No Limit Records was an American hip-hop record label that was founded in 1990 by hip-hop artist, Percy "Master P" Miller. It was distributed by Priority Records.-No Limit Early years:...
and Birdman's Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records is a record label founded by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Universal Republic Records as of 2011...
helped discover talented young New Orleans rappers throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. Some seminal New Orleans artists from No Limit include Soulja Slim
Soulja Slim
James Tapp, Jr. , better known by his stage name Soulja Slim, was an American rapper who achieved massive success on Master P's No Limit record label. He also achieved fame throughout New Orleans and Nation Wide from his work done with B.G., UNLV, and other local artists. He is known for writing...
, C-Murder, and Silkk the Shocker. Over the years, Cash Money likewise has signed and released albums by several New Orleans artists including BG
BG
- Companies and organizations :* British Government, the government of the United Kingdom* Bergdorf Goodman BG.com, department store on 5th Avenue, New York* Biman Bangladesh Airlines IATA airline code* Bord Gáis, Bord Gáis Éireann, the Irish Gas Board...
and the Big Tymers
Big Tymers
The Big Tymers were an American rap duo active from 1997 to 2005 from New Orleans, Louisiana. The Big Tymers consisted of Cash Money Records co-founder, Baby and former Cash Money in-house producer, Mannie Fresh. Baby later changed his stage name to Birdman after the group was dissolved...
, and perhaps most famously Lil' Wayne. The city was also the birthplace of bounce music
Bounce music
Bounce music is an energetic style of New Orleans hip hop music which is said to have originated as early as the late 1980s, but is typically believed to have begun with the 1991 single "Where Dey At" by MC T.Tucker and DJ Irv...
.
Heavy metal
New Orleans has an active metalHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
scene which began to take real form in the late 1980s. Bands such as Eyehategod
Eyehategod
Eyehategod is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans who formed in 1988. They have become one of the most well known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene...
, Down
Down (band)
Down is an American heavy metal supergroup that formed in 1991 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Phil Anselmo, guitarist Pepper Keenan, guitarist Kirk Windstein, bassist Pat Bruders and drummer Jimmy Bower. Since their formation, Down has gone on hiatus twice...
, Exhorder
Exhorder
Exhorder is an American thrash/groove metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana. They are credited as the purveyors of the groove-oriented thrash sound later made famous by bands such as Pantera, White Zombie, and Machine Head. Initially active from 1985 to 1992, they have since reformed in...
, Crowbar, Soilent Green
Soilent Green
Soilent Green is a grindcore and sludge metal band that hails from Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans.-Overview:Soilent Green was founded in 1988. Their début album wasn't released until 1995, when Pussysoul came out on Dwell Records...
, Goatwhore
Goatwhore
Goatwhore is an American blackened death metal band, formed in 1997 in New Orleans, Louisiana.- Biography :Goatwhore was formed by singer/guitarist Sammy Duet following the breakup of his previous band, Acid Bath. Soilent Green singer L...
, Kingdom of Sorrow
Kingdom of Sorrow
Kingdom of Sorrow is an American heavy metal band which features Kirk Windstein of Crowbar and Down, along with Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed.- History :...
, and Superjoint Ritual
Superjoint Ritual
Superjoint Ritual was an American heavy metal band formed by Phil Anselmo, Joe Fazzio, and Jimmy Bower in the early 1990s, later to be joined by Hank Williams III, and Kevin Bond. Their style can be considered a mix of Pantera's style of groove metal and hardcore punk. A small trace of black metal...
are either based in the city, or have a majority of their members hailing from the area. Artists such as Mike Williams
Mike Williams (singer)
Mike IX Williams is the singer for Eyehategod and former associate editor for Metal Maniacs. He has also worked on other projects.-Eyehategod:Mike was invited to join Eyehategod by Jimmy Bower in 1988...
, Jimmy Bower
Jimmy Bower
Jimmy Bower is an American sludge/heavy metal guitarist and drummer who has played with six bands, most notably Eyehategod, Crowbar, Down, and Superjoint Ritual....
