March 7, 1917: "Livery Stable Blues" Is Released

Left to right: Henry Ragas, Larry Shields,

Edward Edwards, Nick LaRocca and Tony Spargo

March 7, 1917: "Livery Stable Blues" is released by The Original Dixieland Jass Band. It is believed to be the 1st jazz song ever recorded, the session being 9 days earlier, on February 26, at the Victor Talking Machine Company, predecessor of RCA Victor, at 46 West 38th Street in Midtown Manhattan. 

The group's name is a misnomer. There was nothing original about them: Jazz was invented in New Orleans by black men, and the ODJB was all white, although they were from New Orleans. The name of the music genre had not yet been standardized as "jazz," so "jass" was still fairly common. Later in the year, they accepted the more familiar version, and officially changed their name to The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The members:

* Dominick "Nick" LaRocca, 1889-1961, cornet.

* Larry Shields, 1893-1953, clarinet.

* Edward "Daddy" Edwards, 1891-1963, trombone.

* Henry Ragas, 1890-1919, piano.

* Antonio Sbarbaro, a.k.a. Tony Spargo, 1897-1969, drums.

"Livery Stable Blues" was written by Ray Lopez (1889-1979), who was of Spanish descent; and Alcide Nunez (1884-1934), who was half-Spanish and half-French Creole. Both were cornet players, and the key to the song was making the cornet solo sound like a whinnying horse, hence, "livery stable."

Later in the year, the ODJB recorded "Tiger Rag," a.k.a. "Hold That Tiger," which LaRocca wrote, became a much-better-known song, and one of the landmarks of jazz. Unfortunately, he was also a nasty racist, claiming that he, not any black man, invented jazz, calling himself, probably due to his Italian ancestry, "the Christopher Columbus of Music."

Ragas died in the Spanish Flu epidemic. He was replaced by J. Russel Robinson (1892-1963). The ODJB broke up in 1929.

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March 7, 1917 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. The National Hockey Association was in season -- its last, as it turned out, as it was replaced by the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Montreal Arena.