The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band

It was the five young men who called themselves The Original Dixieland Jazz Band who raised jazz from being a curious, local, and peculiarly Negro phenomenon into the greatest popular artform in history. In 1916 they swept Chicago off its feet. In 1917 they took New York by storm. For the first time jazz became fashionable. People crowded into Reisenwehr’s Restaurant where they played. They were in constant demand for shows and charity performances. They accompanied Sophie Tucker and appeared on the same bill as Caruso.

In March 1917 they made the first jazz record and their fame flew across the whole continent. The record was the biggest seller in the R.C.A. catalogue, passing the magic million and easily outstripping the records of Caruso and Sousa’s Band which were the current popular idols.

But, not content with America as their platform, they also became the first group to export the new music. And London, too, was caught up in the exciting rhythm and wild, savage, haunting gaiety of jazz. For more than a year they played to packed houses. They gave a command performance for King George V. They were the sensation of the Victory Ball to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

When the band broke up for the first time in 1924, partly torn by inner dissension, partly frustrated by the wave of indignation against the frenzied enthusiasm of their supporters (in 1922 jazz was banned after midnight in New York City), they had firmly established themselves as the top entertainment group in the United States, and they had blazed a trail to success which all could follow. They had proved that jazz was not merely a folk-music which could only be appreciated by Negroes, but the expression, in a particularly exhilarating form, of something which was an essential part of human nature.

“Here at last is the book that tells the truth about how jazz music really began.”—THE GRAMOPHONE -