Dixieland Music

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.

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.

This CD comes close to offering the ODJB's entire recording history, except for the sides on Columbia, before the RCA recordings, and some of their sides with larger orchestras. Still, this is an outstanding sampling of their music, including the recordings made in l936, when the band got back together for the March of Dimes. It's neat to catch the energy still in the band over these years, even though the recording techniques are so primitive for their earlier sides. They're the pioneers of recorded traditional jazz, and deserve all of their hype. See my review of other ODJB CDS.

This CD comes close to offering the ODJB's entire recording history, except for the sides on Columbia, before the RCA recordings, and some of their sides with larger orchestras. Still, this is an outstanding sampling of their music, including the recordings made in l936, when the band got back together for the March of Dimes. It's neat to catch the energy still in the band over these years, even though the recording techniques are so primitive for their earlier sides. They're the pioneers of recorded traditional jazz, and deserve all of their hype. See my review of other ODJB CDS.

This CD comes close to offering the ODJB's entire recording history, except for the sides on Columbia, before the RCA recordings, and some of their sides with larger orchestras. Still, this is an outstanding sampling of their music, including the recordings made in l936, when the band got back together for the March of Dimes. It's neat to catch the energy still in the band over these years, even though the recording techniques are so primitive for their earlier sides. They're the pioneers of recorded traditional jazz, and deserve all of their hype. See my review of other ODJB CDS.

If this music is your type of thing (and of course, it isn't EVERYONE'S type of thing anymore), this disc is for you. Actually, ALL of the discs put out by Archeophone are fantastic. They manage to find very good-sounding discs and clean them up just enough to sound good but not ruin the music. (In other words, yes, there's crackle here and there, but at least the music sounds clean and crisp instead of muffled, as can often happen with noise reduction.) If you're interested in more of their CD's, look them up on Amazon or go to their web site (which is the name of the company,[...] .They've got samples of every track on every one of their discs.

I have almost all of their discs, so I have this review up on all of them.

Some people dread the start of a new month because old bills have to paid or because they are one-twelfth closer to being a year older, or whatever. I, for one, start each month looking forward to the next CD in The Phonographic Yearbook series issued by Archeophone. The latest joy is "1921: Make Believe and Smile" (ARCH 9002A).


Here we have 25 original recordings that came out in 1921 (but not necessarily composed that year). No room to list them all, but we have in the non-vocal category Paul Whiteman's Orchestra ("Wang-Wang Blues," "My Mammy," "Song of India," "Cherie"), the Benson Orchestra of Chicago ("San"), the Peerless Quartet ("My Mammy"), and others.


As for singers, we have Al Jolson ("O-H-I-0"), Marion Harris ("Look for the Silver Lining"), Eddie Cantor ("Margie"), Nora Bayes ("Make Believe"), and Van and Schenck ("Ain't We Got Fun?"). This is a real time trip back to the start of what we call the Roaring Twenties, an ambiguous term if we judge by the photograph on the cover: a Tulsa street devastated after a race riot in 1921! There are many ways to roar, sadly.


The booklet is, as with the rest of this fine series, packed with photos and background information about the year and about each individual recording. You can order it from Archeophone (e-mail: sales@archeophone.com, website: www.archeophone.com) or from Albany Music Distributors (phone: 800-752-1951).