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A Conversation with Blue Lu Barker & Greg Stafford |
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Tuesday, 31 January 2006 05:59 |
A Conversation with Blue Lu Barker & Greg Stafford
By John Sinclair
Blue Lu Barker: Danny [Barker] and I had a trio back in 1937, before I even started making records, see, and they asked me to come to Vocalion, and he was workin , and I went there and I made the record. I had never sang with a band before I d sang with a piano and a guitar--but they had Erskine Butterfield, that was his date, and Cozy Cole, and the trumpet player, I can t think of his name now--he was a white fella [Johnny McGee].
We made A-Tisket, A-Tasket and after we got through, they asked me my name. I told it to him and he said that wouldn t do--I would have to have a professional name. Well, I didn t know what a professional name was. My name was Louise Dupont, but that wouldn t do. Louise Barker, that wouldn t do. I had to have a professional name.
So I went and I touched Cozy and I said, What's a professional name? He said, Something short, something snappy. I said, Lu Blue, and he said, Yeah, that's it, that's it.
So I went to Decca, and they said, Lu, Why don t we change it from Lu Blue to Blue Lu, and put Barker after it. So I said okay. So you see, I don t have a nickname, I have a professional name.
And after I was with Decca, Danny and I went over to Apollo Records after the war, and we made records like I Feel Like Layin in Some Other Woman's Husband's Arms, and tell him, Rock me, baby, until I go to sleep. Danny wrote that--he wrote all the tunes. You Got to Show It To Me--that hundred dollar bill you totin around. He wrote the tunes, he would get the musicians, and I d just go there and I d sing--that was it.
He d always find the best musicians that he could get, you know, to play for me--Benny Carter, Wellman Braud, Red Allen, Sam Price. Louis Armstrong's wife, Lil Armstrong, she wrote a couple of tunes, and she used to come by and rehearse with me. I d say, Whatcha got there now? I can t read, you know, so she d play it, I d say play it again, she d play it, and by the third time I d come up with music and words. I had a very good ear--now I can t hear at all.
I don t remember having no problems with no record sessions, and I didn t drink nothing I d just go cold sober. I don t drink nothin when I work, and I don t wear make-up, never did.
Greg [Stafford] was at my house Monday night. Yeah, I m in touch with all the boys, they all still come and see me. I have no kick with that. Ain t nobody forgot me, you know. Everybody that was used to coming to see me still come around.
When Danny started the Fairview Band? That's a long story, ya know. He started the Fairview Band in 1970 at the Fairview Baptist Church, Danny Barker did. Reverend Darby had asked him would he organize a little band, and he organized the band with his cousin Charlie--Charlie Barbarin--helped him.
Greg Stafford was in the Fairview Baptist Church band with Leroy--Leroy Jones was the leader, and Greg was the next man. Now, after Danny died, he turned the band over to the piano player [Walter Lewis], but--they would have to tell you what happened--and then it went to Greg. Greg has now got the Jazz Hounds--Danny Barker's Jazz Hounds. He came up under Danny from a young boy, and he's carrying it forward.
Greg Stafford: The first thing he did, he made me become conscientious about preserving the culture and the history of the music. That had such an impact--he had such a strong sense of history, and he had such foresight. He was all for the evolution of the tradition through the new generations, because he knew that's how the music would stay alive. Understanding the importance of history was probably the most valuable lesson I learned from Mr. Barker.
He came back to New Orleans in the late 1960s to live, and he realized that the brass band tradition would die out with the older musicians--most of them were in their 60's by then--if something wasn t done to teach the young musicians the tradition and get them involved in the music. He had a real desire to work with kids; he was the only one who took the time to explain the music to us, and show us where it came from.
I had been playing in an uptown band, the E. Gibson Brass Band, working with them at social functions, parades and neighborhood affairs. Tuba Fats was in that band with me. Then when the Fairview Brass Band came along, that was a real plus. Joe Torregano brought me to Mr. Barker, and I brought Tuba Fats in.
Mr. Barker would conduct rehearsals every Thursday night in Leroy Jones garage, which was right there by the Fairview Baptist Church. Danny would come in and hum the melodies to us, and bring records and play them for us. He wanted us to learn the tunes without reading sheet music, because you don t read New Orleans music, you play it.
He d teach us lots of spiritual tunes like that, and the whole brass band repertoire really, and the ones who got the melody right away would play the leads while the others would follow. He didn t care if you knew the tune right off--he d have you play along with the ones who knew the tune until you got it.
Mr. Barker organized that band around 1970, and it grew to be so big that he had to split it into two different bands so it could take care of all the gigs. Herlin Riley was in that band, playing trumpet, and Lucien Barbarin was playing the drum then.
Danny had to give up the band around 1974 because the older bands were complaining that the Fairview band was taking all their gigs. We were competing with these established older bands, and we were just kids, teenagers.
It was rare for the older bands to hire young musicians to play with them, but Herman Sherman had heard me with the Fairview band and paid my way into the union so I could join the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Leroy Jones started the Hurricane Band, and I remember Mr. Barker handing Leroy a stack of business cards with Hurricane Band on them and saying, You re on your own now.
Danny had already opened my eyes to what the world of music was about, and that gave me the incentive to learn more about the history of the music itself. He made me understand the importance of history.
After a number of years, I wound up becoming Danny's regular trumpet player in the Jazz Hounds around 1977. That was another great learning experience. He d get me up on gigs and start playin songs in all kinds of fancy keys, and he d be getting his kicks watchin me try to negotiate the music on the spot. But it taught me so much about the music, and how to deal with it on the stand.
Being up there under his wing for so many years really influenced me in so many ways. Not just musically, but the way he carried himself, the way he dealt with people from all walks of life, his sense of humor, and the way he felt about the culture and keeping the tradition alive.
I think about him all the time. Even until today I find myself making up titles like he used to do, making up all kinds of crazy things. He used to love to make up his own words, and then make you remember them and what they were supposed to mean. That's my word! Remember it! he d say.
--New Orleans
March 14, 1996
(c) 1996 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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