The Papa Jack Laine Sesquicentennial

Born 150 years ago today, bandleader George Vetiala “Papa Jack” Laine (1873-1966).

A New Orleans native, Laine is often spoken of as “the first white jazz musician”, though it might be more useful to think of him as a proto-jazz pioneer. Primarily a drummer (though he also took up wind instruments), Laine was already leading and arranging his own bands by 1885, when he was 12 years old. These were marching bands, though New Orleans being what it is, the marches often veered in a ragtime direction.

In the 1890s Laine formed the Reliance Brass Band, of which most of the musicians who later went on to devise jazz (including all the members of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band) were members at one time or another. As the segregationist Jim Crow laws became a factor at around the same time, Laine claimed that the many musicians of color he employed in his integrated band were “Cuban” or “Mexican”, and such-like, and indeed Latin music was among the influences that went into the sound of his outfit as well. At the height of his popularity, Laine had four separate bookable units as part of his band organization, all working constantly.

By the end of World War One, jazz was fully born and on its way to becoming a national craze. But Laine was of the march era; his sound was too retrograde for what the people wanted to hear. He returned to being a blacksmith, a skill he had picked up as a boy, although he was still widely respected within the New Orleans music scene. He would occasionally play out with other bands for fun; was frequently interviewed by journalists, scholars, and authors about the early days; and was presented with many honors and awards.

By the time Laine died at age 92 even be bop and the early phase of rock and roll had come and gone. If he had lived about a year longer he would have seen the Beatles revive a psychedelic version of the very same kind of marching band he had fronted!

For more on show biz history consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.