NEW ORLEANS JAZZ
AND DIXIELAND
1910 - 1940

New Orleans Jazz

1890s in New Orleans

The first black jazz bands were large marching bands called upon to play for funeral processions and Mardi Gras

James Reese Europe

One of the most influential American musicians of the early 20th century

James Reese Europe
1881-1919

Violin student of Enrico Hurlei, Asst. Dir. U.S. Marine Band

1904 - directed music for several all-black shows

1910 - organized more than 100 black musicians into the Clef Club

1913, 1914 - recorded for RCA Victor

James Reese Europe

Called “The Paderewski of syncopation”

Emergence of the “Fox Trot”

Europe enlisted in the 15th New York Regiment (the 369th Infantry) in 1917

“The Hell Fighters”

Recruited black musicians, trained them, wrote music for them, and went to Europe

Typical publicity photo of the Europe Band

Record jacket cover

James Reese Europe

A multiple function band

Marching and drilling

Evening concerts

hymns

dances

The players introduced complex rhythms and idiosyncratic articulation

James Reese Europe

Paris, August, 1918

Theatre des Champs-Elysees

Tuileries Gardens - 50,000 people

Now called the 369th U.S. Infantry Jazz Band, they returned to America

“The Band that Played the Hell Fighters on to Victory”

James Reese Europe

369th Hell Fighters Band

“The Band that Set all France JAZZ MAD”

Activities in U.S.

Manhattan Opera House concert

24 discs for Pathe

Tour of the Unites States

Advertising for Pathe Records

May 9, 1919, Europe was stabbed to death by Herbert Wright, one of his drummers

Castle House Rag

Europe’s Society Orchestra, Febr. 10, 1914

Europe organized the Clef Club, a sort of union and fraternity

Europe came to national attention with the release of 4 Victor records through Vernon and Irene Castle

This composition is not a rag, but rather a “Trot and One-Step”

Castle Walk

Composed by Europe and Ford T. Dabney

Febr. 10, 1914

Instrumentation includes:

Banjos, mandolins, violins, clarinet, cornet, traps, and drums

Memphis Blues

March 7, 1919composed by W.C. Handy and W. George Norton

Illustrates improvisation (or “hot”) playing by a large band

Storyville

The Storyville District

A district created in 1898 by Alderman Sidney Story outside of which prostitution would be prohibited

Music was constantly heard throughout the district

At its peak, Storyville employed

2200 prostitutes

70 professional gamblers

30 piano players

And had as many as 230 houses

The Storyville District

The “experiment” was very successful, but the district was closed by the federal government in 1917 and all the buildings were demolished

The new Storyville district recaptures the architecture and atmosphere of the original

DIXIELAND

Original Dixieland Jass Band

Dixieland

Dixieland Instrumentation included:

Cornets or trumpets

Clarinets

“tailgate” trombones

Tubas, banjos, and drums

Smaller groups formed to play in bars in Storyville

Collective Improvisation

Dixieland came from these bands but the rhythm section might include a string bass and piano instead of tuba

Collective improvisation is the essence of Dixieland

The three lead instruments (the horns) improvise contrapuntal melodies over the steady beat of the rhythm section

Dixieland

Followed certain patterns and formulas

The beat is in flat-four (4/4 time)

Early masters include:

Buddy Bolden, Bunk Johnson, Freddie Keppard

The term “Dixieland” came into use in the 1920s

Original Dixieland Jass Band

Band members:

Nick LaRocca, trumpet

Larry Shields, clarinet

Eddie Edwards, trombone

Tony Sbarbaro, drums

Henry Ragas, piano

Dominic “Nick” LaRocca 1889-1961

Claimed to have invented jazz

Formed the ODJB in New Orleans in 1914

They called themselves America’s First Jazz Band

The band came to Chicago under the name Stein’s Dixie Jass Band

Name changed to the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917

LaRocca retired from music after 1938 and became a building contractor in New Orleans

Firsts

FIRST ever jazz record made by this band for Columbia and Victor Records in 1917!

RESPONSIBLE for securing the name "jazz" (music style name) as we know it today!  (In 1917 the ODJB was responsible for securing the musical term JAZZ as a musical definition term.  Prior to the ODJB recording the music of the time was known as Ragtime and many other style names but not jazz.  There were three or four other groups that used the name jass within their band name dating back to 1914, but the term was used more in general language slang and was not used to describe a musical style until the ODJB secured it with their recording in 1917.)

FIRST jazz band to sell over 1.5 million Victrola records worldwide within the year of its release! (This event introduced millions of people worldwide to JAZZ for the very first time.)

FIRST jazz band to travel to Europe in 1919!

FIRST jazz band to appear in a motion picture! ("The Good For Nothing", 1917 Peerless Productions, Distributed by World Pictures, Directed by Carlyle Blackwell and Produced by William Brady.)

FIRST jazz band ever to perform for US servicemen during WWI!

