The Eagle Band was an American jazz band during the

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

and Early Jazz periods, (1895–1929) stationed in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. The

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

of the band was clarinet, drums,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, and

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

, with one person on an instrument. The band was originally known as The Buddy Bolden Band, under the direction of

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an African American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass", which later ca ...

from 1895–1906. On September 3, 1906, while playing in the Labor Day parade with his band,

suffered a memorable breakdown, which included staggering out of marching formation and screaming. He was removed from the parade ranks and would permanently resign from the band. After the resignation of Bolden, Frankie Dusen would be the one to lead the band, and change the name from The Buddy Bolden Band, to the Eagle Band, named after the Eagle Saloon on the corner of Perdido and Rampart Streets. The band maintained the popularity it had as The Buddy Bolden Band and primarily performed the same

repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a ...

as before. Similar to the

Hard Bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

combo, Art Blakey and

The Jazz Messengers The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the o ...

, which would emerge in decades to come, The Eagle Band would serve as a stepping-stone for many prominent Hot Jazz players during the Early Jazz period. The Eagle Band was known as a very authentic, poignant band known for its ability to play slow gut-wrenching blues. Members of the Band

References

External links

The Eagle Band
at Red Hot Jazz Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Eagle Band American jazz ensembles from New Orleans