Veterans Day Observance: a jazz history of baton rouge event
A patriotic observance of Veterans Day and honoring the music of Toots Johnson, Baton Rouge's first jazzman.
Color Guard
Armed Forces Medley
Traditional Jazz Music Performed by the Florida Street Blowhards
early jazz of baton rouge
Toots Johnson's Mardi Gras
Streckfus Capitol Steamboat
Toots Johnson's Mardi Gras
Jazzman Toots Johnson and Plaquemine prizefighter Joe Daigre put on a Mardi Gras for Baton Rouge; Mayor Grouchy puts on the kibosh! Fiji Jim might be a costumed Toots Johnson. (see "No More Mardi Gras, March 2, 1914 State Times).
Grand Theater
Streckfus Capitol Steamboat
Toots Johnson's Mardi Gras
The Grand Theater on Liberty Street (12th Street) was home to local and traveling jazz acts. "White Nights" for white audeinces were available
Streckfus Capitol Steamboat
Streckfus Capitol Steamboat
November 11, 1918 Armistice Day
The Streckfus Line of excursion steamboats brought jazz music up and down the Mississippi River with stops at the Florida Street Wharf.
November 11, 1918 Armistice Day
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
November 11, 1918 Armistice Day
The LSU Cadets of 1918 asked Mayor Grouchy for a street dance on Third Street to celebrate the end of World War I. Toots Johnson's Jazz Band played.
Louis Armstrong in Baton Rouge 1920
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
Joe Darensbourg, Baton Rouge's Jazz Star
Joe Darensbourg grew up where the North Boulevard overpass is now. He played the clarinet part on Louis Armstrong's 1964 #1 hit "Hello, Dolly."
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