Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Robichaux: The Forgotten King of New Orleans Dance Bands
Before there was Louis Armstrong, before jazz became the word on everyone’s lips, there was John Robichaux—a Creole musician born January 16, 1866, in Thibodaux, Louisiana, who quietly ruled New Orleans’ dance scene for nearly half a century.
A Multi-Instrumentalist’s Rise
Picture a young man learning brass bass, alto saxophone, and drums, then maturing into a 25-year-old bass drummer with the prestigious Excelsior Brass Band—one of New Orleans’ most respected musical institutions. But Robichaux wasn’t content to simply keep the beat. From 1892 to 1903, while still performing with the Excelsior, he was simultaneously leading his own ensembles and adding violin to his growing arsenal of instruments. The man believed in keeping busy.
The Bandleader New Orleans Trusted
Here’s what makes his story remarkable: Robichaux’s bands weren’t just popular—they were the bands to hire if you wanted class, precision, and professionalism. At one point in 1913, he was conducting a staggering 36-piece orchestra. Imagine coordinating that many musicians in the early 20th century, long before modern amplification or recording technology!
His reputation attracted New Orleans’ finest musicians—legends like guitarist Bud Scott, clarinetist Lorenzo Tio Jr., and cornetist Manuel Perez all played under his baton. When you could attract that caliber of talent, you weren’t just running a band—you were running an institution.
Forty-Six Years at the Top
For an astonishing 46 years, Robichaux was the most continuously active dance bandleader in New Orleans. Forty-six years! That’s longer than most entire careers, a testament to both his musical excellence and his business acumen in an incredibly competitive city.
When History Changed the Game
But history has a way of complicating even the greatest success stories. When Louisiana’s Black Code amendment passed in 1894, it reclassified Creoles of color, throwing Robichaux’s refined Creole orchestras into direct competition with the grittier Uptown Negro bands that played a rawer, more improvisational style. The musical landscape was shifting beneath his feet, gradually eroding the dominance he’d worked decades to build.
A Prolific Legacy
Still, Robichaux persisted with remarkable productivity. Over his career, he composed more than 350 songs and orchestral arrangements—a staggering output that speaks to both his creativity and work ethic. He remained primarily in New Orleans, occasionally touring with the traveling musical revue One Mo’ Time, but always returning to the city that made him.
The Bridge Between Eras
When John Robichaux died of natural causes in 1939, an entire era of New Orleans music died with him. He represents a crucial bridge between the city’s formal, European-influenced dance orchestras and the raw, revolutionary jazz that would soon conquer the world. His bands were where young musicians learned discipline, arrangement, and professionalism before they went off to create something entirely new.
History remembers the revolutionaries, but it often forgets the masters who created the foundation upon which revolutions are built. John Robichaux deserves better than footnote status—he deserves recognition as one of the architects of New Orleans’ musical golden age.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wilbur de Paris: From Plantation Shows to the World Stage
Born on January 11, 1900, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Wilbur de Paris grew up in a household where music wasn’t just entertainment—it was the family business. His father was a multi-instrumentalist who played trombone, banjo, and guitar, and he had big plans for his musically gifted son.
A Childhood on the Road
By the autumn of 1906, when little Wilbur was just five years old, he had already begun learning the alto saxophone. A year later—at an age when most children are still in elementary school—he was working professionally in his father’s plantation shows, crisscrossing the South on the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) circuit. It was a grueling apprenticeship, but one that would serve him well.
The Moment Everything Changed
At sixteen, while performing in a summer show at the Lyric Theatre, de Paris heard jazz for the first time. The experience was transformative. Soon after, while playing saxophone at the legendary Tom Anderson’s Cafe with A. J. Piron’s band, he met a young trumpet player who would change music history: Louis Armstrong. These encounters lit a fire that would burn for the rest of de Paris’s life.
Building His Own Sound
After high school, de Paris continued working with his father before joining various traveling shows in the East. In the early 1920s, he made his way to Philadelphia and took a bold step—forming his first band, Wilbur de Paris and his Cottonpickers. He was building something of his own.
