Jazz à la Creole: French Creole Music and the Birth of Jazz

Winner of the 2023 Award for Excellence for Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections

During the formative years of jazz (1890–1917), the Creoles of Color—as they were then called—played a significant role in the development of jazz as teachers, bandleaders, instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Indeed, music penetrated all aspects of the life of this tight-knit community, proud of its French heritage and language. They played and/or sa...