John Norris, the Hawaii musician revered as the leader and keeper of the flame of the New Orleans Jazz Band, died at home Friday. He was 85. JOHN NORRIS / 1916-2002
Hawaii enjoyed jazz
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band leader’s talentsBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com"It was a good death; he died at home listening to music, and we all spent a lot of time with him," said his daughter Kathleen Norris.
Norris died with his family around him after a six-year battle with a form of degenerative anemia.
"He'd been doing pretty well up until about two weeks ago when he had to go to the hospital for a while, but we were determined to bring him home. He knew he was home, and he was making jokes until almost right up to the end. He asked for a gin and tonic in the ICU," she said.
Norris touched many in Hawaii since he came here with his family in 1959. As an educator, Norris shared his love of music with uncounted thousands of students in Hawaii's public schools. As an unflinching advocate of social justice and outspoken critic of some aspects of American foreign policy, Norris stood up and was counted at a time when many found it expedient to remain silent and duck. He was one of the first people not at risk of doing time in Vietnam to question the official rationale for the American military presence there.
In later years, Norris became the indefatigable editor of a newsletter that combined coverage of the national Dixieland jazz underground with political pieces on American foreign and domestic policy.
Born on Nov. 17, 1916, in Wallace, W.Va., Norris grew up in South Dakota, and received a bachelor of arts degree in music from Northwestern University. Norris was in some respects a romantic; he persuaded Lois Totten to elope in 1938 and they were married on July 17. Norris was teaching music in South Dakota when he was drafted in 1943, and it was as a Navy musician that he came to Hawaii for the first time near the end of World War II. He returned with his family in 1959 to assume the post of Navy bandmaster at Pearl Harbor.
Norris shared his musical talents with the civilian community as well. He played cello with the Honolulu Symphony and was also the choir director of the First Methodist Church.
He retired here in 1969 with the rank of chief warrant officer.
Kathleen Norris said her father was already planning to retire when a local newspaper ran a photo of him attending a Church of the Crossroads board meeting in his naval uniform. The church was a center of anti-Vietnam War activities and had given sanctuary to several American servicemen who objected to the war for political or philosophical grounds. Kathleen Norris says the military authorities weren't happy with her father's position as the head of the church board and "sort of urged him" to retire sooner rather than later, and so he did.
Norris then embarked on several new careers. He enrolled in the University of Hawaii, got a degree in special education and spent several years teaching special ed classes for the state Department of Education. He then began teaching music in public schools in rural Oahu.
Norris got into local entertainment playing cornet for Trummy Young at the original Garden Bar in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. When Young decided to retire from the Sunday afternoon event, he invited Norris to take over the band, and the New Orleans Jazz Band was born. With Norris leading a constellation of talented musicians, the New Orleans Jazz Band was a Sunday afternoon hit for years at the Garden Bar.
"He had a lot of regulars -- a lot of locals, and a lot of visitors who would schedule their trips to come and dance," Kathleen Norris said.
John Norris is also survived by wife Lois, son John T., daughters Rebecca and Charlotte, and four grandchildren.
Funeral services are pending.