The grand era of the Mississippi Riverboats played a significant role in the development and spread of jazz from New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. A young Louis Armstrong received valuable musical training working in dance bands aboard excursion steamboats run by John Streckfus, the man most responsible for developing the connection between dance music and riverboats. It is said that Jazz Age cornetist Bix Beiderbecke heard his first live jazz coming from steamboats docked alongside the wharf in his native river town of Davenport, Iowa. River towns St. Louis and Memphis have had strong associations with jazz and blues.
This week Riverwalk Jazz takes a trip up the mighty Mississippi as New Orleans' Vernel Bagneris brings to life stories from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, in a radio theater presentation.
The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM sattelite radio and can be streamed on- demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website.
One hundred years ago, the grandeur of the Mississippi River was a central fact of everyday life. Goods and people traveled up and down its 4,000 winding miles from New Orleans to St. Paul.
A steamboat coming into port in small towns along the river brought everyone down to the wharf. Big New Orleans passenger packets stood three stories high and floated down the river like giant hotels. They were long and trim, with a glass and gingerbread pilothouse perched on top. Black smoke would billow from her chimneys, white columns of steam shot into the air, flags flew and whistles blew as she glided into port.
Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in 1835. He grew up on the river, and as a young man worked as a pilot on Mississippi steamboats. Almost two decades later, after establishing himself as a writer, Twain published a series of essays in The Atlantic Monthly reminiscing about his early life as a cub pilot. These stories form the basis of his famous 1883 book, Life on the Mississippi.
The Great River looms large in our collective imagination in songs that continue to serve as jazz vehicles for The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and their guests—"Muddy Water," Mississippi Mud," “Blue River," and “Lazy 'Sippi Steamer." Pieces from Jerome Kern's ground-breaking musical Show Boat including “Why Do I Love You?," “Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and “Ol' Man River" are given the “hot jazz treatment."
This week Riverwalk Jazz takes a trip up the mighty Mississippi as New Orleans' Vernel Bagneris brings to life stories from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, in a radio theater presentation.
The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM sattelite radio and can be streamed on- demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website.
One hundred years ago, the grandeur of the Mississippi River was a central fact of everyday life. Goods and people traveled up and down its 4,000 winding miles from New Orleans to St. Paul.
A steamboat coming into port in small towns along the river brought everyone down to the wharf. Big New Orleans passenger packets stood three stories high and floated down the river like giant hotels. They were long and trim, with a glass and gingerbread pilothouse perched on top. Black smoke would billow from her chimneys, white columns of steam shot into the air, flags flew and whistles blew as she glided into port.
Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in 1835. He grew up on the river, and as a young man worked as a pilot on Mississippi steamboats. Almost two decades later, after establishing himself as a writer, Twain published a series of essays in The Atlantic Monthly reminiscing about his early life as a cub pilot. These stories form the basis of his famous 1883 book, Life on the Mississippi.
The Great River looms large in our collective imagination in songs that continue to serve as jazz vehicles for The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and their guests—"Muddy Water," Mississippi Mud," “Blue River," and “Lazy 'Sippi Steamer." Pieces from Jerome Kern's ground-breaking musical Show Boat including “Why Do I Love You?," “Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and “Ol' Man River" are given the “hot jazz treatment."
