Original Dixieland Jass Band

Original Dixieland Jass Band (after mid-1917 spelling changed to Jazz) was a New Orleans band which, in 1917, was the first ever to make a jazz recording. It was also the first jazz band to achieve widespread prominence. The Original Dixieland Jass Band are often known by their initials, the O.D.J.B.

Related Topics:
New Orleans - 1917 - Jazz

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The band consisted of 5 white musicians who had previously been playing in the Papa Jack Laine bands, a diverse and racially integrated collection of musicians who played for parades, dances, and advertising in New Orleans.

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The O.D.J.B. were billed as the "Creators of Jazz". Trumpeter Nick LaRocca convinced himself, in his old age, that this was literally true, but there is no evidence from the interviews and writings of the other O.D.J.B. members that the rest of the band ever considered it anything more than a snappy advertising slogan.

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