Dixieland

The Original
Dixieland
Jass Band

Billed themselves as the
originators of Jazz

The recording
“Livery Stable
Blues”, coupled with
“Dixie Jass Band One Step” was the
first Jazz record ever released (February 26, 1917) for the Victor Talking Machine Company

Buddy Bolden

Buddy Bolden

Often called the “first jazz musician”

Born in 1877

Formed a band in 1895

Placed in an institution in 1907

Died in 1931

No recordings

Buddy Bolden goes Insane

King Oliver 1885 - 1938

King Oliver, who joined Keppard in Chicago, made the first major impact in the North

Joe “King” Oliver
1885 - 1938

Born in New Orleans

1899 joined a boy’s brass band (cornet)

1901 blinded in one eye

1907 lead cornetist

Melrose Brass Band

Magnolia Band

Eagle Band

“King” Oliver

Mentor and teacher to Louis Armstrong

1917, when Storyville closed down,

Oliver joined Bill Johnson in Chicago

1921 he went to California and played with

Kid Ory (San Francisco)

Jelly Roll Morton (LA)

His own band (Oakland)

“High Society” - King Oliver's Jazz Band

The Creole Jazz Band

1922 returned to Chicago

Sent for Louis Armstrong to fill out in his most famous band

The combination of Oliver and Armstrong

The band became the envy of the jazz world

First successful recordings by a black jazz band

The World’s Greatest Jazz Cornetist”

Oliver billed himself

His new band, the Dixie Syncopators recorded a series of “Race” records for Vocalion

“Deadman Blues”, “West End Blues”

Oliver turned down a contract at The Cotton Club (Duke Ellington accepted)

Oliver cut his last record for Victor in 1931

“King” Oliver

Toured the South

Victimized

Bus breakdowns and accidents

Caught in a blizzard in West VA

Oliver suffered from

Musical disappointments

pyorrhea

High blood pressure

“King” Oliver

Could not afford medical
treatment

Ran a fruit stand

Became a janitor for a
pool hall

Died of a cerebral
hemorrhage on
April 8, 1938

Swing was now king

DIXIELAND SOLOISTS

Sidney Bechet 1897-1959

Choice of unusual instrument: the soprano saxophone

Timbre

Vibrato

Born in New Orleans in 1897

Musical family

Opera

Instruments

“Back Home Again in Indiana”

Sidney Bechet

Age 6 - clarinet lessons

Teenager - played with

Bunk Johnson

Louis Armstrong

King Oliver

Freddie Keppard

Could not read music

Sidney Bechet

Greatest New Orleans reed man

Became a star in France

Europe in 1919

Joined Ellington in 1932, tutored Johnny Hodges

Southern Taylor Shop in Harlem

Opened a music school in Brooklyn after the war 1951 France

Married the third time

Life mag.

“Blue Horizon” - 1944 SCCJ 1-11

The band:

Clarinet - Sidney Bechet

Trumpet - Sidney De Paris

Trombone - Vic Dickenson

Piano - Art Hodes

Bass - George “Pops” Foster

Drums - Manzie Johnson

Recorded by the Bluenote Jazzmen, 12/44

“Blue Horizon”

.00 Slow blues tempo; the snare drum is played with the brushes; the clarinet plays in the low register with a wide vibrato; the piano can be heard in the background.

.42 2nd chorus; the trombone responds to the clarinet.

1.25 3rd chorus: A new melodic idea using large intervals is introduced; other horns provide a slow Dixie-like texture.

2.08 4th chorus: The piano plays a tremolo; the clarinet moves to a higher register.

2.53 5th chorus: Blue notes are emphasized in the solo.

3.35 6th chorus: The clarinet plays in the extreme high register; a heavy, driving beat is supplied by the drums and the pipano; the trombone continues responding; this is the most climatic chorus.

4.13 Ending.

4.20 End.

Edward “Kid” Ory 1886-1973

Creole

Homemade instruments

Picnics

Employed the greats in his band

King Oliver, Sidney Bechet,
Louis Armstrong

LA after WWI

Chicago in 1924

LA in 1929

“Kid” Ory on Trombone

1945 “Time” “The Kid Comes Back”

Movies

“Struttin’ with Some Barbeque”

The Band:

Cornet - Louis Armstrong

Trombone - Kid Ory

Clarinet - Johnny Dodds

Piano - Lil Armstrong

Banjo - Johnny St. Cyr

“Struttin’ with Some Barbeque”
SCCJ 1-15

.00 Introduction, the verse of the song; cornet takes the lead, all others accompany with collective improvisation.

.14 Beginning of the main melody, the chorus, or principal strain.

.34 2nd chorus.

.52 Banjo fill.

.54 Clarinet solo, low register, melody is structured around main chordal notes; banjo plays a flat-four pattern.

1.11 Solo break.

1.13 Trombone solo; flat-four banjo with accents on 2nd and 4th beats of each measure; the piano plays only on the accented beats.

1.30 Solo break for the trombone.

1.33 Cornet solo with chords on only the 2nd and 4th beat5s of each measure (stop time), a different feeling to solo over.

1.50 Double-time fill (solo break).

2.03 Cornet plays a ragtime melody pattern.

2.10 Syncopated tutti rhythm.

2.15 Collective improvisation over a flat-four banjo part.

2.33 Banjo fill.

2.45 Syncopated tutti rhythm returns and becomes softer until the ending.

2.59 End.

Additional Listening

Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers

“Granhpa’s Spells” SCCJ 1-8

“Dead Man Blues” SCCJ 1-7

“Black Bottom Stomp” SCCJ 1-6

Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra

“I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” SCCJ 1-20

Bix Beiderbecke (Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra)

“Riverboat Shuffle” SCCJ 1-22

“Singin’ the Blues” SCCJ 1-21