Sometimes two prostitutes would share the rent in the same crib together. Lots of prostitutes lived in different sections of the city and would come down to Storyville just like they had a job. They would meet them and check up on the night’s take. These pimps and hustlers, et cetera, would spend most of their time at until their girls would finish turning tricks in their cribs. It was a place where they would come to drink and play and have breakfast and then go home to bed. Pete Lala’s was the headquarters, the place where all the bands would come when they got off work, and where the girls would come to meet their main man. Round about 4 a.m., the girls would get through work and meet their P.I.’s-that’s what we called pimps-at the wine rooms. Clarence Williams, a pianist born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, who was part of the deluge of musicians who had arrived in New Orleans around the turn of the century, remembered Lala’s as the center of the universe: His band, which he co-led with trombonist Kid Ory, was at the vanguard of the new music.Īrmstrong would come to watch King Oliver play nearly every night at Pete Lala’s, one of the most renowned jazz venues in Storyville. As a composer and arranger, Oliver created musical configurations that gave new meaning to jazz. His genius was arranging his playing in such a way that it melded in interesting ways with others in the band. He could be formal and stern, but he had a laying style on the horn that was raw and spontaneous. Oliver had a big, bald head that he often topped with a bowler hat. “He was always ready to come to my rescue when I needed someone to tell me about life and its little intricate things and help me out of difficult situations.” “I never stop loving Joe Oliver,” said Armstrong. In many ways, the veteran cornetist and bandleader was both a mentor and father figure to the young musician. Oliver was twenty years older than Armstrong.
He learned this from King Oliver, whom he worshipped. Louis Armstrong did not need to be told that the honky-tonks that were connected were the honky-tonks where you wanted to be.
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