[Tradjazz] Dixieland Band

[GeoHunt1 at aol.com]

Bruce, et al:

To me, in high school in the 1930s, a Dixieland Band had only one 
instrumentation: trumpet, trombone, clarinet, piano and drums.  Five pieces to be sure, 
but I don't think the Original Dixieland Jazz Band had anything to do with it.

Trumpet.  Louis was playing trumpet then, and no one owned a cornet.
Trombone.  They were used in the school marching band, and some kids owned 
one.
Clarinet.  Same as trombone.

We all knew at that time that those three instruments were indisputably a 
Dixieland front line.  I still don't think ODJB had anything to do with it.  Joe 
Oliver and Louis Armstrong probably led us to that belief.

Piano.  If you knew anything about any kind of music, you had a piano in the 
parlor at  
       home; and the way we played, the piano player was the only thing that 
held us
       together.

Drums.  We all knew Baby Dodds had said "Drums are essential".  We all 
believed him.
       Hell, HE WAS RIGHT.

There you have it.  Five was the minimum number of instruments to play 
Dixieland, and we could not afford more than the minimum.  The five instruments 
needed to play Dixieland was firmly established by the late 1930s, and we all knew 
it.  I don't think the ODJB had anything to do with it.  We all knew about 
Joe Oliver, but no one had any of his records.  We all knew about Louis 
Armstrong and we all had plenty of his records.  I never even heard anyone talk about 
ODJB, but we all knew dozens of their songs because other bands had recorded 
them. (And yes, Dixie Jass Band One-Step/Livery Stable Blues was in the back of 
the wind-up Victrola I inherited.)

Bottom line: The ODJB had the five-piece Dixieland band instrumentation all 
the high school Dixieland bands used in the 1930s, but that fact was not due to 
the ODJB.

Today, I listen, live, to as many Dixieland bands as I can, but almost never 
do they employ that standard five-piece instrumentation. 
 
Bass (brass or fiddle); what kid owned one of those in the 1930s?
Banjo; Come on, they were for "Camp Town Races", minstrel shows and Hill 
Billies.
Guitar: Go right home and hide your head in shame after you kiss Gene 
Autrey's horse.

George Hunt

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