by blueorleansradio ·
Tags: Brass BandsMusicNew Orleans
by blueorleansradio · Published 06/03/2012 · Last modified 06/05/2012
by blueorleansradio · Published 06/03/2012 · Last modified 06/05/2012
by blueorleansradio · Published 06/05/2012
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1937 - Michael P Smith was born on this day. A photographer and a native of New Orleans, Louisiana who grew up in the affluent white suburb of Metairie. His photography career began when he started working for Tulane University's jazz archive as staff photographer. In 1969 he covered the jazz funeral of the drummer Paul Barbarin. This event, he said, inspired him to focus on documenting black New Orleans culture. From then on until his retirement in 2004, Smith dedicated his life to photographing the music, funerals, parades, clubs, churches, bars, brothels and festivals of the city's working-class black communities. "I haven't had much interest in the society I grew up in since I discovered the folk community of New Orleans," said Smith in an interview, "a side of town I had never known that struck me as the real heart of the city." He published five books including A Joyful Noise: A Celebration of New Orleans Music (1990), New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictorial History (1991), and Mardi Gras Indians (1994). He passed away at the age of 71 in 2008. |