Understanding the New Orleans Feel in Music

So let's look at the feel on this tune. What is it about the feel that really makes it sound like a New Orleans feel?

Roots of the New Orleans Feel

Well, I think its roots lie in a street groove, something you'd hear a marching band play, maybe on a second line.

• You've got lots of drums.
• You've got lots of percussion.
• You've got lots of horns playing.

One of the most identifiable things about it is this accent at the end of each two-bar phrase, which kind of comes on the upbeat.

Example of the Groove

So if you're walking down the street:

• 1, 2, 3. Ah, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

It's really that strong accent.

In this kind of groove, you might have the kick drum doing something like this:

• A. A duck, duck, duck, gang gang.
• A duck, duck, duck, gang gang.

You might see that the sousaphone plays along with this rhythm.

Transposing the Idea to Piano

Let's transpose this idea to the piano, this marching idea. You might get something like this:

Listen out for the accents just before the downbeat. Something like this: One, two, a one.

So you can really hear those accents at the end of each two-bar phrase:

• A 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4.

Before the downbeat plays. That's where the kick drum would play, both on the upbeat and the downbeat.

• Or 1, 2, 3, that kind of thing.

The Feel in Your Playing

This is the feel that you really need to have running through your body, running through your mind when you're playing.

Even if you're doing a kind of James Booker style left hand, that undercurrent of that street beat is still in the music.

So something like this:

• 1, 2, a 1, 2, 3, 4.

You can really feel that root-fifth, that kind of feel underneath the slightly busier left hand.