Creole Rice Yerba Buena Jazz Band Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button is for the Creole Rice Yerba Buena Jazz Band in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a round button made of gold paper with black ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

CREOLE RICE YERBA BUENA JAZZ BAND THE FAMOUS MELODY BOYS OF NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA (504) 282-4802

Jacques Gauthé (1939- 2007) was a French clarinetist and saxophonist. He began his career around 1957 performing Traditional and Dixieland Jazz with his own band and Jazz luminaries such as Mezz Mezzrow, Don Byas, Benny Waters, and Sidney Bechet. In 1972, Gauthé moved to New Orleans and by 1979 was the leader of the Creole Rice Jazz Band. In 1984, he received extraordinary praise from American Jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Lu Watters and founder of the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, when Watters permitted Gauthé the use of his historic band name. From that time the group was called the Creole Rice Yerba Buena Jazz Band.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

Materials, dates and provenance

• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: button
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 2 3/8 in; x 6.0325 cm
• place made: United States: Illinois, La Salle
• ID Number: 2011.3086.169
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.169
• Credit Line: Gift of Lucille Levin
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.