Ruthie Foster
Story By:
Tom Morgan is a WWOZ radio personality and a freelance author and radio producer living in New Orleans. His first book, "From Cakewalks to Concert Halls: An Illustrated History of African American Popular Music: From 1895 to 1930," published by Elliott and Clark, was awarded second place in the Ralph Gleason Music Book Awards for the best music books published in 1992. He has lectured at numerous colleges, high schools and elementary schools about jazz and blues and owns an extensive collection of early African American written sheet music. In 1996, he was an Associate Editor and major contributor for the African American Culture Volume of the "Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture," published by Manly, Inc. For this project, he was in charge of all the musical entries. In New Orleans, Tom has lectured over twenty times at the New Orleans Jazz National Park,covering a broad range of topics including: New Orleans recordings in the 1920s; the origins of the brass band funeral song, "Oh Didn't He Ramble;" and, Black Jazz Bands overseas prior to WWII. He also has given talks at the annual New Orleans Music Colloquium for the past four years and at the International Louis Armstrong Symposium held during the New Orleans Satchmo Summerfest. These lectures are attended by local jazz enthusiasts, tourists and local school children. Tom has published many articles, most recently profiles of Clarence Williams and Joe "King" Oliver for the Louisiana Masters series in Offbeat Magazine. His Tuesday New Orleans Music Show (from 11am-2 pm, Tuesdays) and Jazz Roots Show (from 9-11am Wednesdays), can be heard on WWOZ-FM in New Orleans and on wwoz.org around the world. Prior to hosting radio shows on WWOZ, Tom produced two radio shows for WTJU-FM, a non-commercial radio station at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for eighteen years. Tom has maintained, designed and hosted the Jazz Roots web site since 1995. This early Jazz web site is visited by an average of 2500 unique visitors daily. The site is included in many grade and high school courses as a web site to learn about early jazz and the history of black music at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Even now it is too late to give many of the musicians who changed America though their music the "flowers" they deserve. They've gone on to Gabriel's Holy Band and are playing for a heavenly audience. But it is still important to remind ourselves and teach our children who these folks were and are and why they are so special. "This Day in Louisiana Musical History" does all of this and more.
The web site changes daily to include the births and deaths of musicians who were born either in Louisiana or made their names while living in this state. The listing is not limited to one genre of music; Cajun, Swamp Pop, Zydeco, Blues, Jazz, Rock, Folk, RnB are all covered. It is not a stagnant listing, either, as there is a place on the site for submissions for today's musicians and those who have been overlooked or hard to find in the research. There are also links to the music these folks make or made so that if you are interested you can order a CD or two.
"This Day in Louisiana Musical History" will hopefully grow into a way to educate people about the music and musicians of Louisiana. There is a desk calendar in the works for 2010 which will put a daily listing on your desk and in your home. There won't be as much background information as on the web site but it will be there to remind you of those great musicians. There is also a hope that a weekly listing of the musicians and their music may become part of a five minute radio program available to those stations interested in adding it to their schedule. The weekly listing and music could also become part of a weekly lecture at the New Orleans Jazz National Park or maybe at the new Jazz museum slated for the US Mint. The bottom line is that there were and are many great musicians in this state and we could all learn a bit more about them and their music. Give http://louisianabirthdays.com a chance, check it everyday to see who is covered, ask your favorite musicians if they have submitted their information to the site. Let's all appreciate what we have and the great pleasure we take from living and listening to music in Louisiana.
If you would like to submit a birthday or passing to "This Day In Louisiana Music History," please send the date and place of birth, along with instrument played, the band you are if any, awards won, your email address and web site to labday@gmail.com.