Paul Barbarin

Paul Barbarin (1899-1969)
Adolphe Paul Barbarin was a New Orleans jazz drummer. Barbarin is regarded as one of the best (along with Warren “Baby” Dodds) pre-Big Band era jazz drummers. The famous drummer, Louis Cottrell, Sr. was Barbarin’s teacher.

Formative Years
From the late 1910s, Barbarin divided his time between New Orleans, Chicago, and New York touring with Joe “King” Oliver, Luis Russell, Louis Armstrong, and Henry Red Allen. In the 1950s, Barbarin led his own band. With Louis Cottrell, Jr., Barbarin founded and led the second incarnation of the Onward Brass Band from 1960 to 1969.

Barbarin was knowledgeable and accomplished musician, a member of the NAACP, and the composer of pop tunes and Dixieland standards including, “Come Back Sweet Papa”, “Don’t Forget to Mess Around (When You’re Doing the Charleston)”, “Bourbon Street Parade”, and “(Paul Barbarin’s) Second Line”.

Paul Barbarin died doing what he liked to do best, playing in a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade on February 17, 1969.