When I’m not writing about jazz, I’m a kids’ science educator. It’s true—since 2020 I’ve run a small business which delivers workshops and parties to schools and private clients all over the county, aimed at children aged 4-11. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here before. But then, it’s never been relevant before. Anyway, when you work with hundreds of kids each week you hear a lot of weird things, not all of them appropriate when coming from the mouth of an elementary schooler.
Sometimes you hear something truly shocking—something that makes you think, “Where have they heard that?” and “Do they know what it means?” Occasionally you need to have an awkward conversation with a parent or teacher about potentially harmful influences in the child’s life. (To be honest, it’s usually YouTube.) But safeguarding standards weren’t quite so strict a century ago, and Louisa “Blue Lu” Barker was living proof of this.
Born in November of 1913, little Louisa Dupont was performing bawdy blues songs on street corners from a tender age. Interviewed by the vibraphonist Milt Jackson in 1980, she recalled taking part in outdoor concerts along with other young girls in her New Orleans neighborhood. These took place on small stages erected on empty lots—and may well have been catered by Louisa’s father August, who sold bootleg liquor out of a candy store he
