Veterans Day Observance: A Jazz History of Baton Rouge Event

On November 6 at 11 am at the Galvez Plaza stage, the Florida Street Blowhards, will play the “Armed Forces Medley” and a selection of Jazz Age music that would have been played at the 1918 Third Street dance hosted by the LSU Cadets and the Toots Johnson Jazz Band. The street dance celebrated the end of World War I. There will be a presentation of the colors.

“Baton Rouge has a rich but overlooked jazz history,” said historian Sam Irwin. “Few know that Mose “Toots” Johnson, the city’s first jazzman, performed at the request of the LSU cadets at a special Third Street dance to celebrate the end of World War I . Mayor Alex Grouchy allowed the street to be blocked of at Florida and Laurel and the party went late into the night.”