Daniel Meyer

[Daniel Meyer]

I am a New Orleanian. I do historical research, mostly related to early New Orleans jazz and related topics. I'm an administrator on Wikipedia.

[William Kelly]

I am a New Orleanian. I do historical research, mostly related to early New Orleans jazz and related topics. I'm an administrator on Wikipedia.

Hi Dan, Welcome to the forum.

Maybe you can end an outstanding debate.

Did Fats Waller really invent jazz or did he just say that?

Bill Kelly

[Daniel Meyer]

Hi Dan, Welcome to the forum.

Maybe you can end an outstanding debate.

Did Fats Waller really invent jazz or did he just say that?

Bill Kelly

Thanks for the welcome. LOL, I'm not aware of Fats Waller making that claim. Perhaps you're thinking of Jelly Roll Morton.

Morton was certainly a brilliant creator and important innovator in the early days of jazz, and also someone who believed

in vigorous self promotion. Should there be an Education Forum discussion of the origins of jazz, I'd enjoy participating.

I agree with jazz writer Al Rose's assertion that if you try to pin down the origin of jazz, you need to define what you mean

by "jazz". What is became known as "New Orleans Style Jazz" was, I believe, the product of a series of innovations from the

1890s to 1910s, and even some of the people who created the music at the time disagreed as to where the boundary of "not yet jazz"

and "jazz" was.

An important influence on me was the late oral historian Richard B. Allen of Tulane University's Jazz Archive. I admired his

passion for accuracy and mastery of getting information in oral histories while scrupulously avoiding leading questions.

I learned that the "history" part of oral history comes not from any one person's account, but rather from the points

where multiple independent accounts agree. This has colored not only my views on early jazz history but also on the JFK assassination.

Cheers, D.M.

[William Kelly]

Hi Dan, Welcome to the forum.

Maybe you can end an outstanding debate.

Did Fats Waller really invent jazz or did he just say that?

Bill Kelly

Thanks for the welcome. LOL, I'm not aware of Fats Waller making that claim. Perhaps you're thinking of Jelly Roll Morton.

Morton was certainly a brilliant creator and important innovator in the early days of jazz, and also someone who believed

in vigorous self promotion. Should there be an Education Forum discussion of the origins of jazz, I'd enjoy participating.

I agree with jazz writer Al Rose's assertion that if you try to pin down the origin of jazz, you need to define what you mean

by "jazz". What is became known as "New Orleans Style Jazz" was, I believe, the product of a series of innovations from the

1890s to 1910s, and even some of the people who created the music at the time disagreed as to where the boundary of "not yet jazz"

and "jazz" was.

An important influence on me was the late oral historian Richard B. Allen of Tulane University's Jazz Archive. I admired his

passion for accuracy and mastery of getting information in oral histories while scrupulously avoiding leading questions.

I learned that the "history" part of oral history comes not from any one person's account, but rather from the points

where multiple independent accounts agree. This has colored not only my views on early jazz history but also on the JFK assassination.

Cheers, D.M.

God bless you.

Have you ever heard of Henry Pleasants?

I did get Fats Waller confused with Jelly Roll Morton. Thanks for straightening that out.

What a great neighborhood to live. Oswald's old hood, Exchange Alley, above a pool hall.

And Dan,

who do you think exagerates more, JFK witnesses or jazz players?

Bill Kelly

Edited September 6, 2010 by William Kelly

[Daniel Meyer]

Heh, I'll pass on your last question. I'm unaware of any study quantifying comparative exaggeration :-)

I've heard of Henry Pleasants, but don't know much about him.

I've never lived in the French Quarter, but go there often for work and recreation.

I guess Exchange Alley being a great place to live would depend on what one was looking for. A lot of that area was on the run down side in the 1950s, but the location was certainly very convenient, right off Canal Street, the city's bustling main street, a short walk to the entertainment section of the Quarter, bus and streetcar lines converging around there to get to other parts of town.

I live Uptown, closer to where Oswald was staying on Magazine Street in '63; I drove by the building just earlier today.

Years ago I used to walk through Lafayette Square several days a week.

Back in August of 2005 I had a list in the back seat of my car, of places in New Orleans associated with Oswald, David Ferrie, etc I planned to take photos of. Then came a distraction called Katrina. That took up a lot of my attention for a few years. I've only recently been getting back to spending more time on some of my other interests.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Daniel Meyer