The Shoofly Magazine
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Archives
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Partners
    • Readers' Circle
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi

Shared History - April 2015 

4/1/2015

 

The Mississippi Blues Trail
Along the Coast, Part 2

by Karen Fineran
- This month - Complete our virtual tour of the Mississippi Blues Trail along the coast, stopping in the Pass, Gulfport and Biloxi!
Tweet
Subscribe to the Cleaver!
Picture
Read Part One of this series by clicking here.

Part 2

Pass Christian
 
Blues and jazz music also has an illustrious history at our neighboring town across the Bridge, Pass Christian.
 The Pass’s most famous “native son” was alto saxophonist Captain John Handy.   (The “Captain” moniker reportedly was earned from Handy’s authoritative band leadership style.)   With the Louisiana Shakers, Handy and his brother toured throughout the region.  In the later part of his life, Handy recorded several albums and played often at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, in addition to touring worldwide.

Shared History
is sponsored by

Picture

Click here and scroll down to read archived Shared History columns!
Handy’s final performance was at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April 1970, where he shared top billing with Mahalia Jackson.  Born in 1900, he died in 1970 at his Pass Christian home, was laid to rest at the Live Oak Cemetery in the Pass, and was posthumously inducted into the Mississippi Coast Jazz Society Hall of Fame.   Famous Handy traditional jazz songs such as “Handy’s Gulf Coast Boogie” are still played around the jazz world

Among the local Pass clubs that featured blues, jazz, and R&B were the Dixie, the Savoy, and the P. C. Club.  In 2011, a Blues Trail marker was dedicated along Highway 90 to commemorate Blues and Jazz in the Pass.

Every May from 1999 to 2005, the Pass had celebrated its rich African American musical heritage with its "Jazz in the Pass" festival.  Temporarily discontinued for several years after Hurricane Katrina, “Jazz in the Pass” has been back in business since 2011!
Picture
Gulfport

Gulfport – especially the North Gulfport area - once supported vibrant blues/R&B venues.  In fact, New Orleans jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton used to play played the Great Southern Hotel in the 1900s.   Gulfport was also an occasional stop for rambling bluesmen and women such as Robert Johnson and Ma Rainey, the famous “mother of the blues.”

Gulfport has been fertile territory for musicians who not only turned the Coast into a hotbed of blues and R&B, but also impacted popular music on an international scale.  Allman Brothers Band members Johnnie Lee Johnson (better known as Jaimoe) and Lamar Williams both were raised in Gulfport and performed in many clubs along the Coast during their early years.  Other Gulfport residents included pianist Roosevelt Sykes, guitarist Blind Roosevelt Graves, pianist Cozy Corley, and singer Albennie Jones.

In those days, the scene at the Hi-Hat Club and other North Gulfport blues hotspots like Ebony and Night Owl, was known to be on the wild side, as the clubs then all were outside Gulfport police jurisdiction.

Gulfport was also an important location for disseminating the blues to the rest of the world by radio.  After World War II, the African-American community across the country relied on radio for entertainment and news, and Gulfport radio was taking the lead in “Broadcasting the Blues.”  In 1994, blues promoter “Rip” Daniels launched WJZD radio in Gulfport, making it the first African American-owned FM station on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  In 2000, Daniels took the blues concept further using satellite and Internet technology to launch the American Blues Network (ABN) to listeners around the world.  In 2007, the Blues Foundation dedicated a “Broadcasting the Blues/ABN” Blues Trail marker in Gulfport.

The “Four Corners” intersection in north Gulfport, at the intersection of Arkansas Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., was a central blues location in the decades when the African American communities in and around north Gulfport supported many nightclubs that operated outside the old city limits.  Now, it is the site of the most recent Mississippi Blues Trail marker to be dedicated on the Coast, installed in January of this year.

Picture
Picture
Biloxi

In Biloxi, the stretch of Main Street that catered to the African American trade in the years during and after World War II has been designated as “Biloxi Blues.”  Biloxi’s musical culture was particularly influenced by that of New Orleans.  (Indeed, New Orleans jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton lived in Biloxi in the early 1900s).   During the war years and after, airmen from Keesler Field often participated both as audience members and musicians.  Local blues musicians from Biloxi included Cozy Corley, and Carl Gates and the Decks.  A Blues Trail marker was dedicated in 2010 in Biloxi at the intersection of Main and Murray Streets.


Picture
Near the Coast

Other notable sites along the Mississippi Blues Trail that are only a short drive from the Gulf Coast include Hattiesburg, which rock historians have credited as being one of the birthplaces of rock and roll music, and which is home to a number of important historic blues venues, and Laurel in Jones County, home of Blind Roosevelt Graves, and the Laurel Mother's Day Blues Festival every May since 1987.


In Hattiesburg, the original Hi-Hat Club was built in the 1950s and was an important stop on the “chitlin circuit” for famed African American blues and soul performers such as B. B. King, James Brown, Otis Redding, Ike & Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, Al Green, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Louis Jourdan, Guitar Slim, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and many others.  One of the largest clubs in Mississippi, the Hi-Hat sometimes drew crowds of over one thousand reveling blues lovers.

In addition, Mobile Street in Hattiesburg was a historic African American business and entertainment district where many of the blues musicians lived and worked, and the center for several blues and gospel record labels.  One studio on Mobile Street was the site of a 1936 historic series of recording sessions by Mississippi blues, gospel, and country performers, including the Mississippi Jook Band and the Edgewater Crows.

In Europe Too? 

