Off the Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Recordings

Oliver, King and His Creole Jazz Band

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The First Great Band of Early Jazz

The tales about Joe "King" Oliver (1885–1938) usually have to do with showmanship. Oliver started performing in 1908, and in the early days of his career in New Orleans the cornet player and bandleader was sometimes seen playing solo while walking the streets of Storyville, the city's red-light district. According to legend, when he'd get to clubs and honky-tonks where the bands led by Buddy Bolden and other established names were employed, he'd play extra loud, luring patrons to the street with his antics. Like an early jazz pied piper, he'd get people to follow him to his own gig at the Aberdeen Cafe.

Oliver was one of the first to appreciate the entertainment aspects of jazz. He was also the music's first great bandleader. These 1923 recordings were made with the group he brought with him to Chicago in 1919, which included the young Louis Armstrong, pianist Lil Hardin (Armstrong's future wife), and the Dodds brothers, drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds and the marvelously inventive clarinetist Johnny Dodds. Together, this group virtually defined what would be called "Hot" jazz. Its intricate arrangements, played with snappy instrumental panache, transformed jittery ragtime into deeper music brushed with blues feeling. The band was cohesive in startling (and strikingly modern) ways: Cue up the second version of "Snake Rag" on this anthology to hear the musicians landing on, and holding, a delicious flatted third interval in hyperdramatic fashion.

The musical legacy of Oliver's Creole Jazz Band—which includes his crafty early use of brass mutes to produce wah-wah-like warbling sounds—nearly didn't survive into the CD era. These recordings were made at the Gennett studio in Indiana with primitive, pre-electric methods, including the old-fashioned "recording horn." Most reissues have been terribly noisy, to the point where individual instruments are indistinct. This two-disc collection was done by a Maryland-based label specializing in the restoration of early audio artifacts. Though not spotless, it does offer a crisp, surprisingly vivid picture of one of the great bands of early jazz at its peak.

Genre: Jazz
Released: 2006, Off the Record
Key Tracks: "Dippermouth Blues," "Snake Rag," "Zulus Ball," "Workingman Blues."
F.Y.I.: In his autobiography, Louis Armstrong says that the man he called "Papa Joe" was his biggest influence: "I still think that if it had not been for Joe Oliver, jazz would not be what it is today."
Next Stop: Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens
After That: Duke Ellington Orchestra: Early Ellington: The Complete Brunswick Recordings 1926–1931
Book Page: 563