Original Dixieland Jass Band | |
|---|---|
 1918 promotional postcard of the ODJB showing (from left), drummer Tony Sbarbaro (aka Tony Spargo), trombonist Edwin "Daddy" Edwards, cornetist Dominick James "Nick" LaRocca, clarinetist Larry Shields, and pianist Henry Ragas | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1916–1926, 1936–1938 |
| Labels | Victor/Okeh |
| Past members | |
The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the most famous being "Tiger Rag". In late 1917, the spelling of the band's name was changed to Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
The band consisted of five musicians who had played in the Papa Jack Laine bands.
ODJB billed itself as "the Creators of Jazz". It was the first band to record jazz commercially and to have hit recordings in the genre. Band leader and cornetist Nick LaRocca argued that ODJB deserved recognition as the first band to record jazz commercially and the first band to establish jazz as a musical idiom or genre.
The original quintet disbanded in 1926. Ten years later, Nick LaRocca recruited most of the quintet to form a new swing band featuring the ODJB members. The full quintet reunited in 1936 to great acclaim, and finally disbanded in 1938.