Original Dixieland Jazz Band
The first members of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, all of New Orleans, were Nick LaRocca (leader and comets), Larry Shields (clarinet), Eddie Edwards (trombone), Tony Sbarbaro (drums) , and Henry Ragas (which was replaced by J. Russell Robinson, piano). After playing in Chicago in 1916, the five musicians moved to New York where they enjoy sensational receptions at their residence at Reisenweber’s Restaurant from January 1917. During the same year the group became the first jazz group to make sound recordings, and in so doing, the musicians reached a level of prominence that was out of proportion with their musical skills. In the mid-1920s, when the vogue of jazz dance temporarily subsided, the group disbanded, he again reformed in 1936, but the reunion was brief and only moderately successful.
No member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was particularly gifted improviser, and the phrasing of the group was forced to pace, but still, its strength had an infectious spirit. When the black jazz bands began to record regularly it soon became apparent that many have been more adept at jazz improvisation and phrasing than was the original Dixieland Jazz Band. Critics of the band, merely states that the music of New Orleans simplified black groups, and citing the specific history of his compositions and Tiger Rag and Sensation Rag. Casual listeners were intrigued by its directory, which is unlike anything else on the record then. The group presented a new sound instead of a new music, sound, and rhythms in which it is written, has appealed to young dancers, who were eager to break with the dance steps in the rigid time.
The most ardent advocate of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band Jazz for the importance of history was LaRocca itself, which has never ceased to claim that his group had played a key role in the “invention” jazz in New Orleans during the early 20th century. The fact that there is no evidence to support LaRocca’s contention has caused many jazz enthusiasts to ignore the merits of the band’s music. But it is undeniable that the group has played a major role in popularizing the style Dixieland jazz throughout the United States and Europe.