Customer Reviews

1917-1923 Vol 2

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This cd contains one of the most important recordings of the century (no, that isn't hyperbole). "Livery stable blues" was the first recording of jazz on record. It was an ear popping experience to a population still living in a Victorian culture and was the beginning of the jazz era which would continue until the great depression of 1929. This piece still sounds wild, primitive and boisterous today - it was the unleashing of a potent force that would profoundly influence all music from that point on. I hate what jazz became but I love what early jazz was. It was dance music then and not the pseudo-cool/hipster/pseudo-intellectual/take itself too seriously garbage of later decades.

Some try to put down the Original dixieland Jazz Band because: 1) they were white (yep, anyone whose skin color is white and plays jazz or dance music is labeled a phony or a robber of black music. This is like calling any black person who does rock or pop a phony or robber of white culture (I guess Nat King Cole was a white culture robber? After all, crooning was white man's music). This type of racism ignores the fact that early white jazz is still palatable while early black jazz is unlistenable today. Early white dance music is melodic. Early black music now sounds pointlessly full of improvisation that is very tedious. 2) they claimed to have invented jazz. True, they exaggerated their place but their exaggerations are no wilder than every black musician in the south claiming to have invented rock and roll despite all evidence to the contrary. Besides, the Original dixieland band wrote much of their own music and even if they didn't invent jazz, they contributed a great deal to its music. These guys played great. These recordings are pre-electric recording and are primitive but are still very much worth listening to.

All of these recordings by the ODJB set the paradigm for later recordings. In particular, we have their first l9l7 recordings, including those cut for Columbia before the Victor sides but not released until after--"Darktown..." and "Indiana". In addition, the l923 recordings give the historian their sound following their time at Reisenweber's in New York and their international success in England. My late friend, Tony Sparbaro, the band's drummer shared some of the highlights of this period, and the book on the band helps to fill in the details. This group and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings make a good case for the authenticity of white bands and their contributions to traditional jazz.