Interestingly, the Mississippi Blues Foundation has arranged for a few Blues Trail markers not only outside of the state of
Mississippi (particularly in Alabama and Louisiana), but also for two markers to have been placed in Europe!  One is in Cahors, France, where Blues first reached France in the 1920a and 30s via touring African American groups, and the other is in Notodden, Norway, sister-city to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and site of a hugely popular blues festival that draws top Mississippi-born blues artists.  Mississippi blues really gets around!

Whether you're a die-hard blues fan or a casual traveler, keeping an eye out for these Blues Trail markers is guaranteed to teach you new things about the music and its inspirational founders, and to lend a new appreciation for the spots that gave birth to the blues.

To donate to the Mississippi Blues Foundation, or for information on how to purchase a Mississippi Blues Trail license plate, see www.msbluestrail.org.  Your money will assist the Benevolent Fund, which helps Mississippi blues artists in times of need, and will help communities pay for and maintain the Blues Trail Markers.


Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Subscribe

    RSS Feed

    Prime Partners
    of the Shoofly


    Picture
    Gerald W. Rigby, CPA, PC

    Picture
    Hancock Tourism

    Picture
    Bodega on Court Street

    Picture
    The Cultured Oak

    Picture
    The Fly Boutique

    Picture
    Hansen Custom Painting

    Picture
    Café BoneJour

    Picture
    David Baria, Attorney

    Picture
    HL Raymond Properties

    Picture
    La Terre Farms

    Picture
    SouthGroup Insurance

    Picture
    Gurley & Associates

    Picture
    Mellon Bayou Consulting

    Picture
    Bay Town Inn

    Picture
    Gallery 220

    Picture
    Dr. Frank Conaway

    Picture
    Antique Maison

    Picture
    200 N. Beach/BSL Balcony Lounge

    Picture
    California Drawstrings

    Picture
    The Wedding Collection

    Picture
    Crane Builders, LLC

    Picture
    Mockingbird Cafe

    Categories

    All
    15 Minutes
    Across The Bridge
    Antiques
    Architecture
    Art
    Arts Alive
    At Home In The Bay
    Bay Bride
    Bay Business
    Bay Reads
    Beach To Bayou
    Beach-to-bayou
    Beautiful Things
    Benefit
    Big Buzz
    Boats
    Body+Mind+Spirit
    Books
    BSL Council Updates
    BSL P&Z
    Business
    Business Buzz
    Casting My Net
    Civics
    Coast Cuisine
    Coast Lines Column
    Day Tripping
    Design
    DIY
    Editors Notes
    Education
    Environment
    Events
    Fashion
    Food
    Friends Of The Animal Shelter
    Good Neighbor
    Grape Minds
    Growing Up Downtown
    Harbor Highlights
    Health
    History
    Honor Roll
    House And Garden
    Legends And Legacies
    Local Focal
    Lodging
    Mardi Gras
    Mind+Body+Spirit
    Mother Of Pearl
    Murphy's Musical Notes
    Music
    Nature
    Nature Notes
    New Orleans
    News
    Noteworthy Women
    Old Town Merchants
    On The Shoofly
    Parenting
    Partner Spotlight
    Pass Christian
    Public Safety
    Puppy-dog-tales
    Rheta-grimsley-johnson
    Science
    Second Saturday
    Shared History
    Shared-history
    Shelter-stars
    Shoofly
    Shore Thing Fishing Report
    Sponsor Spotlight
    Station-house-bsl
    Talk Of The Town
    The Eyes Have It
    Tourism
    Town Green
    Town-green
    Travel
    Tying-the-knot
    Video
    Vintage-vignette
    Vintage-vignette
    Waveland
    Weddings
    Wellness
    Window-shopping
    Wines-and-dining

    Archives

    December 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Partners of the Shoofly Magazine


Picture
Gallery 220
Picture
Dr. Frank Conaway
Picture
HL Raymond Properties
Picture
Antique Maison

Picture
Hancock County Library System
Picture
Mellon Bayou Consulting
Picture
The Fly Boutique
Picture
SouthGroup Insurance

Picture
David Baria, Attorney
Picture
The Cultured Oak
Picture
The Loft BSL
Picture
Café BoneJour

Picture
200 N. Beach and the BSL Balcony Sports Lounge
Picture
California Drawstrings
Picture
Gerald Rigby, CPA, PC
Picture
The Wedding Collection

Picture
Mockingbird Cafe
Picture
Hancock Tourism
Picture
Bodega on Court Street
Picture
Hansen Custom Painting

Picture
La Terre Farms
Picture
Crane Builders, LLC
Picture
Gurley & Associates
Picture
The Bay Town Inn

John & Ning Wiebmer

Lagarde's Fine Wine & Spirits

Chiniche Engineering

PJ's Coffee


The French Potager

The Cultured Oak

Bay-tique Boutique

Creole Creamery


The Bay Bum

The Wedding Collection

VSPA

The Shops of Century Hall

Hancock County Historical Society


HL Raymond Properties

The Mane Salon

Buck Ramond
​Heat & Air

DogWatch of Miss-Lou

Salty Soul Outfitters

Theatre in the Pass

Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum


Magnolia Antiques

Serious Bread Bakery

Ms. Mary's Old Town Snoballs

The Wedding Collection 


The Shoofly Magazine  is published by MAC Media, LLC.   Unless otherwise attributed, all written content and photography copyright MAC Media, LLC

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Archives
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Partners
    • Readers' Circle
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi