An incredible piece of Jazz and Vaudeville history!

This is a vintage, original black-and-white 8x10 inch photograph of the legendary American bandleader, singer, and entertainer Ted Lewis (1890-1971).

Photo Features:

• Subject: Ted Lewis in his iconic top hat, tuxedo, and bowtie, holding a clarinet (which is partially obscured but suggested by the pose).

• Pose: A great, classic, smiling portrait.

• Inscription (Front): Hand-signed and inscribed by Ted Lewis: "To Goldie, Best wishes, Ted Lewis" (See close-up image).

• Photographer Stamp: Features a small embossed stamp in the lower right corner, which appears to read "SUSSMAN N.Y.C." or similar.

• Dimensions: 8x10 inches.

• Condition: Excellent vintage condition for its age. Minor corner/edge wear consistent with a photo of this era. The autograph is clear and bold.

Unique Provenance (Handwritten on Reverse):

The reverse of the photo features a fascinating, unique inscription, likely written by a former owner or fan:

"I play the Chicago Theare for 6 years after Ed Sullivan's Grand Opera Co. was closed. He was a great entertainer. Ted Lewis!! // (Signature/Initials - possibly 'J.R.')"

This unique handwritten note adds to the history and character of this one-of-a-kind piece.

About Ted Lewis:

Known as "Mr. Entertainment," Ted Lewis was one of the biggest stars of the 1920s and 1930s, successfully mixing jazz, vaudeville, and comedy. His signature catchphrase was "Is everybody happy?" and his band helped popularize early jazz. His work spanned decades, from the speakeasies to Hollywood.

A must-have for any serious collector of Jazz, Vaudeville, Big Band, or Entertainment Autographs!

_______________________

Ted Lewis (June 6, 1890 – August 25, 1971) was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He was well known for his catchphrase "Is everybody happy?" He fronted a band and touring stage show that presented a combination of hot jazz, comedy, and nostalgia that was a hit with the American public before and after World War II.
Early life
    
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Lewis was born Theodore Leopold Friedman in Circleville, Ohio, to Pauline and Benjamin Friedman.[1] His father ran Friedman’s Bazaar,[1] a ladies' bargain store in Circleville.[2] Lewis went on a street car every night to play in the high school band in Chillicothe, Ohio.[2] Lewis, who was raised Jewish, joined an Episcopal church to sing in the choir next to a girl he liked.[2] Lewis was fired from Henry Goldsmith's music store in Columbus, Ohio because whenever he demonstrated a clarinet for a customer people thought he had gone crazy.[2] His brother Edgar Harrison (C.E. 1913) went to Ohio State University.[3][4]
Career
Lewis in 1922.

Lewis was one of the first Northern musicians to imitate the style of New Orleans jazz musicians who came to New York in the 1910s. He first recorded in 1917 with Earl Fuller's Jazz Band, then engaged at Rector's restaurant in Manhattan, a band which was attempting to copy the sound of the city's newest sensation, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, which was playing at Reisenweber's restaurant in New York City.

Although the piccolo was the first instrument Lewis learned, he also played the C-melody saxophone but was known principally as a clarinetist throughout his long career. His primary instrument was a B♭ Albert System clarinet.

Based on his earliest recordings, Lewis did not seem able to do much on the clarinet other than trill in its upper register. Promoting one recording the Victor catalog stated: "The sounds as of a dog in his dying anguish are from Ted Lewis' clarinet".[5] As his career gained momentum he refined his style under the influence of the first New Orleans clarinetists to relocate in New York, Larry Shields, Alcide Nunez, and Achille Baquet.

By 1919, Lewis was leading his own band with whom he starred in the Broadway musical revue The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919. He had a recording contract with Columbia Records, which marketed him as their answer to the Original Dixieland Jass Band that recorded for Victor records. For a time (as the company did with Paul Whiteman) Columbia gave him a special record label featuring his picture.

