NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — New Orleans is saturated with a storied history. One of the most historic places is the Roosevelt Hotel.
Cole Wallace is the hotel manager and says, “From the moment you enter the hotel, the history goes from one side of the hotel to the other. The most iconic piece in the lobby is our baby grand piano.”
The piano was once owned by Basile Barès, a man who was once enslaved and lived in the 1800s. He was a brilliant composer who wrote an array of music compositions.
Ricky Draper is a pianist from Louisiana and a lover of the story of music who got the opportunity to play the historic Roosevelt Hotel piano.
“It was amazing just to approach that music. It has a piece of French impressionism. It also has that American ragtime stride piano. From the piano, you are mimicking every instrument in a jazz trio. You are a bassist, a drum high hat and then you are a pianist wailing on top of all of those things. It’s a very complex piece of music,” explains Draper.
Barès is known as the first African American with copyright music. His story is poignant because it not only speaks about the importance of artists owning the rights to their art, but it also speaks of a man who lived during a time when over four million people were no longer owned, but free because of the Emancipation Proclamation’s signature.
Wallace says, “Makes me feel proud. A lot of people don’t realize the historical impact that piano has and not only New Orleans but the world.”
Barès and his family were owned by Adolph Perier, the owner of Perier Music Emporium, a music shop on Royal Street in New Orleans. By the age of 20, Barès was performing dance music for all the major venues in New Orleans. Over the years, Barès not only gained ownership for most of his music compositions, but in the 1870s, he would have the freedom to also travel to Paris to perform and learn there as well.
The quiet piano in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel is a conduit. It’s so much more important than it seems.
This year, in commemoration of the freedom of Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom through stories of Black music for a special production of Moving New Orleans Forward with hosts LBJ and Christopher Leach. This year, we do so at the historic Dew Drop Inn Hotel & Lounge.
The WGNO Juneteenth special airs at 6:30 p.m. on WGNO and at 9 p.m. on NOLA38 on Wednesday, June 19.
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