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| The Pat Barberot Orchestra | ||||
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When Pat Barberot was 11 years old, his mother bought him his
first saxophone from a hock shop. He fell in love with the instrument,
picked up a few orchestrations from Wuerline’s Music Store
for 75 cents, and organized the Pat Barberot Orchestra. They
hit their heyday in the late 40s, playing the hottest New Orleans
clubs as well as the big ballrooms in neighboring Jefferson Parish.
By the early 50s, though, big band had lost favor to smaller jazz
combos. Gambling was outlawed in Jefferson Parish, and when
the slots went so did Pat’s band, because the house couldn’t
afford to pay a 14-piece orchestra. For the next 20 years, Pat did whatever he could — taught music, worked a job on the Mississippi River, played backup for artists visiting New Orleans — all the while dreaming of opening his own club. Finally, in 1972 he and a buddy mortgaged their homes and opened the Jefferson Orleans. It’s now one of the last surviving big band ballrooms in the south. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the ballroom flooded. Many of its regulars lost their homes. Others moved out of town to find work. After haggling with insurance companies and shady construction guys, Pat contemplated shutting the Jefferson Orleans down. Then he got a call from one of his fans, who also happened to run a local bank. He told Pat to get it remodeled, and that the Bank of Louisiana would back him. On December 5th, the Jefferson Orleans re-opened, and the Pat Barberot Orchestra resumed its 66-year long run as a New Orleans institution. |
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