The Naked Dance

I sincerely apologize for the shakiness of this video, but I didn't realize the vibrations of the piano were strong enough to shake the video recorder like it did. I wanted to film it from the pianist's point of view (and maybe I succeeded if the pianist was a little drunk). This ragtime piece IS actually called "The Naked Dance," and it was allegedly composed by the legendary New Orleans pianist, Tony Jackson, around 1900 or so. The version you see here was the way that fellow New Orleans pianist (and self-proclaimed "inventor of jazz"), Jelly Roll Morton, played it. This is a slightly truncated version, and it ain't perfect, but my wrists were killing me by the time I landed this take.

Why is it called "The Naked Dance"? This piece was played by Jackson and Morton in the high-class bordellos of New Orleans. When it came time for the male clientele to choose a partner for the night, the Madam brought out her girls, and they would literally strip naked and dance around wildly to this piece of music.

New Orleans was, and is, kind of crazy. I recommend the movie "Pretty Baby" to catch a glimpse of what life was like in the bordellos of New Orleans at the turn-of-the-century. Kind of disturbing. So there's your music history lesson for today! Hope you enjoy.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• naked
• dance
• new
• orleans
• jazz
• ragtime
• jelly
• roll
• morton
• tony
• jackson
• piano
• jeremy
• stevenson