Contemporaries: Black orchestras in Omaha before 1950

Preston Love summed up Omaha's role in Jazz history by asserting that "if New York, Chicago, and Kansas City were the major leagues of jazz, Omaha was the triple-A. If you wanted to make the big leagues, you came and played in Omaha." Omaha's black community was home to many first-rate bandleaders who mentored local talent and attracted out-of-town musicians to relocate to Omaha. As Love's analogy indicates, many musicians who played in Omaha's black orchestras went on to become big names in jazz history.;In the early 1900s, two of Omaha's most popular black bandleaders, Dan Desdunes and Josiah Waddle, established a tradition of mentoring the next generation of musicians. Desdunes established a second important tradition among black Omaha bandleaders by using his prestige and his connections to the Omaha Chamber of Commerce to persuade talented out-of-town black musicians to relocate to Omaha.;In the era of the dance band, roughly 1920 to 1960, black Omaha "territory" bandleaders continued both traditions. As a centrally-located transportation hub, Omaha made an attractive base for territory bands, which toured constantly. In the 1930s, Kansas City became the headquarters for many of the most famous black bands. Omaha's proximity to Kansas City helped Omaha bandleaders to attract talented musicians, who hoped to find a way into those nationally famous bands.;Successful black Omaha bandleaders not only had to be knowledgeable musicians and business managers, but they had to deal with a white power structure and culture that rarely accepted or respected them. In the first half of the twentieth century, many black Omaha bandleaders surmounted this prejudice expertly and created an environment in which many black musicians achieved successful musical careers.;After the dance band era ended around 1960, few black musicians moved to Omaha to achieve fame, but the other Omaha tradition continued -- that of mentoring and nurturing talent within the black musician community. One example of this phenomenon is the distinguished career of Luigi Waites as a musician, bandleader, and teacher.