Birth of the Blues
Although he is only twelve, Jeff Lambert is a very talented clarinetist, and although the boy's father has spent a small fortune to have Jeff taught the fundamentals of classical clarinet, the lad prefers to spend his time in New Orleans with a group of black jazz men who perform in a dive on Bourbon Street. As the boy grows into manhood, his love for jazz intensifies, and he forms his own group, much to the chagrin of his aging father.
Moving ahead we find Jeff (Crosby) in his late twenties, and he and his boys have been unable to secure a job at any of the classier New Orleans cabarets and have been forced to limit their playing to street corners and to one-night stands in some of the dingier nightclubs. When his lead trombone player asks Jeff why the band can't seem to get anywhere, Jeff replies that he thinks the main problem is that the group lacks a hot trumpet player. He begins to search throughout New Orleans in the hope of finding a trumpet man who can fill the bill. He finds one in a local jail and promises to bail the fellow out as soon as he can raise the money. This he does, and the trumpet player, named Memphis (Brian Donlevy), agrees to become a member of Jeff's band.
At the same time, Jeff notices a young lady called Betty Lou (Mary Martin) being overcharged by a horse-cab driver. He takes pity on her and her Aunt Phoebe (Carolyn Lee) and he invites them to stay with him. Memphis is attracted to Betty Lou and he gets her a job at a club owned by Blackie (J.Carrol Naish) and she agrees to the job if Blackie will take on Jeff's band and he reluctantly agrees to do so.
With a great trumpet player, Jeff's band becomes the most popular jazz band on Bourbon Street. All goes well until they find out that the owner of the club, Blackie is a racketeer who uses his night spot only as a convenient front for his criminal interests. Jeff and the boys decide to leave Blackie's club and go on to other things, but when they tell Blackie of their plans, the gangster threatens to kill them one by one. Jeff takes a swing at Blackie, which causes a violent saloon brawl between Blackie and his gang and Jeff and his boys. During the fight, Jeff's good friend Louey (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson) is injured when he is cracked over the head with a bottle. When the riot is over, Jeff and the boys take the unconscious Louey home to his wife, Ruby (Ruby Elzy). As she tearfully bemoans her husband's injury, Jeff and the band play a moving musical tribute to their fallen comrade. Slowly Louey regains consciousness.
A few weeks later, Jeff and his band have still another unpleasant run-in with Blackie. This time the gangster is accidentally killed by one of his own henchmen leaving Jeff, Betty Lou and the band to move on to better things.
murder