Jazz Foundations

Don Vappie brings to life the music of early New Orleans jazz pioneer Joe “King” Oliver.

- Stacey Leigh Bridewell

“When I got into and started really playing New Orleans jazz more often, it was me working my way back,” says Don Vappie, on break between classes at Loyola University, where he teaches jazz guitar. “It wasn’t just me going back and saying, ‘Oh this is great music.’ This was me coming from where I grew up playing in funk and Top 40 bands and working my way back and seeing how the stuff that happened before me fit into what I’m doing now. How did that fit into this? And I kept going back and that’s when, for me, I realized that early New Orleans music was the basis for everything. It was the original music of America that influenced everything that was happening here. I mean Jelly Roll Morton is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!”

Vappie is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, bandleader and music educator who comes from a multigenerational New Orleans musical family. His grandmother played guitar and banjo and was part of a musical sibling group that included Papa John Joseph, the bass player and barber whose shop Buddy Bolden used to frequent. Vappie’s cousin, Plas Johnson, was one of the famed “Wrecking Crew” session players, and is best known as the sax on Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme.”

It’s no surprise that Vappie has followed in the family tradition. He’s played in funk cover bands, traditional jazz bands, and with full orchestras in venues as diverse as Bourbon Street and Carnegie Hall. He was featured in the PBS documentary