Jazz Funeral

It has been quite some time since I left the daily routine of writing a post that was in some way connected to the scent I was wearing or its name. I have been wearing scents all summer, but I preferred being outside to my writing routine. However, the weather has changed and schools have started again, so I think I'll resume my daily posts. Although I am already a day behind, writing about Jazz Funeral which is the BPAL scent O wore yesterday.

Jazz Funeral originally was a name given by outsiders to the New Orleans 'funeral with music'. Jazz was part of the music, it was not what the ceremony was about. The tradition was built up from the Louisiana tradition of military brass bands, Yoruba spiritual traditions, early twentieth century African-American Protestant and Catholic churches and the Haitian Voudoo idea of celebrating after death to please the spirits who protect the death. The tradition has been spread across ethnic and religious borders for most of its existence, although during certain periods it was abandoned by certain groups. However, the majority of jazz funerals are for people who have been jazz musicians themselves.

This is what Black Phoenix tells about the jazz funeral:

Considered a great honor, this is one of the most distinguished aspects of New Orleans culture. Its roots lie in the customs of the Dahomeans and Yoruba people, and is a celebration of both the person’s life and the beauty and solemnity of their death. The procession is lead by the Grand Marshal, resplendent in his black tuxedo, white gloves and black hat in hand; almost a vision of the great Baron Samedi himself. The music begins with solemn, tolling dirges, moves into hymns of sorrow, loss and redemption. When the burial site is reached, a two-note preparatory riff is sounded, and the drummers start the second-line beat, heralding the switch in music to joyous, upbeat songs, dancing, and the unfurling of richly decorated umbrellas by the ‘second line’: friends, family, loved ones and stray celebrants. Strutting, bouncing, and festive dance accompanies the upbeat ragtime music that sends the departed soul onto its next journey.

This is followed by the text of the Louis Armstrong song 'Didn't He Ramble':

Didn’t he ramble
... he rambled
Rambled all around
... in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
... Didn’t he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.

His feet was in the market place
... his head was in the street
Lady pass him by, said
... look at the market meat
He grabbed her pocket book
... and said I wish you well
She pulled out a forty-five
... said I’m head of personnel.

Didn’t he ramble
... he rambled
Rambled all around
... in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
... Didn’the ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.

He slipped into the cat house
... made love to the stable
Madam caught him cold
... said I’ll pay you when I be able
Six months had passed 
... and she stood all she could stand
She said buddy when I’m through with you
Ole groundhog gonna be shakin yo’ hand.

Didn’t he ramble
... he rambled
Rambled all around
... in and out of town
Didn’t he ramble
... Didn’t he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down.

I said he rambled
... lord
...’ till the butcher shot him down.

You can here the song here, without text, but the video shows nice old images, even in their oddly compressed state. In this video Louis Armstrong gives his own description of the jazz funeral, both in words and in music (still without the text of the song). For the text, I could only find the version by Kermit Ruffins (and I thought Kermit was only the name of a show frog!).

Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish Moss.

I think the choice of notes is not surprising. What is interesting is that it indeed smells like all that. The graveyard dirt after the second reapplication of the day smelled like the rotting plants note in Nocnitsa to me, but it is rather light, not at all as overwhelming as in Nocnitsa. In fact I can only smell it in the wet stage, after that it is only booze and flowers with something candy-sweet underneath that I can not further identify. Again, candy-sweet is not a note I like but in Jazz Funeral it is so light I do not dislike it. 
The strangest thing about Jazz Funeral is that to me it is a 'funny' scent. I am not quite sure what it is that makes a scent 'funny' to me and it seems odd that a funeral scent should fit into my category of 'funny' scents, but it does.

Jazz Funeral for Didi by Judith Schaechter