, Brian Patton, Phil Anselmo
Phil Anselmo
Philip Hansen "Phil" Anselmo is an American musician who is best known as the lead singer for the heavy metal band Pantera. He is currently the frontman for the Louisiana-based metal act Down. He is also the owner of Housecore Records....
, Kirk Windstein
Kirk Windstein
Kirk Windstein is an English-American sludge metal singer and guitarist for the New Orleans bands Crowbar, Down, and Kingdom of Sorrow....
, Pepper Keenan
Pepper Keenan
Pepper J. Keenan , is an American vocalist and guitarist, best known for his work with heavy metal bands Corrosion of Conformity and Down. He joined Corrosion of Conformity in 1989, but did not become the lead singer until the recording of Deliverance in 1994...
, Pat Bruders
Patrick Bruders
Patrick Bruders is an American musician. He is best known for having been the bassist of the blackened death metal band Goatwhore from 1997 to 2004....
, and Kyle Thomas are New Orleans residents.
The city is known for the "Louisiana sound", which was pioneered by Exhorder, who was the first band to combine doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
and up-tempo thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
. As a result, New Orleans is often recognized as the place where sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
was born. Several of these metal groups share a style which draws inspiration from Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Melvins, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
as well as Southern rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
. There is still variance within the sounds of the scene, however. Eyehategod features very harsh vocals and guitar distortion
Distortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
; Down has a style closer to classic rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
; Crowbar's music has mostly slow tempos and a downtuned guitar sound; and Soilent Green has a sound which is closer to grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
.
It's quite usual for a member of one of these bands to be part of another band from New Orleans or Louisiana. Collaborations by members of a band on another are also fairly common. Jimmy Bower is one of the founding members of Eyehategod, he is also a member of Down, he is a former member of Superjoint Ritual and has worked several times with Crowbar. Pepper Keenan, member of Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity
Corrosion of Conformity is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina formed in 1982. For almost the majority of its existence, the band has consisted of guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean , drummer Reed Mullin and vocalist and rhythm...
, is a member of Down and also worked on Eyehategod's album Dopesick
Dopesick
Dopesick is the third studio album by the American sludge metal band Eyehategod, released on April 2, 1996. It was reissued in 2006 as part of Century Media's 20th Anniversary series with three bonus tracks that were recorded during the original Dopesick recording sessions.-Recording and...
. Kirk Windstein is founding member of Crowbar and member of Kingdom of Sorrow and Down. Phil Anselmo is member of Down, former member of Superjoint Ritual as well as various metal acts based in New Orleans; he also has a hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
side project along with Mike Williams of Eyehategod and Hank Williams III
Hank Williams III
Shelton Hank Williams, known as Hank 3 , is a neotraditional country and punk metal singer, drummer, bassist, and guitarist. In addition to his honky tonk recordings, Williams' style alternates among country, punk and metal...
named Arson Anthem
Arson Anthem
Arson Anthem is an American hardcore punk band, formed in New Orleans in 2006. The lineup comprises singer Mike Williams of Eyehategod, vocalist Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Down and Superjoint Ritual on guitar, country musician, punk rocker and Assjack frontman Hank Williams III on drums, and bassist...
. Brian Patton is a member of Eyehategod and Soilent Green. L. Ben Falgoust II is the singer of Goatwhore and Soilent Green.
External links
- A History of New Orleans Music in 100 Tracks, edited by Ted Gioia (jazz.com)
- Clarence's Greater New Orleans Area Cajun and Zydeco Schedule
- New Orleans composer Edmund Dédé
- New Orleans composer Basile Barés
- Biographical sketches of New Orleans African American composers B. Barés, E. Dédé, L. Lambert, S. Lambert, J. W. Nickerson, A. J. Piron, and F. V. Seymour, and notes regarding their downloadable music. Site also has notes on 22 downloadable Creole melodies.
- NOLA Underground
- No Questions, No Answers New Orleans Punk Compilation 1980
- The WTUL New Wave Hour - 1978
- List of past and present New Orleans musical artists