Abstract:

In 1884 the Mexican government sent a national military band to the Cotton Exposition in New Orleans. When the Fair ended in 1885, several of these musicians remained in the city. By the 1890s, many of New Orleans' and Texas' most promising Black jazz and blues artists were acquiring musical instruction from Mexicano musicians. The evidence presented in this article recalls the centuries-long parallels and meeting points between Black and Mexicano histories of subjugation and resilience, of political suppression and cultural expression, and of the inevitable exchanges that occur through migration and culture among marginalized communities. I argue that the presence of Mexico and Mexicans in the jazz and blues history of the borderlands inspires a reconsideration of relational identities and cultural productions that lie outside the bounds of traditional racial and historical discourses.

Keywords: JAZZ; BLUES; NEW ORLEANS; MEXICO; BLACK; BORDERLANDS; RELATIONAL IDENTITIES; ETHNIC STUDIES

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/147757008X330195