On Feb. 26, 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jass Band One-Step” (soon better known as “Original Dixieland One-Step”).
While there had been a small handful of borderline jazz recordings cut before that special date, the ODJB’s offerings were the first full-fledged jazz on records. The commercial success of “Livery Stable Blues” as a novelty number (with the group’s horn players imitating the sound of barnyard animals) led to an early “jazz craze” that found other five-piece bands doing their best to emulate the group.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band actually had a fairly short time in the spotlight. They were not the first jazz musicians (Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory, and other New Orleans greats preceded them) but, due to their recordings, they initially made the biggest impact.
In 1916, cornetist Nick LaRocca, trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Alcide “Yellow” Nunez and pianist Henry Ragas were members of drummer Johnny Stein’s Dixie Jass Band in Chicago. But after three months of being a hit at Schiller’s Café, Stein’s sidemen wanted to break the contract so as to work elsewhere for more money. When Stein refused, they mutinied and left, formed the Orig
