Before the term jazz was coined and before music was recorded, there was the Mexican Band of 1884.

New Orleanians loved it!

“There has never been a band which has taken such hold on the affections of the people of New Orleans, not only on account of its artistic ability, but the individual and social qualifications of its members,” a Daily Picayune article states. 

With 76 members, the Mexican Band came to the city during the six-month World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in Audubon Park in 1884. According to Historic New Orleans Collection’s historian Eric Seiferth, the city touted itself as the center of the New South.

Like other countries, Mexico – the largest exhibitor – came to show its offerings and to conduct business, according to Laine Kaplan-Levenson, host of WWNO’s history podcast “TriPod: New Orleans at 300.” “A million people show up to this thing!” 

The main draw, however, was the music. 

The band, officially called the 8th Cavalry Mexican Military Band, played popular New Orleans music and Mexican sounds. 

“Some days the Mexican Band is playing twice a day. And there are some weeks where they play essentially every day,” Seiferth said. “The city has fallen in love with them.”

After the expo, Kaplan-Levenson said, New Orleans continued to invite the Mexican Band back to the city. “They returned for multiple performances, knowing they would always be welcome and celebrated.”

Historians and critics continue to debate how much the Mexican Band influenced New Orleans music, according to Josh Kun, cultural historian and curator of the exhibition “Over and Over the Waves.”

“My sense is that in the late 1800s and early 1900s there is no doubt they left their mark,” he said. “Certainly, their popularity with local audiences, the number of shows they did, and the boom of ‘Mexican’ and ‘Cuban’ sheet-music publishing that circulated in New Orleans in their wake is a good indication of that.”

For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.

Most Read Stories

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons License

Tammy C. Barney is an award-winning columnist who spent most of her career at two major newspapers, The Times-Picayune and The Orlando Sentinel. She served as a bureau chief, assistant city editor, TV...