Doing The Hambone At Kelly's

Sixty years ago, an interest in the earlier forms of jazz seems to have emerged almost simultaneously in several places around the world. In America there had been a successful attempt in 1938 to locate some of the older jazz musicians who had never left New Orleans and, for the most part, were unknown to record collectors. The principal discovery was Bunk Johnson and the group that was assembled to record with him. Other jazz musicians such as Kid Ory were rediscovered after periods of inactivity and obscurity. The book "Jazzmen" published in 1939 brought news of the discoveries to collectors and created some interest in the older styles. These activities were however little known even elsewhere in America, much less the rest of the world, and an additional interest in earlier styles was beginning to show itself among musicians rather than collectors.