Event · 1917 · New Orleans [29.98, -90.08]
Closing of Storyville (1917)
Storyville was the district of New Orleans where, for two decades, the city's vice trade and its musicians had concentrated, giving early jazz players some of their steadiest work. In 1917 the district was shut down under wartime pressure, scattering many of those musicians. The closure is often read as one of the spurs that sent New Orleans players up the river toward Chicago.
Evidence1
- Wikidata: StoryvilleWikidata
www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1969858
accessed 2026-06-04
Connections1
reacts against → Armstrong joins King Oliver in Chicago (1922)
The 1917 closing of Storyville removed a major source of work for New Orleans musicians and is widely tied to their migration north. Within a few years that exodus had carried King Oliver to Chicago and set up his 1922 summons to Louis Armstrong.