Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2009 - (Page 63) plus Elmer Talbert on trumpet and Joe Watkins on drums). By the mid-1950s George had traveled all over the United States and by the early 1960s had performed worldwide, including trips to England, Europe, and Japan. On his first visit to Japan he had quite a surprise. He was escorted into the equivalent of a coffee bar, one that was dedicated entirely to him. Every photograph on the wall, every selection on the jukebox — all George Lewis! Then there’s the time that everything fell apart on stage at a concert in Tokyo, two days after his 65th birthday. Half the band played “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” while the rest went into “Alice Blue Gown,” the next tune on the list. (Got to George’s first instrument was a penny whistle provided by his mother, but by the time he was 18 he had taught himself to play the clarinet. watch out for those dyslexic sidemen.) Lewis was humiliated and apologized to the audience, but maybe he shouldn’t have. Considering the current vogue for “mashups,” like the melding of music from the Beatles’ White Album with vocals from rapper Jay-Z’s Black Album to make “The Grey Album,” one could claim that George’s band was doing “mashups” some forty years before they became popular. Our revivalist was ahead of his time! But, really, who would admit to that? For several years prior to his passing in 1968, Lewis was also famous for his association with Preservation Hall. Tom Sancton, a white kid who became George’s protégé there, has written a moving account of those experiences, Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White, and I urge everyone to read it because it reminds us once again how music can cut through the nasty stuff, like racism, taking us all to a better place. For George Lewis and his peers, that’s what the music was for, and it’s a message we need now more than ever. Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Ph.D., is director of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. Spring 2009/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 63 http://www.stirlingprop.com http://www.stirlingprop.com
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