It's a pretty nice historical set.
And do not be put back by stupid racist comments
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Listen to this then listen to Pops
These recordings are essential to fully appreciate the genius and virtuosity of Louis Armstrong's early recordings. Listening to ODJB then what Louis Armstrong was putting out, you can hear how he elevated jazz as an art form. Not that ODJB invented jazz, but I suspect it's on the level of most other bands that have been forgotten through time. The only reason ODJB persists and will continue to, is that they were the first jazz band to record. Download a handful of songs here to see how unbelievably brilliant Louis Armstrong was.
Benway is right
This is crap which will be forgotten in the annals of history except as a quaint embarrassment showing how pathetic humans can be. Listen to it if you want, but you are only cheating yourself out of time you could have spent listening to something more worthwhile. 'The Deflators of Jazz' or 'The Creators of Ass' would be a more appropriate title.
Go Blow "Dr"
The Doctor (and I'd be interested in knowing what you think you're a doctor OF) makes pretty much the same old and tired generalizations of early white jazz musicians that are typical of black social commentaters - people who, in truth, are not musicians and know very little about music - except the names and ethnic backgrounds of the people who play it. Why don't you put yo' money where yo' mouth be and explain to me how what I'm hearing here is fundumentally different musically from what I hear on Kid Ory recording. Frankly I doubt that you can. In fact, if we were to mix up the two recordings I doubt that you'd be able to tell who was who.
Complete crap.
Do not under any circumstances confuse this with Jazz. This is an illiterate, igorant white imitation of an African American art form that neither these Bozos, nor most white Americans, had the slightest understanding of at the time. Nick Larocca, the cornetist in this sorry assemblage, was quoted late in his life as saying that Blacks had nothing to do with the creation of Jazz. He was an avowed racist who made a ton of money by exploiting a music he had no business attempting to play. Useful as a reminder of the depth and stupidity of American racism, and little else. To suggest, as the bio included here does, that these folks deserve credit for "popularizing" Jazz is roughly like saying that Adolph Hitler deserves credit for popularizing Jewish culture. There have been, in the intervening years, some truly great white Jazz musicians. That is not what you will find here.
first jazz recording
while there is a good deal of truth to what you say DrBenway. These guys (who dubbed themselves the "creators of jazz" as a bit of self-promotion) are important in that "livery stable blues" with "dixie jass band one step" was the first jazz record released. freddie keppard missed out on that honor for fear other players would copy his licks. yes there were better performers around. yes there was a racist element to it. the history of american popular music is a history of white performers copying african american performers & getting the recognition ahead of the innovators. it doesn't make it right, by any means, but it also doesn't call for outright dismissal of the immatators either.
rockets
I think the point is that jazz must have already been established as a style by the early 1900s if a mediocre white band like this could have such an extensive repetoire. Not that bad for a working man's band if you ignore LaRocca's rascism...just not on the level of a genius like Armstrong.
