Later in the 1920s he worked with Chris Kelly and Kid Rena, then in 1929 found work on the riverboatSS Island Queen with Lawrence Marrero's Young Tuxedo Brass Band and Sidney Desvigne. These were the years when he became a prominent union organizer. He joined Don Albert's orchestra soon after, recording an album with the orchestra in 1935 under the Vocalion label. He tried his hand at composing, and with Lloyd Glenn and Albert wrote, "You Don't Love Me (True)."[5]
Rhythm and blues bandleader Paul Gayten would later approach Cottrell to record "You Don't Love Me" and it became one of the first hits of the R & B New Orleans era, having made it to the number 5 spot nationally on the R & B top ten charts. Cottrell toured widely throughout North America with Albert until 1939.
After leaving Albert he returned to New Orleans, playing with Paul Barbarin in 1940. They would form an enduring collaboration. He performed with A.J. Piron in 1941, then returned to play with Desvigne from 1942 to 1947. In the 1950s he played again with Barbarin, and recorded with him in 1951 and 1955.
He formed the Heritage Hall Jazz Band in 1971 and also led that ensemble up until his death.[6] In its day, Heritage Hall rivaled the better known Preservation Hall, both located in the French Quarter. It was during this period in 1974 that the Heritage Hall Jazz Band, under Cottrell's leadership, played Carnegie Hall in New York City. Blanche Thomas was the featured vocalist. The recording of the live concert can be found on Viko.[7] He made several television appearances, including Perry Como's Spring in New Orleans in 1976,[8] and The Mike Douglas Show. He recorded "Big Lip Blues" on the Academy Award-nominated soundtrack "Pretty Baby" (1978), and had a cameo appearance in the film of the same name.[9]
Death
Louis Cottrell died suddenly at his home in New Orleans, after a short illness, in 1978, at the age of 67.[10] Fittingly, he was honored with a jazz funeral, as thousands assembled in a small Gentilly Catholic church to bid him farewell.[11]
America throughout much of the 20th Century was a country which was racially divided. Chris Albertson, producer of the "Living Legends" series, recalls an incident in 1961 with a Black musician, McNeal Breaux, during recording of the "Living Legends" series in 1961: "[Breaux] owned a restaurant and invited Dave and me to have dinner there, but we had to enter through the back door, because of our color."[12] Starting in his teens, Cottrell worked diligently to organize the Colored Musicians Union as a chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 496. He would be elected president in 1956. He was as well known for seeking equitable treatment for musicians as for his music.[3][4] Cottrell was able to see firsthand the fruits of his labor. Doug Ramsey wrote, "shortly before he died, [Cottrell] told a friend how happy he was that New Orleans had finally become a city where he and other musicians like him could make a living playing as they wanted to play.[13]
Musical style
Cottrell played traditional jazz, also referred to as Dixieland, the earliest form of jazz. It is distinguished by polymorphic improvisation by trumpet, trombone and clarinet. It has its origins in the marching bands of New Orleans which played at funerals. The main instruments of the bands, brass and woodwinds, would become the basic instruments of jazz. Cottrell's mastery of the clarinet and tenor saxophone enabled him to become a member of these bands and later lead his own. These brass bands were integral to the culture of the time. They performed at a wide variety of events, weddings, dances and most famously the jazz funeral. Rose of Sharon Witmer writes that the jazz funeral is a "living tradition carried on to this day and it owes a great debt to Louis Cottrell Jr."[3]
Master clarinetist Lorenzo Tio Jr. taught Cottrell how to play the Albert system. The "Albert System" is a clarinet keying/fingering system. The Albert system of fingering requires the player to utilize "roller" keys to alternate between some notes on the instrument. The Albert system also generally has fewer keys than the more widely known "Boehm" fingering system. A fine example of his playing can be heard on Paul Barbarin's Onward Brass Band—in Concert. Cottrell leads the band during his favorite hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." His beautiful clarinet playing is a standout on the album.[14]
New Orleans: The Living Legends
In 1960-61 Riverside Records produced an acclaimed series of albums featuring jazz and blues greats such as Jim Robinson, Sweet Emma Barrett and Alberta Hunter. The objective was to record the music of veteran musicians before their artistry was lost forever. Many of the musicians were no longer active and their union memberships had expired. Recognizing the importance of the project, the American Federation of Musicians suspended the rules. This "Living Legends" series was initially recorded in New Orleans. Later sessions were recorded in Chicago. The sessions took place at Societé des Jeunes Amis Hall, built in the 1800s. According to the producer, Chris Albertson, the hall was a "Creole fraternal headquarters and it proved to have every advantage over a studio; apart from its live sound, it gave the performers familiar surroundings... The hall's acoustical sound was exactly what I wanted to recapture: the same kind of ambience that lent such character to Bill Russell's 1940's American Music recordings from San Jacinto Hall." One of the musicians invited to participate was Louis Cottrell Jr.[12] Cottrell organized a trio comprising McNeal Breaux, Alcide "Slow Drag" Pavageau with Emanuel Sayles sitting in playing guitar and banjo. The band was so well received that they continued to play together. The music on this album has been described as "more polite and subtle than the city's 'downtown' music... an intimate, low-key delight."[15] Cottrell's playing has also been well received:
