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Topic: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band |
Bill McCloskey
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Posted 14 Mar 2010 4:39 pm |
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The ODJB recorded the very first jazz recordings. An all white band, the became the first musicians to record jazz. Freddie Keppard, a creole and the leading jazz light at time, turned down the opportunity to be the first band to record because he didn't want other musicians stealing his stuff.
As a result, the ODJB remain controversial with many scholars dismissing the disks as historical, but unlistenable, oddities. Their reputation was further denigrated as a result of Nick LaRocca, outspoken leader of the ODJB, whose words and interviews were considered highly racist as he laid claim to having invented jazz himself.
So, knowing all this, I never got around to actually listening to these tracks and so I recently downloaded them off of Itunes or emusic.
I mean after all what self respecting jazz buff has never head the very first jazz recordings?
I have to say that these recordings are a revelation. Well recorded, the remastered disks are alive and you can imagine the effect these disks had on the nation. Louis Armstrong kept recordings of teh ODJB with him when he traveled the world. After giving these disks a listen I can see why. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 14 Mar 2010 5:42 pm
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| They did make the "first" jazz recordings, but the playing has been downplayed as not being "Good" enough to be recognized as legit, so the critics say that this band was the first to really introduce the "style" of jazz, but not good enough to really be the first "real" jazz group...go figure. |
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Marc Stone
From:
Louisiana, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 5:48 am
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| I did sound for the ODJB under Nick Larocca's son about 15 yrs ago. Still pushing the same BS that they invented jazz. Sad. Buddy Bolden died destitute, insane and unrecorded. He is well documented to have been playing jazz in New Orleans well over a decade before the ODJB recordings. Legendary guitarist Danny Barker, who I believe was the first African-American to do in depth studies on jazz in the pre-recording era, wrote a great book about Bolden and the early jazz scene in New Orleans. I don't recall Barker having much to say about ODJB, or about his former employer, Jelly Roll Morton, who also claimed to have invented jazz. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 6:44 am
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Bix loved LaRocca--that's got to mean something.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 7:43 am
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| Interesting to note that so many of the songs played by the ODJB on their first disks became dixieland and chicago style jazz standards. Bix's Wolvereens remade most of the early ODJB songs. |
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Gary C. Dygert
From:
Frankfort, NY, USA
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 1:49 pm
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| Sylvester Weaver usuually gets no credit for Steel Guitar Rag, either. He called it Guitar Rag. He recorded it once on slide b@njo! |
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Marc Stone
From:
Louisiana, USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2010 5:15 am
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| It makes sense that the ODJB's early recordings would have a huge influence on artists that came after them, but I still don't believe that they invented jazz. History certainly seems to indicate otherwise. |
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