James Brown Humphrey, also known as "Professor Jim" Humphrey (1859 -1937) was an American classical musician, dance band leader, and music instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana, and central figure in the formation of jazz as a contemporary musical art form. Humphrey predates the jazz genre as an active performer and is not himself considered a jazz musician. However, his involvement in the formal training of large numbers of musicians along the southern plantation belt of the Mississippi River delta during the immediate years following the reconstruction era resulted in many virtuoso performers who would go on to originate jazz as a distinct musical genre. Consequently, he is regarded by some in the jazz aficionado community to be "the grandfather of jazz".
Early life
Humphrey was born on the Cornland plantation in Sellers, Louisiana, a former town northwest of New Orleans in St. Charles Parish that is now part of Norco, Louisiana. The son of a slaveholder and a slave, he was sent away by his father to live with a free black family. Although exiled from his original birthplace, his father continued to support him financially. This support included a monetary allocation for music lessons. Due to this exposure, Humphrey became a proficient classically trained musician.
Career
In adulthood, Humphrey would go on to find work as classical musician, playing cornet in the Bloom Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans. He also performed in the Pelican Brass Band, most often playing trumpet.
As a music teacher, he would travel the plantation belt, usually by train, organizing brass bands on the plantations along the Mississippi River. Visiting weekly, he would schedule brass band rehearsals at each location, often sleeping overnight before moving on to the next location. Humphrey also taught at New Orleans University on Saturdays.
Humphrey's clientele on the plantations was primarily composed of field laborers. From the 1880s to around 1915, many large slave-era plantations along the Mississippi River delta still existed; only now with African-American laborers as paid field hands. There was heavy labor competition at the time. At many of the plantations on which Humphrey offered his services as a music instructor, he was contracted by plantation owners to do so as an added incentive to lure the most eligible laborers.
One such arrangement was with Henry C. Warmoth, a former reconstruction era carpetbagger governor of Louisiana and one of the foremost sugar planters and manufacturers of his day. At the close of reconstruction, Warmoth, who was an advocate for black rights and a former Union Army officer, remained in the south and acquired the Magnolia Plantation, a large sugar producing farm about thirty miles down the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Warmoth maintained a number of brass bands populated with African-American musicians and was a benefactor to many local performers. A key element of this involvement was the contracting of Professor Humphrey's services in training these musicians.
Humphrey also taught at other plantations including Deer Range, St. Sophie, Ironton, Belair, Jesuits Bend, and Oakville, all within 25 miles of land along both banks of the Mississippi River. Humphrey not only had influence on the individual musicians in New Orleans, but also the dance orchestras of the city. Many of his pupils went on to become the core group of working musicians of the city. In many cases Humphrey was paid directly by individual students. Although the majority of these students were African-American, he also trained a number of white clients as well.
Humphrey was adept at playing all brass band and string instruments and initially taught classical music to his students. However, the brass band movement was at its height of popularity during the turn of the century and the bands of such prolific bandleaders as John Philip Sousa and Patrick Gilmore were enjoying great popularity in performing marches, quadrilles, and the craze of the day, ragtime. New Orleans, was quickly becoming a haven for brass bands, probably having more per capita than any other city in the United States. Professor Humphrey is widely acclaimed to be instrumental in training the large field of skilled musicians that would fill the ensuing boom.