Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass band ( mid- 1917 the spelling in Original Dixieland Jazz band has been changed ) - ODJB short - Made the first published recording session with jazz music as a whole (1917 ). She was also the first jazz band that gained international popularity in 1919. Many of the recorded first by the Original Dixieland Jass band pieces - such as Tiger Rag, Fidgety Feet, Clarinet Marmalade, At the Jazz Band Ball, and last but not least the St. Louis Blues - are much played Dixieland standards today.
History
Initially, the five white musicians had, inter alia, in the band of drummer Papa Jack Laine played in New Orleans. In March 1916, the musician Frank Christian ( cornet), Henry Ragas ( piano) and Johnny Stein ( drums) were Eddie Edwards ( trombone), Alcide Nunez ( clarinet), invited to a commitment to Chicago. The promoter wanted to have a band that represented the sound of New Orleans, like the led by trombonist Tom Brown " Rubes of Ragtime " band that has performed in New York in 1915. For the short-term precipitating cornetist Frank Christian good substitute was with Nick LaRocca found. On 3 March 1916, the musicians had their first appearance as Stein's Dixie Jass band. The huge success led to tensions, in part due to demands for higher salaries. With new drummer Tony Sbarbaro and headed by LaRocca, they ceded June 1916 under the name The Original Dixieland Jass Band on the "Casino Gardens ". Due to personal conflicts between Nunez and LaRocca was employed in 1916 as a clarinetist Larry Shields from the end of October, an exchange of the clarinet with the band of Tom Brown. Business the ODJB was a so-called "co -op band", ie the sidemen who had chosen LaRocca to their leader, participated the total profit.
The music of the Original Dixieland Jass band was totally new for the audience. By contrasting point-in game of the three melodic instruments and syncopated two-beat it differed from Ragtime, the then most modern form of music considerably. After a few weeks her guest appearance was a sensation in Chicago as the Chicago Herald reported on 30 April 1916.
The star singer Al Jolson brought the chapel then in January 1917 in the posh New York restaurant " Weber travel ". First recordings followed, first at "Columbia", but were not published. On February 26, 1917, took "Victor" the " Livery Stable Blues " and " Dixie Jass Band One Step" on. The label had with the recordings of ODJB a million success. The clever from Columbia to New Orleans talent scout Ralph Peer was unable to find comparable Jassband 1917 there. " In New Orleans, they played around this time everything except no Jass " (Horst H. Lange ).
Over time, there have been some line-up changes. It is important to mention especially Larry Shields, one of the " fathers" of the jazz clarinet and one of the favorite clarinetist Johnny Dodds of, as well as the pianist J. Russel Robinson, who replaced the late ragas on the tour of England, and the English jazz pioneer Billy Jones. 1918 replaced the Christian Emile for military service convened Eddie Edwards.
1919 was the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to London, where he made more recordings. In 1920, she returned to America. " After their return, the band still existed until 1925, without, however, as new competition ever to regain their original meaning ." LaRocca dissolved the band for health reasons ( he suffered a nervous breakdown ). Other bands such as the "Original Memphis Five" or "King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band " conquered the young jazz scene.
1936 there was a brief reunion under the name Original Dixieland Jazz Five with six new recordings. Later, some of the original band members formed new bands with the old name ( Edwards, Sbarbaro ). The son of Nick LaRocca, Jimmy LaRocca, first came to prominence as modern jazz trumpet player a name, then also led a band under the same name.
Importance
The ODJB was advertised initially by the record company as the "originator of jazz " ( Creators of Jazz). Trumpeter Nick LaRocca of them was adamant, for example, in answer to the question Bunny Berigans in an interview (1936). In a headline-making process in Chicago in the 1920s, in which concerned copyright for their hit Livery Stable Blues, LaRocca claimed effective in advertising the Columbus Jazz to be. Even in the 1950s, he led a lawsuit against the trombonist Tom Brown, who also just like Jelly Roll Morton claimed to be the "inventor of jazz ".
Much of the dispute, who first played in New Orleans " Jass ", simply the result of misunderstandings. The gameplay of ODJB was therefore (at least on record ) so unique because it in Chicago as well as in the restaurant travel Weber in New York their music faster, " hectic " and hot, with a wild staccato, played, as was usual in the typical ragtime. The ODJB thus stood godfather not only for genuine jazz developments (Chicago Jazz ), but especially for the popular dance music of the Twenties ( Charleston ). Not coincidentally, the quick Tiger Rag was her most famous piece ( according to statements by Louis Armstrong " still the best version" ). Louis Armstrong also wrote about the ODJB in his first autobiography, Swing That Music of 1936: " His ( LaRocca 's) orchestra had only five pieces, but theywere the hottest five pieces did had ever been known before. He had an instrumentation different from anything before ... " Both the number of musicians as well as the manner of performance and the instrumentation thus differed significantly from the ragtime orchestras of the time. Documented the typical jazz of the period before and shortly after 1920 ( ODJB, Original Memphis Five, Original Indiana Five, New Orleans Jazz Band, King Oliver, James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, Kid Ory and others) such as sound recordings and eyewitness ( such as Bunk Johnson ) described, was comparatively legato probably in fast tunes, with a loose rhythm, sometimes even with behind-the -beat- notes, and with more improvisation (then called Embellishment ), almost in the music of ODJB completely missing. The somewhat later receiving white band New Orleans Rhythm Kings represents the Jazz from New Orleans authentic, without the stylistic changes that the ODJB had worked in Chicago and New York.
The ODJB were definitely the first to Jazz under this designation applied both in America and in Europe on plates to be heard, while only could make from 1922 in Chicago jazz recordings, for example, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. Culture Political and social disputes about general issues of race have significantly disrupted in the U.S., the music content and formal perception of the early jazz years up to the present time.
Disco Graphical Notes
→ see the list of top 30 shellac records of the Original Dixieland Jass band