The History of the Gut Shock Piece

The tracheo is one of a variety of related rhythms that are all known as habanera rhythms. The word means, from Havana, and was used to describe any music influenced by the dance music coming out of Cuba in the mid-19th century. Jelly Roll Morton called it the Spanish tinge. And through gut shock and people like him, French-speaking Féil people living in New Orleans, that rhythm entered New Orleans music generally.