At the start of the 1920s, he was being promoted as one of the leading lights of the mainstream form of jazz popular at the time. Although Lewis's clarinet style became increasingly corny, he certainly knew what good clarinet playing sounded like, for he hired musicians like Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Frank Teschemacher, and Don Murray to play clarinet in his band. Over the years his band also included jazz greats Muggsy Spanier on trumpet and George Brunies on trombone. Ted Lewis's band was second only to the Paul Whiteman band in popularity during the early 1920s, and arguably played a more authentic form of jazz with less pretension than Whiteman.[6]

Lewis recorded for Columbia from 1919 to 1933. Subsequently, he recorded for Decca from 1934 through the 1940s. In 1932, Lewis recorded "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town", which he had performed in the film The Crooner with his orchestra. The recording reached number one in radio polls and remained there for ten weeks.

One of Lewis's most memorable songs was "Me and My Shadow" with which he frequently closed his act. Around 1928, Lewis noticed an African-American usher named Eddie Chester mimicking his movements during his act. He hired Chester to follow him on stage as his shadow during "Me and My Shadow". Chester was the first of five African-American shadows, the most famous being Charles "Snowball" Whittier, whom Lewis would address on stage as "Charlie". Thus Ted Lewis was one of the first prominent white entertainers to showcase African-American performers (arguably in stereotypical ways) on stage, on film, and eventually on network television.[7]

Ted Lewis and His Orchestra was one of the featured acts at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition – Pageant of the Pacific on Treasure Island (Sunday, August 13, 1939, Program of Special Attractions and Events indicates that the Ted Lewis Orchestra performed from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Temple Compound and from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Treasure Island Music Hall for a free dance).[8]

Lewis's band continued to play in the same general style throughout the Great Depression, but was essentially the musical backdrop for his act as a showman. He remained successful during an era when many bands broke up. Through it all he retained his famous catchphrases Is everybody happy? and Yessir! His mannerisms were so familiar that nightclub comedians would imitate him, including Harry Ritz of the Ritz Brothers,[9] and Jackie Gleason.[10] Lewis was occasionally caricatured in Warner Brothers cartoons, as in A Great Big Bunch of You (1932), Speaking of the Weather (1937), and Person to Bunny (1960).

Lewis adopted a battered top hat for sentimental, hard-luck tunes (he called himself "The High-Hatted Tragedian of Song"). Frequently he would stray from song lyrics, improvising patter around them. This gave the effect of Lewis "speaking" the song spontaneously: "When ma' baby... when ma' baby smiles at me... gee, what a wonderful, wonderful light that comes to her eyes... look at that light, folks..."
Films

Lewis and his band appeared in a few early-talkie movie musicals in 1929, notably the Warner Brothers revue Show of Shows. The first of several films (1929, 1941, and 1943) titled with Lewis' catchphrase, Is Everybody Happy? also premiered in 1929, while 1935 saw Lewis and his band performing several numbers in the film Here Comes the Band.

In 1941 the band was recruited at the last minute, along with the Andrews Sisters, to furnish musical numbers for the Abbott and Costello comedy Hold That Ghost (1941), released by Universal Studios on August 6, 1941. Musical numbers cut from the feature were released by Universal separately on September 3, 1941, in a short subject entitled Is Everybody Happy?

In 1943 Columbia Pictures mounted a feature-length biographical film of Lewis—yet again titled Is Everybody Happy?—with actor Michael Duane portraying the bandleader and lip synching to Lewis's recordings.

True to his vaudeville beginnings, he created a visual as well as a musical act. His physical presence with props like his top hat, white-tipped cane, and clarinet, combined with bits of visual humor and dancing, were as important to him and as crucial to his popularity as his music.
Later career

Lewis kept his band together through the 1950s and continued to make appearances in Las Vegas and on television, appearing as the mystery guest on What's My Line?, the guest of honor on This Is Your Life, and an interview subject on Person to Person in the 1950s, and Hollywood Palace and other guest appearances in the 1960s and early 1970s.[11]
Personal life
    
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Lewis in 1951.

Lewis married Adah Becker (1897 – May 31, 1981) in 1915. She was a ballerina when Ted met her earlier that year in Rochester, New York. Only six weeks later they were married in three separate ceremonies on the same day, first by a justice of the peace, next by a rabbi and finally on stage that night. They remained married for 56 years until Ted's death. Adah gave up her dance career to become his secretary and business manager. Ted and Adah moved into a 15-room apartment overlooking New York City's Central Park, and remained there for the rest of their lives.