Surviving the Crash, Finding New York
When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 devastated the entertainment industry, de Paris disbanded his second group and made the move that would define his career: he headed to New York City. There, he spent years playing and recording with jazz royalty, absorbing every influence and honing his distinctive approach to the trombone.
The New New Orleans Sound
In the late 1940s, Wilbur teamed up with his brother Sidney to launch an ambitious project: a band called New New Orleans Jazz. The ensemble featured legendary figures including Jelly Roll Morton, drummer Zutty Singleton, and clarinetist Omer Simeon. But this wasn’t mere nostalgia—de Paris had a vision of blending traditional New Orleans jazz with the sophisticated swing that had emerged in the intervening decades.
The concept caught fire. Throughout the 1950s, the band became a beloved institution in New York City, recorded extensively, and toured the world, bringing their unique fusion of old and new to audiences everywhere.
A Legacy of Innovation
Wilbur de Paris passed away on January 3, 1973—just eight days before what would have been his 73rd birthday. He left behind a legacy that proved you could honor tradition while pushing it forward, that New Orleans jazz and swing weren’t competing styles but complementary voices in the grand conversation of American music.
From a five-year-old on the TOBA circuit to an internationally recognized bandleader, Wilbur de Paris lived the full arc of jazz’s golden age—and helped shape its sound every step of the way.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herschel McWilliams was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas on October 17, 1978. Growing up the son of musicians, a drummer father and pianist and vocalist mother, he was introduced to many musical influences at an early age.
He started learning piano at eight years old and alto saxophone at 10 years old. He joined the band in school and though he learned to play drums from his dad, saxophone became his instrument when he was in the fourth grade. In the 7th grade he stumbled upon Weather Report and Harry Connick Big Band albums. Having great teachers and musicians around him was an important influence on him throughout elementary and high school.
He started gigging the summer after he graduated high school with a community big band. They were working musicians and it was his first call he ever got before heading off to college. After college he has become a beacon of light for jazz in his hometown.
Saxophonist Herschel McWilliams serves on the Board of Directors for Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, runs his own jazz website, and plays regular gigs in the jazz district of Kansas City as well as other venues in the area.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Martin Jones was born in Hull, England on October 14, 1955. He gained his experience playing trumpet first in school bands, and then Hull school bands with many concerts with orchestra’s, concert bands and a jazz swing band.
Leaving those to form his own bands he started working with his own band commercially in the jazz field in the late Seventies. By 1982 Martin was working professionally on the club and theatre circuits in cabaret. He started a residency at two clubs in the Latin Quarter in Paris. Returning to the UK he was trumpeter, front-man and vocalist at the City of London Tavern. He worked between London and Paris over the next two years, eventually joining the international cabaret group, The English Eccentric Ragtime Four.
He became a session trumpet player and vocalist in the London area. then spent some time working for New York Network Television while he was with this band. In 1987 Jones left the band to tour Europe, worked doing broadcasts on several TV shows and eventually left London and returned to his roots back in Hull.
He soon got work with a regional band called The Casablanca Boys, led six of his own bands and taught trumpet and vocal at The Keech School of Music. He developed a new Jazz Course at Access to Music in partnership with East Riding College as well as Jazz Summer Schools.
Trumpeter Martin Jones has currently published eleven books and continues performing, recording and teaching.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Isidore Jean “John” Barbarin was born September 24, 1871 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He began learning cornet at age 14, then played in various New Orleans brass bands, like the Onward Brass Band, the Excelsior Brass Band, and Papa Celestin’s Tuxedo Brass Band.
He did not make it on to record until 1945, when he recorded with Bunk Johnson; in 1946 he recorded with the Original Zenith Brass Band. He was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene in the decades around the turn of the 20th century.
Cornet and alto horn player Isidore Barbarin died on June 12, 1960 in New Orleans.
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