[Tradjazz] The Dixieland Band

[Steve Barbone]

GeoHunt1 at aol.com

> 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.

Interesting view.

ODJB, IMO, had everything to do with the 5 piece "Dixieland" Band. Consider
that pre ODJB, New Orleans Jazz Bands (where it all began) has various
instrumentation. Buddy Bolden circa 1905 used Guitar & String Bass so some
poor kids must have had them. Likewise Kid Ory when in The Woodland Band,
circa 1905 was joined by Guitar and String Bass, Trumpet, Violin & Drums.
The Original Creole Orchestra with Freddie Keppard on trumpet, circa 1914
used guitar and string Bass in addition to trombone, clarinet and drums.

Tom Brown's band from Dixieland then went to the quintet format that George
likes. They were followed by Johnny Stein's Band from "Dixieland" who used
the same format. (with Nick LaRocca on cornet). Then ODJB was formed by
LaRocca using the "white" quintet format. Cornet, Trombone, Clarinet, Piano,
Drums. After they made their recordings, jazz took off. And countless bands,
checking out ODJB's success, COPIED their instrumentation.

E.G. Violinists all over New Orleans lost their jobs because ODJB did not
have one. Kid Ory, in whose band Joe Oliver was playing, fired his guitarist
because ODJB did not have one. And bands all over New Orleans migrated to
Chicago because that's where the money was for "Dixieland".

Still, some bands continued in 6 or 7 piece format. The New Orleans Rhythm
kings used a string bass in theirs, circa 1922 at the Friar's Inn, adding a
second reed (saxophone) to Leon Roppolo's clarinet. Perhaps they used the
bass because they were unabashedly copying the black, blues based sound in
jazz and not ODJB. And Joe Oliver, in 1923 used a string bass (Bill Johnson)
in 1923 with his 7 piece Creole Jazz Band when Louis played 2nd cornet.

Bix? He paid homage to ODJB also with his first recordings under his own
name on OKEH with Royal Garden Blues, Jazz Me Blues and At The Jazz Band
Ball, all from their repertoire. Suffice it to say Bix was heavily
influenced by ODJB.

While it may not have nee apparent to the high school kids of the 1930's the
ODJB influence on others, including Louis, was well established

Here is a quote from Richard Sudhalter's "Lost Chords."

"The influence of the ODJB on  New Orleans musicians of both races has been
extensively documented. . . Joe Oliver and Kid Ory, still at home (new
Orleans) fired the respected multi-instrumentalist and teacher Manuel 'Fess'
Manetta because said Manetta; 'they wanted to follow the format of the
Original Dixieland Jazz Band and use only 5 pieces.'"

ODJB had everything to do with both the 5 piece format as well as the word
"Dixieland" as a musical description rather than a place description. Not
because they were the first band to use it and not because they were the
greatest band ever. But because they POPULARIZED Dixieland Jazz with the
mass audience all over the world. And all those other five piece bands
copied their format because of their popularity and because popularity is
what makes money for the musicians, in the 1920s as well as today. And what
ever influenced the high school kids of the 1930s, flowed from ODJB, Bix and
Louis either directly or indirectly.

But, no Guitar, no String Bass? Lordy, don't tell Eddie Condon that. He
produced an enormous swinging musical legacy using those very instruments
and kept the music alive with them. And don't tell Arvell Shaw that. He
played sting bass with Louis Armstrong's All Stars and kept that music
swinging and alive.

Why don't most Dixieland bands follow that ODJB inspired 5 piece format
today? Simply because it is incomplete in today's version of the music. If
you want a band to really swing, IMO, you need a string bass and/or an
accomplished tubist who can lay down the bottom line like a string bass. And
a competent guitar simply adds to the swing. No doubt why Davern and/or
Reinhart and countless others use both whenever they can.

And BTW, Drums being essential? Not according to Louis Armstrong's Hot Five.
Lordy, he even used a Banjo (Johnny St Cyr) along with Kid Ory, Johnny
Dodds, and Lil. One of THE SEMINAL RECORDING UNITS in jazz. "No Camp Town
Races" there in that group.

Yeah, I know, drums didn't record well, but then neither did String Bass and
Guitar until electric recording became the norm.

My opinion is that all sorts of instrumentation can be well used in
Dixieland, and/or jazz. Depends upon what the band and leader wish to do.
They all work and like my pal Thelonious Monk said one day. "Never say
something can't be done in music. Because the moment you do, somebody will
come along and do it." Solid advice to me when I was a young wannabe.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone