By Phil Bennett
‘We are grateful for the warning’ wrote the semi-satirical magazine Punch in April 1919 upon the arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in London. Exactly what they were warning their readership about is open to conjecture as it is unlikely that anybody on the staff of Punch had even heard the Original Dixieland Jazz Band!
Anyway, for the world of popular music the warning was at least two years too late as the ODJB had made their first recordings ninety-one years ago this year, on Monday, 26th February, 1917 in the New York Studios of the Victor Talking Machine Company. The appearance of Victor 18255 in the Spring of 1917 changed the world of popular music for ever.
It is hard to imagine what might have happened if the ODJB had merely played in New York for a few months and then returned home to New Orleans. No ‘Jazz Age’ for one thing. There were other jazz style groups playing in various parts of the USA but they didn’t call themselves jazz bands. It was only the ODJB who called themselves a ‘jazz (or jass) band’.
An earlier white New Orleans band, Brown’s Band From Dixieland, had been described as a ‘jass band’ in an unsuccessful attempt to denigrate it. A black New Orleans group, the Original Creole Orchestra, which toured extensively from California to New York, may also have described their music as being ‘jass’. The immediate precursor of the ODJB – Stein’s Band from Dixie (under the nominal leadership of its drummer Johnny Stein and which included three members of the later ODJB) also went under the name of Stein’s Dixieland Jass band. The etymology of the word is unclear. It may have had somewhat a salacious meaning in the early years of the twentieth century but rapidly became acceptable even in ‘polite society’. (There is more on the origins of the name 'jazz' in Ron Rubin’s article 'A Brief History of Jazz').
By about 1913 it had appeared in print to mean 'energetic or vigorous activity'. In England, circa 1918, it was thought to be a dance, and several dance teachers purported to teach the steps to ‘the jazz’, a practice that was brought to a halt by the visiting American ballroom dance teacher, Irene Castle, who pointed out that she had never heard of such a dance.
But ‘what if’ there hadn’t been a Victor recording session? Would there have been any recorded jazz at all? Would jazz, as a distinctly different musical form, have spread around the globe? Would the world have heard anything of jazz at all? It might have remained a sub-paragraph in the pages of musical history. Certainly there were recorded references to jazz before the ODJB recordings. In December 1916 Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan recorded 'That Funny Jas Band From Dixieland' for Edison, and also in the following month for Victor as a vocal duet, but in spite of the reference to jazz as a distinct style, this was not a jazz record. Collins and Harlan made numerous recordings performed primarily in a minstrel show style. The accompaniment may have sounded ‘jazzy’ to the uninitiated, but it was certainly not jazz.
A conventional dance orchestra had recorded two titles for Columbia in mid-February 1917 which were issued as being played by Boree’s Jass Orchestra. This group was not a jazz band by any stretch of the imagination and the Columbia Phonograph Company was guilty of ‘jumping on board the bandwagon’ of the success of the ODJB when this disc was issued in July 1917.
If the ODJB had never entered the Victor studios on that Monday in late February 1917, would they have gone into the Columbia studios some two months later? Would they have recorded for Aeolian Vocalian some two months or so later, and would they have played in England in 1919? It is of course open to conjecture, but if it hadn’t been for this recording session, musical history may well have taken a different course.
(Before anybody writes in to say that the Columbia session had taken place in January, I must point out that discographical research some ten years or so ago has discovered that the date of c.24th January 1917 previously quoted for the Columbia session that produced 'Darktown Strutters Ball' and 'Indiana' is incorrect, and that the session actually took place on 31st May 1917).
The Columbia recording session of late May only took place because of the success of the initial recordings. A meeting (and possible audition) of the band with the Columbia executives in January was inconclusive and didn’t result in any recordings until the Victor disc had proved to be a runaway success.
It is now abundantly clear to this writer that there was a major ‘falling-out’ between Nick LaRocca (the cornettist and de-facto leader of the ODJB) and the Victor company bosses over the mis-labelling of one of the two titles recorded on that February day. For some years the band had featured, as part of their repertoire, a medium tempo foxtrot entitled 'Livery Stable Blues' in which LaRocca had imitated a horse’s whinny on his cornet. This title being one of two tunes recorded at that first session, it was decided that perhaps the title was ‘not very nice’ so that the tune was re-titled as 'Barnyard Blues'. Unfortunately, the record was issued under its original title, which might not have mattered if LaRocca had bothered to copyright the tune – but he hadn’t. The simple fact is that most of the ODJB repertoire consisted of original compositions, the arrangements for which existed only inside the musicians’ heads. Certainly LaRocca couldn’t read music and of the other four, perhaps only the trombonist Eddie Edwards could read a melody line, and then only a violin part anyway. Without anything written down as a proper score, there was therefore nothing to copyright, and the chances of any other musicians then playing in the New York night spots and dance halls being interested in playing what might be described as a form of improvised ragtime, was extremely remote.
So there was a recording where the tune was unprotected by any copyright, and the unfortunate LaRocca (or rather the band’s agent Max Hart) had applied for a copyright on 'Barnyard Blues'. Thus the composer royalties were not going to come their way. If 'Livery Stable Blues' had remained without any form of copyright at all perhaps all would have been well, but nemesis in the shape of clarinettist Alcide Nunez appeared. New Orleans born Nunez had been a member of the ODJB in its early days when the band was under the nominal leadership of its original drummer Johnny Stein. Unfortunately Nunez was unable to play a counterpoint part to the cornet lead from Nick LaRocca and instead clashed with the cornet for the melody line. This led to friction between the two musicians and ultimately a change of clarinettist.
It will be readily understood that Nunez was more than a little aggrieved at missing out on the financial success of the ODJB and it appears that during the summer of 1917, he accidentally discovered that 'Livery Stable Blues' was an un-copyrighted tune. Here was an opportunity for revenge and Nunez seized his chance. In conjunction with another New Orleans musician, cornettist Ray Lopez, he and Lopez copyrighted 'Livery Stable Blues' as their composition. An enraged LaRocca immediately took legal action and sued Nunez and Lopez for $10,000 (a huge sum in 1917). Neither party actually won, but in the ensuing court case LaRocca is reported to have tacitly admitted that 'Livery Stable Blues' was loosely based on a Ray Lopez composition called 'More Power Blues'. Although there was no outright legal victory for LaRocca and the other members of the band, the case attracted an extraordinary degree of coverage by the New York press. It is reasonable to assume that the resulting publicity increased the popularity of the ODJB and that sales of Victor 18255 were also increased as a result. As a sideline, it is interesting to note that a 1918 recording of 'Mournin’ Blues' is actually a reworking of 'More Power Blues', but neither Ray Lopez nor his publishers took any action.
The first ever jazz recording session produced a sound quality that was quite remarkable by the standards of the time. This was no doubt due to the skill of Charles Sooy, the Victor recording engineer, who was an acknowledged expert in his field (his two brothers also worked for the Victor Company). It must be assumed that there were several trial sessions during February 1917 so that the correct acoustical balance could be achieved. Purely from an acoustical engineering standpoint, the two tunes recorded by the ODJB on 26th February 1917 are some of the finest recordings of the pre-electric era. Every instrument stands out with considerable clarity and their drummer, Tony Sparbaro was able to use his drum kit to considerable effect. It should be remembered that in a pre-electric recording studio, a block of wood would be placed under the loud pedal on the piano, while the drummer would normally be restricted to using his snare drum, wood blocks and crash cymbal. On 'Livery Stable Blues' the boom of the bass drum is clearly audible as is pianist Henry Ragas.
My own copy of this disc is an early pressing and the labels of the two tunes make interesting reading. Both titles are described as being ‘Composed and played by Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ Band' which, as far as the copyrighted composer credits are concerned, is clearly incorrect in the case of 'Livery Stable Blues'! 'Livery Stable Blues' is designated a ‘foxtrot’ and the reverse can be assumed (from the tempo) to be a ‘one-step’. This side gives the tune title as 'Dixieland Jass Band One Step'. On 'Livery Stable Blues' there is a hyphen between the title and the dance style designation, but on the 'Dixieland Jass Band One-Step' side (the ‘A’ side) the hyphen is missing and the dance style is incorporated into the title. It is my contention that this was entirely due to a clerical or typesetting error when the label was being printed. Later pressings of Victor 18255 are labelled 'Dixie Jass Band One-Step' (introducing 'The Teasin’ Rag'). This came about as a result of a claim by the publishers of the Joe Jordan composition 'That Teasin’ Rag'. They claimed that the third strain of 'Original Dixieland Jass One-Step' was based on the Jordan composition. It was clearly easier for the Victor Company to reprint the label than enter into expensive litigation. Ultimately the tune became known as 'The Original Dixieland One Step' and has remained so ever since.
However in the Victor catalogue supplement of May 1917 the title is shown as 'Dixieland Jass Band' with the dance designation as a One-Step and it is interesting to note that an un-issued Edison recording of this tune by Lopez and Hamilton’s Kings of Harmony Orchestra simply lists the title as 'Dixieland' and the Edison files show the reason that it was not issued as being ‘Unable to gain copyright approval’. This was no doubt due to problems with the publishers of 'That Teasin’ Rag'. This sprightly version was issued on a CD a few years ago, and is well worth listening to, if it is still available.
Forty years ago, I wrote an article for the now defunct Jazz Times (the Official organ of the former British Jazz Society), celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first jazz recording. In this article I suggested that there was a stylistic similarity between Nick LaRocca and the black jazz cornettist Freddie Keppard. While the passage of time has done nothing to change my mind, I now wonder if this similarity was coincidental. Bearing in mind the strict ‘Jim Crow’ racial segregation laws that appertained in New Orleans in the early twentieth century, it is unlikely that Keppard and LaRocca would have come into contact. However the stylistic similarity could be accounted for in that there could have been a generic New Orleans style of cornet (or trumpet) playing by the parade band musicians.
LaRocca was a member of the Reliance Brass Band (not a brass band by European standards but a typical New Orleans marching parade band) organised by ‘Papa Jack’ Laine. Laine, who played drums, was the organiser of several groups of musicians in the city from the 1890s until about 1916. During those years he utilised the services of most of the pioneer white jazz musicians in New Orleans (including all the members of the ODJB to be) and on some occasions light-skinned black jazz musicians. Having cut his teeth in street parades, where he may well have heard the black parade bands such as the ‘Olympia’ and the ‘Eagle’ (Keppard was a sometime member of these groups) and the influence of the street parades’, the ‘raggy’ style of cornet playing has been perpetuated on recordings like ‘Dixieland Jas Band One-Step’.
If the record buying public had heeded the warning in Punch magazine all those years ago, many of us may have taken up stamp collecting or loco spotting instead of collecting jazz records. If that Victor record session hadn’t taken place there might not have been any jazz records for us to collect! Popular music might have taken a totally different course – Elvis Presley as a gospel singer and the Beatles as a Liverpool tango band! Who knows? Fortunately for many of us the warning wasn’t heeded.
Our thanks to of the City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society who first published this article in their Society’s magazine ‘For The Record’.
© Phil Bennet 2007-2015
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band: Tony Sbarbaro (drums), Emile Christian (trombone), Nick LaRocca (trumpet), Larry Shields (clarinet), J. Russel Robinson (piano 1919), Billy Jones (piano 1920).
More information about the Original Dixieland Jass Band