Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans

Here are New Orleans literary events (poetry readings, spoken word open mics) for Sunday, November 29. Today the New Orleans Literature Examiner features the book Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans by Richard Brent Turner because today you can see this book's topic move through streets of the city with the 25th Anniversary Parade of the Lady, Men & Kids Buckjumpers, a second line club, from noon to 4 p.m.

The parade begins at Washington Ave & Saratoga and goes up Washington Ave. to S. Liberty.  It takes left on S. Liberty to Freret St., another left on Freret St. to Gen. Taylor, and then a right on Gen. Taylor. RedCotton has full route.

In his book on second lines, published by Indiana University Press, August 2009, Trent explores "the history and contemporary significance of the popular religious traditions, identities, and performance forms celebrated in the second lines of the jazz street parades of black New Orleans.

The second line is the group of dancers who follow the first procession of church and club members, brass bands, and grand marshals. Here musical and religious traditions interplay. Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans examines the relationship of jazz to indigenous religion and spirituality. It explores how the African diasporist religious identities and musical traditions -- from Haiti and West and Central Africa -- are reinterpreted in New Orleans jazz and popular religious performances, while describing how the participants in the second line create their own social space and become proficient in the arts of political disguise, resistance, and performance. [Indiana University Press (Paperback, $21.95)]

While this Sunday's second line parade is tied to one group's anniversary, many New Orleans second line parades are spontaneous parades and do not necessarily mark any particular event. Ian McNulty at FrenchQuarter.com describes second line parades this way:

Visitors experience a city’s culture on the walls of museums and galleries, on the stages of theaters and musical halls and even on the plates of local restaurants. But in New Orleans, culture also comes bubbling up from the streets and one of the most unique local expressions of this sort of culture is the second line parade.

Second line parades are the descendants of the city’s famous jazz funerals and, apart from a casket, mourners and a cemetery visit, they carry many of the same traditions with them as they march down the streets. There are dozens of different second line parades put on throughout the year, usually on Sunday afternoons, and held in neighborhoods all across the city. They range in size, level of organization and traditions, but in all cases they will include a brass band, jubilant dancing in the street and members decked out in a wardrobe of brightly colored suits, sashes, hats and bonnets, parasols and banners, melding the pomp of a courtly function and the spontaneous energy of a block party, albeit one that moves a block at a time. (FrenchQuarter.com)

The New Orleans Literature Examiner last examined the New Orleans second line tradition in an article about one given in honor of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, following his death this summer. Furthermore, this examiner featured the book The Parade Goes on Without You by Dillard University English Professor Andrea Boll that is set partly within New Orleans second line and brass band culture.

The Original New Orleans Men BuckJumpers

You may visit The Original New Orleans Men Buck Jumpers's website where they say this second line social club began in 1984. You'll also be treated to the jubilant sounds of the Hot 8 Brass Band should you visit and perhaps also if you attend today's parade.

Literary Events for Sunday, November 29

• Weekly Maple Leaf Reading Series presents featured writers followed by an open mic. Free admission. 3 p.m. Maple Leaf Bar, 8316 Oak St., 504.866.9359.
• At Fair Grinds, Jenna Mae hosts poets and spoken word readers at 8 p.m. Fair Grinds Coffeehouse, 3133 Ponce de Leon Ave., 504.913.9072, www.fairgrinds.com. This event is held the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of each month
• UniVERSES center hosts its weekly spoken-word, music and open-mic event. Tickets $5. 8 p.m. Craige Cultural Center, 1800 Newton St., in Algiers.

The rest of the New Orleans Literary Events Calendar, Monday through Saturday, will be posted late tonight.

Lagniappe: A clip from last year's MBJ's parade.

And a different group, the Single Ladies parade in 2008:

Sunday Poem: Brass Band Mythology.

Subscribe to the New Orleans Literature Examiner at this link. Please inform Nordette Adams of your literary events in the New Orleans metropolitan area. Deadline is 3:00 p.m., each Friday for events on or between the following Sunday and Saturday.