Look in the music history books – they’re there. And it looks like Vappie is on his way there, too. Described variously as a banjo virtuoso, or “the best and most original banjoist in New Orleans today,” he is modest, soft-spoken and proud of the heritage he represents.

“My great-great-great grandfather, Noel Louis Vapaille, came here from France in 1829,” he says – and he can tell you the names of the relatives that followed, generation by generation. “We’re Creole,” he says. “French, African, a bit of Irish. Proud of all of it.” The name originally was Vapaille, but the continental pronunciation – generally vah-pi-e – has taken the short form.

Vappie always wanted to play music; his earliest memory of grammar school is the desire to be a musician. He started with a few years of piano lessons from his cousin, whose son is now in his band, the Creole Jazz Serenaders. Trumpet and the baritone horn followed in school bands. At De La Salle High School, he learned the bass violin and led the band as a flashy drum major in a brilliant white suit and, according to a classmate, a world-class Mod Squad Afro.

There were no jazz programs at Loyola or Xavier in the ’70s; he followed the traditional curriculum of a music major. Too, no one had really introduced him to jazz music. Not bothering to finish “those history things” and his degree, and deciding that he didn’t want to teach, Vappie went on his chosen way playing pop and funk till about 1980. His journey to jazz was actually helped by disco music.

Says Vappie, “Disco discouraged me. The music would go on and on, repeat-repeat-repeat: same beat, every song. Sometimes twenty minutes.” He adds, “It was really boring.”

He tried being a salesman but couldn’t do it. “I didn’t feel good selling someone some really expensive thing that they really didn’t need, and when you work on commission, that’s not good,” he explained.

Vappie kept up his music, all the while practicing and growing. He believes that if you have talent, it’s a gift, but you have to work at it and play or practice with some regularity. “Muscles, lips, fingers – you have to use them to keep limber and develop speed and agility, but you have to keep a delicate balance and not overdo it,” he says.

With that dedication, he is a major talent, playing tenor and six-string banjo, guitar, and bass. He also does vocals and even played the washboard on his “Creole Blues” CD.

For about eight months of the year, Vappie tours. Most of the time is spent with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the rest with the Creole Jazz Serenaders or as a guest artist with various groups around the world. The remainder of the year is spent at home in Covington composing, transcribing and arranging new music for his band.

His goal is to introduce audiences to New Orleans-inspired music from the first half of the 1900s. Not to imitate or preserve, but to conserve, which is different. Vappie carefully respects the inspiration of that style as he crafts new pieces for his band. In their frequent rehearsals, each band member learns to adapt his individual playing to fit that style. The result is a unique identity for the band and a conservation of New Orleans music of that time.

The complexity of the process obviously fascinates Vappie. Through his transcriptions and arrangements, it becomes clear that early musicians didn’t just pick up instruments and start playing. Jazz played well can be just as complex as classical music – to advance, the musicians had to be able to read music.

Musicians working on the riverboats that went to and from New Orleans learned the popular music of the day from sheet music. If a musician couldn’t read sheet music well, typically another band member would be assigned as a tutor.

“In jazz,” Vappie says, “you have to know the song and understand the music as a language – and the more fluent you are, the better you can play.”

Early jazz is structured differently than modern jazz, because each instrument has a defined role. While individual improvisation is always a part of the music, it is tempered by the bandleader’s vision.

Today’s music? “Rap is interesting rhythmically, but I’m bothered by the violence and bluntly stated lyrics. That may be the goal of the style. Its appeal is raw and in your face,” he says, adding, “I prefer the more subtle approach of early jazz styles.” He also thinks that the “electric stuff” has gone through a generation and will level off, along with the car trunk boom boxes.

No matter. Don Vappie is literally bringing jazz back from the past and making it live again in our own backyard and all over the world. All we have to do is listen.

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