Bunk Johnson in New Orleans

from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, page 36:

I was crazy to play blues. [Buddy] Bolden was playing blues of all kinds, so when I got with Bolden, we helped to make more blues. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor", that was played in 1894 by King Bolden. And quadrilles, I was crazy to play quadrilles. This quadrille, the first eight bars of what the bands are usin' today, "Tiger Rag", that's King Bolden's first eight bars we would play to get your partner ready for quadrille. And, in later years, 'twas taken and turned into "Tiger Rag" by musicians that could read. Had Bolden knew music, probably Bolden would have made "Tiger Rag". So we …   more >>

cite as

Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (London, 1992), p. 36. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1433495398084 accessed: 18 April, 2024

location of experience: New Orleans

Listeners

Bunk Johnson
cornettist, Jazz trumpeter, Bandleader
1879-1949

Experience Information

Medium live

Originally submitted by 5011Henning on Fri, 05 Jun 2015 10:09:58 +0100
Approved on Sat, 20 Aug 2016 16:27:23 +0100