Yvonne Busch
Yvonne Busch (October 18, 1929 February 28, 2014)
was a jazz musician and an inuential music teacher in
New Orleans.
1 Life and career
Born to Edward and Bertha Scott Busch in the 9th Ward
of New Orleans, Busch grew up in Trem, which had an
active music scene.[1](p49) The local music scene piqued
her interest and at age eleven, on her own initiative, she
left home to pursue a music education at Piney Woods
Country Life School in Mississippi.[1](p5051) She played
the trumpet and toured with the schools all-female band
Swinging Rays of Rhythm, performing at dances, clubs
and USO events in the American South and Midwest.[1][2]
In 1943 she returned to New Orleans and continued her
education at the Gilbert Academy under T. LeRoy Davis,
the music director of the school. Inuenced by Davis,
she played multiple instruments and decided to pursue a
teaching career. She enrolled in the teacher-training pro-
gram at Southern University in Baton Rouge. She was
a member and assistant director of the universitys jazz
band.[1][2]
In 1951 upon returning to New Orleans she became a
public school teacher and taught for 32 years a year
at Booker T. Washington, six years at Joseph S. Clark,
and twenty ve years at George Washington Carver high
school. She was briey a member of William Houstons
big band, however she withdrew because of career de-
mands. As a teacher and band director she faced fund-
ing and instrument shortages and often used her own in-
struments and those of her acquaintances. She encour-
aged her students to play multiple instruments. She gave
free private lessons and organized summer practice ses-
sions for school bands. She directed large bands including
marching bands. Many of her pupils went on to become
notable musicians in their own right, such as Smokey
Johnson, James Crawford, Herlin Riley, John Boudreaux,
James Black, and Nat Perrilliat.[1][3][4]
In 2005 her home was ooded during Hurricane Katrina.
Subsequently she lived in the Dallas, Texas, area and re-
turned to New Orleans in 2013. She died on February 28,
2014.[5][6]
1
2 References
[1] Al Kennedy (2005). Chord Changes on the Chalkboard:
How Public School Teachers Shaped Jazz and the Music
of New Orleans. Scarecrow Press. p. 4981. ISBN
9781461657460. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
[2] Dennis Persica (March 2, 2014). Yvonne Busch, leg-
endary music teacher, dies at 84. The Advocate.
Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved
July 12, 2017.
[3] Tod Smith (October 15, 2003). Celebrating a Life of
Music: Yvonne Busch. All About Jazz. Archived from
the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
[4] Michael Hurtt (February 1, 2004). Best of the Beat Life-
time Achievement Sideman Award: Smokey Johnson.
OBeat. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Re-
trieved July 12, 2017.
[5] Dave Ankers (October 18, 2013). Happy Birthday to
New Orleans Music Educator Yvonne Busch. WWOZ.
Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved
July 15, 2017.
[6] Danielle Dreilinger (March 1, 2014). Yvonne Busch,
New Orleans music educator, dies at 84. The Times-
Picayune. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017.
Retrieved July 15, 2017.
3 Further reading
Al Kennedy (2005). Chord Changes on the Chalk-
board: How Public School Teachers Shaped Jazz and
the Music of New Orleans. Scarecrow Press. p. 49
81. ISBN 9781461657460.
4 External links
A Legend in the Classroom The Life Story of Ms.
Yvonne Busch a video documentary, trailer, 2008
2 5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1 Text
Yvonne Busch Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Busch?oldid=792192584 Contributors: The Rambling Man, Nikkimaria,
Cwmhiraeth and Bammesk

5.2 Images
File:Yvonne-Busch-at-Carver-High-School-New-Orleans-1962.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/
Yvonne-Busch-at-Carver-High-School-New-Orleans-1962.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: Original publication: by The Times-
Picayune as part of the subjects obituary [3]

Immediate source: http://image.nola.com/home/nola-media/width620/img/education_impact/photo/14389717-standard.jpg Original

artist: publisher: The Times-Picayune nola.com, photographer: unknown

5.3 Content license

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