John A. Provenzano in New Orleans - November, 1917
from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, pages 63-64:
Then, in 1917, came the death march of the famous Red Light District, played by the order of the Secretary of the Navy, Daniels.
The scene was pitiful. Basin Street, Franklin, Iberville, Bienville, and St Louis became a veritable shambles of Negro and white prostitutes moving out. With all they had in the world reposing in two-wheel carts or on wheelbarrows, pushed by Negro boys or old men, the once Red Light Queens were making their way out of Storyville to the strains of "Nearer My God to Thee" played by a massed combination of all the Negro jazzmen of the Red Light dance … more >>
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. 63-64. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1436021768870 accessed: 22 November, 2024
Listeners
Listening to
hide composers| Nearer my God to thee | performed by New Orleans jazzmen |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | November, 1917 |
| Medium | live |
| Listening Environment | in the company of others, outdoors, in public |