Topic: Tenderloin Districts - Searching for the History Books

[DanceGypsy]

The more deeply I delve into individual stories in the origins of jazz and the blues, the more time it seems that I spend (on the printed page, at any rate) in the vice districts of Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, etc.  There are references to larger than life (or occasionally smaller than life, the the case of Pee Wee in Memphis) characters, crooked cops, political bosses, etc. and I am looking for some well-written histories to flesh this stuff out.  Does anyone know of any good books that cover the histories of Storyville, Deep Ellum, etc. in the jazz and blues age?

[Bunker Hill]

  Does anyone know of any good books that cover the histories of Storyville, Deep Ellum, etc. in the jazz and blues age?

Alan Govenar & Jay Brakefield's Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged was an expensive 1998 hardback and probably worth borrowing from a library. I also own a large format Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red Light District by Al Rose (Alabama UP, 1978) which I think was updated and revised in 90s.

[DanceGypsy]

I was hoping you would weigh in on this.  Do these two books touch on the music?  And what about Memphis, St. Louis, New York, Chicago, etc. - do you own or know of books of this ilk that treat those cities?

[Richard]

Back in the 60s I bought an (illicit!) copy of "New Orleans jazz - family album" all I knopw is it says published in Louisiana C1950s??? Full of pics of musicians, bands, riverboats, buildings, street scenes et al.

[Bunker Hill]

Back in the 60s I bought an (illicit!) copy of "New Orleans jazz - family album" all I knopw is it says published in Louisiana C1950s??? Full of pics of musicians, bands, riverboats, buildings, street scenes et al.

I think I have a later edition on my shelves.

First legit publication in 1967 by Louisiana State UP. I own the May 1978 revision. Compiled by Al Rose & Edmond Souchon. $24.95. Fab book not only for the numerous illustrations but also for the A-Z potted biographies of artists, bands, venues and even riverboats which employed jazz bands. 325 pages, ISBN 0-8071-0374-8