[In 1961] Cottrell recorded a masterwork, entitled New Orleans: The Living Legends, which was reissued in 1994. To hear it is to conjure up the elegance of a bygone era by a man who did much to create it. From the opening note on "Bourbon Street Parade," to the charming "Three Little Words," to the reverent "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," the listener is hearing the living history of jazz.[3]
Discography
As leader
Year
Title
Label
1961
New Orleans: The Living Legends
Riverside
1963
Dixieland Hall Presents Louis Cottrell and His New Orleans Jazz Band
Nobility
1973
New Orleans Heritage Hall Jazz Band
GNP Crescendo
1974
Louis Cottrell's Heritage Hall Jazz Band Live at Carnegie Hall
Viko
1980
Louis Cottrell Quintet Hall Herb Quintet - Clarinet Legends
GHB
Other appearances
Year
Title
Label
1935
Boots And His Buddies / Don Albert & His Orchestra
Vocalion
1951
Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Band – In Concert
504
1955
Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Jazz Band – The Atlantic New Orleans Sessions
Mosaic
1960
Peter Bocage w. His Creole Serenaders & The Love Jiles Ragtime Orchestra
Riverside
1960
Peter Bocage & His Creole Serenaders – New Orleans: The Living Legends Peter Bocage
Riverside
1961
Jim Robinson And His New Orleans Band – New Orleans: The Living Legends Jim Robinson
Riverside
1961
Jim Robinson New Orleans Band – New Orleans: The Living Legends Jim Robinson Plays Spirituals And Blues
Riverside
1961
The Bell Gal And Her Dixieland Boys Music
Riverside
1962
Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Band – Bourbonstreet Beat
GHB
1962
Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Band – Punch Miller's Bunch & George Lewis
Atlantic
1962
Olympia Brass Band / Eureka Brass Band – Music Of New Orleans The Brass Bands
Jazzology
1962
Jim Robinson N.O.Band Pierce Billie & De De – Jazz At Preservation Hall 2
Atlantic
1962
Eureka Brass Band – Jazz At Preservation Hall
Collectables Jazz Classics
1962
Thomas Jefferson – Dreaming On The River To New Orleans
GHB
1962
Don Albert – Echoes Of New Orleans
GHB
1962
Peter Bocage & His Creole Serenaders
Jazzology
1963
Sweet Emma Barrett and Her New Orleans Music
Southland
1963
Chink Martin – Shades Of New Orleans
Southland
1964
Paul Barbarin & His New Orleans Band – The Best At Dixieland Hall
Nobility
1964
Bob Havens And His New Orleans All Stars
Southland
1964
Waldron Frog Joseph & His New Orleans Jazz Band
Nobility
1964
Frog and His Friends at Dixieland Hall
Nobility
1964
Barbarin's Best
Riverside
1964
Great Spirituals, Avery 'Kid' Howard and His New Orleans Jazz Band at Zion Hill Church
Nobility
1965
Waldron Frog Joseph Traditional New Orleans Jazz
Dulai
1966
Onward Brass Band In concert 1966
Jazz Crusade
1968
Onward Brass Band
Jazz Crusade
1969
Paul Barnes Quartets
Nola
1969
Paul Barnes & Emile Barnes Quartet
American Music
1969
Paul Barbarin's Onward Brass Band: in Concert
Nobility
1972
Wallace Davenport With Jim Robinson And Louis Nelson
Adolphe Paul Barbarin was an American jazz drummer from New Orleans.
Louis Barbarin was a New Orleans jazz drummer.
Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside headquarters were located in New York City, at 553 West 51st Street.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a period of time due to Hurricane Katrina, but the band continued to tour.
Percy Gaston Humphrey was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Daniel Moses Barker was an American jazz musician, vocalist, and author from New Orleans. He was a rhythm guitarist for Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter during the 1930s.
Emanuel Perez was an American early New Orleans jazz cornetist and bandleader.
"Sweet Emma" Barrett was an American self-taught jazz pianist and singer who worked with the Original Tuxedo Orchestra between 1923 and 1936, first under Papa Celestin, then William Ridgely. She also worked with Armand Piron, John Robichaux, Sidney Desvigne and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Albert Burbank was an American, New Orleans–based clarinetist.
Willie James Humphrey was a New Orleans jazz clarinetist. Willie Humphrey was born in a musical family, the son of prominent local clarinetist and music teacher Willie Eli Humphrey; his brothers Earl Humphrey and Percy Humphrey also became well known professional musicians.
Albert "Papa" French Sr. was an American jazz musician, banjo player, and band leader in New Orleans.
The Onward Brass Band was either of two brass bands active in New Orleans for extended periods of time.
Isidore Jean "John" Barbarin was an American jazz cornet and alto horn player. He was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene in the decades around the turn of the 20th century.
Louis Freddie Kohlman was an American jazz drummer, vocalist, and bandleader who was a native of New Orleans. He studied under the famed drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and Manuel Manetta.
The Excelsior Brass Band was a brass band from New Orleans active between 1879 and 1931. It was one of the earliest recognized brass bands on the New Orleans jazz scene.
Wendell Brunious is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
Wendell Eugene was an American jazz musician from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a popular trombonist on the New Orleans jazz scene and recorded with artists such as Lionel Ferbos, Harold Dejan, and Kermit Ruffins. He was for a time the oldest active jazz musician in New Orleans.
Placide Adams Jr. was an American jazz double bassist, who worked prolifically with a wide circle of New Orleans jazz stars over his 50-year career.
Blanche Thomas was an American blues and jazz singer, based in New Orleans.
Dave Albert Williams Jr. was an American jazz, blues, and rhythm & blues pianist, bandleader, singer, and songwriter. He was the author of "I Ate Up The Apple Tree", a staple of contemporary New Orleans brass bands. His career as a working musician spanned five decades.
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