By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 9.7.06 @ 12:07AM
New Orleans won't truly revive unless its musicians find their way back.
WASHINGTON -- A year after Hurricane Katrina ran its ruinous
course over New Orleans, all America is aware of the botch that
state, local, and federal government made of rescue and
rehabilitation efforts. As the Wall Street Journal
reported recently, "Uncle Sam has spent some five times more on
Katrina relief than any other natural disaster in the past 50
years." The city remains only about half-populated. A lot more
needs to be done, and if it is not accomplished soon important
commercial and cultural losses may follow that could be irreparable
for the home of American Jazz.
In terms of large-scale commerce, private corporations such as
Wal-Mart and Home Depot have stepped in, making contributions of
billions of dollars that have been especially helpful to
residential revival. Now in the realm of culture help is on the
way. This coming week in New York City, the venerable Society of
Singers (SOS) supported by Manhattan's own Alex Donner Productions
is hosting "A Night in New Orleans," an evening of Jazz and New
Orleans culture for the benefit of New Orleans musicians displaced
by the hurricane. The riches of Madonna and Britney Spears
notwithstanding, musicians are for the most part people who live on
the margins financially. Many in New Orleans have lost their homes
and livelihoods and been displaced across the country. The longer
they are away from their New Orleans gigs, the more likely it is
that authentic New Orleans Jazz will wither and expire, to be heard
on CDs but no longer the vibrant force it has been on the streets
of this famous city.
Consequently this effort led by SOS's Mercedes Ellington,
granddaughter of the Duke, and Alex Donner, head of one of the
great swing/society bands of the country, is beyond timely. It is
exigent. And it is being done right. SOS has been assisting
financially strapped musicians since its founding in 1984 by the
widow of Henry Mancini. The organization knows how to verify the
authentic needs of those it helps and their commitment to music. As
to the high style of the evening, Miss Ellington knows a thing or
two about that. She is one of Broadway's accomplished
choreographers. And she will be ably assisted by bandleader Donner
and by Kate Edmonds, an archaeologist of the social scene who is
ensuring that the evening features authentic New Orleans decor,
food, and even Mardi Gras masks.
Donner is seeing to it that the music is top of the chop. From
6:00 P.M. to the wee hours, his musicians will wail in the faded
elegance of the circa 1920s Ballroom at Twenty Four Fifth, a famous
venue on lower Fifth Avenue near Washington Square that was once
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The evening will begin with an
African-American a capella group from New Orleans singing the
National Anthem. Other New Orleans musicians, themselves the
beneficiaries of the evening, will perform as will a Louis
Armstrong look-alike paying a special tribute to Satchmo and to his
music. Others appearing will be Jimmy Maxwell, the maestro of many
Mardi Gras balls, and Joe Lavano, perhaps the premier saxophonist
of the present. In the Donner band itself will be Vince Giordano, a
great bandleader in his own right.
As the evening has already been underwritten, every dime raised
will go to the SOS's efforts to give New Orleans musicians a bit
more time to revive their art at its place of origin, New Orleans.
"Because New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz and Dixieland, one
of our very few indigenous art forms," says Donner, "New Orleans
holds a special place in American culture." Donner is hopeful, but
he speaks with urgency: "If these musicians/singers cannot receive
support now, there is a good chance this music will become
relegated to museums or retro concerts."
Frankly, I expect the evening to be a huge success and to make a
tremendous contribution to the revival of the Crescent City. It
sounds like a lot of fun. Traditional New Orleans masks will be
handed out. The food should be superb. The music cannot be anything
but rapturous. And there is a very clever idea behind it aside from
the love of Jazz. If the musicians come back the tourists will be
sure to follow and that will revive the city more certainly than
any government program. I plan to arrive early for the mint juleps
and stay late. With the Mardi Gras masks being distributed widely,
I can easily avoid my critics.
topics:
Africa