Lewis died in his sleep in New York on August 25, 1971, of lung failure at the age of 81. Following a Jewish funeral service in New York City, his body was brought to Circleville where thousands walked past his coffin. Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman officiated, and remarked, "The song has ended, but the memory lingers on." The burial was held at the local Forest Cemetery. Lewis's stone, in the family plot, has his famous hat and cane inscribed upon it. His wife Adah, who died on May 31, 1981, rests beside him.

Upon his death, the City of New York, Yale and Harvard Universities and the Smithsonian Institution asked Adah for his memorabilia. She politely declined, saying Ted wanted everything to come back to the "Capital of the World", Circleville, Ohio. She opened The Ted Lewis Museum, a modest storefront located across the street from where he was born, on June 5, 1977. Celebrities, relatives, friends and Ted Lewis admirers from everywhere attended the dedication. A theatre within the museum allows visitors to see Ted Lewis' TV and movie performances.[citation needed][12]

Ohio Historical Marker Number 4-65 "Ted Lewis" is north of the picnic shelter in Ted Lewis Park, Circleville, Ohio; 39° 36.51′ N, 82° 56.644′ W.[13]

    Ted Lewis Museum at 133 West Main Street in Circleville, Ohio.
    Ted Lewis Museum at 133 West Main Street in Circleville, Ohio.
    Ted Lewis headstone at Forest Cemetery in Circleville, Ohio.
    Ted Lewis headstone at Forest Cemetery in Circleville, Ohio.
    Ted Lewis gravemarker.
    Ted Lewis gravemarker.
    Adah Becker Lewis gravemarker.
    Adah Becker Lewis gravemarker.
    Ted Lewis Park in Circleville, Ohio.
    Ted Lewis Park in Circleville, Ohio.


ed Lewis Biography

Ted Lewis was born Theodore Leopold Friedman on June 6, 1890 at 132 West Main Street, Circleville, Ohio. He was one of five sons.  His parents, Benjamin and Pauline Friedman, owned Friedman’s Bazaar at 121-123 West Main Street, an emporium that supplied the womenfolk of Pickaway County with the latest fashions.

From earliest childhood, young Theodore was less than enthusiastic about ladies’ wear.  His earliest employment consisted of “sweeping up” both inside and outside the Friedman store and delivering packages.  According to Ted in one of his writings, at about nine years of age he began playing on a piccolo, because his fingers were too small to reach and play a clarinet.  German music teacher was his teacher and conductor of the Circleville Cadet Band in which Ted played the piccolo and then E-flat clarinet.He later mowed lawns to earn money to buy an E-flat clarinet.  

Unbeknownst to the bandmaster, he had been taking lessons in syncopation from a local barber, Cricket Smith, a black barber who had organized a barbershop orchestra.  Every day after school he would go to Cricket’s shop where he practiced “innovative syncopation.”  In 1927 Ted wrote, “At the next band concert, things went smoothly until we were ready for ‘Poet and Peasant’. Whether from a spirit of revolt or a strain of negativism, the notes I played were the beginning of the Jazz Age for me.”  Also, this proved to be the end of his being in the Cadet Band, for the teacher threw him out!  (He later apologized when Ted had become famous.)

When minstrels came to town he would help them unload and then carry the banner in parades.  At age 13 or 14, he would play his E-flat clarinet and bring the crowds together for the old-time medicine shows that came to town.  All of this conduct embarrassed his parents.

Theodore's first professional singing job was in between movies at Circleville's Electric Nickelodeon in 1906.  "I earned four dollars a week and had to learn a new song each night," he liked to recall.

His parents enrolled Theodore in a Columbus, Ohio business college, but the stage-struck youth played hooky.  He worked in Goldsmith's Music Store and persuaded Gus Sun, who operated a vaudeville circuit, to give him a job.  He was soon in New York City, working in a cabaret called the El Dorado.  This was not the future Mr. Friedman had in mind for his son.  While on a buying trip to the big city, he discovered the lad's whereabouts and hustled him home.

But it was too late!  Gotham beckoned and young Theodore was soon back with renewed determination.  While there he met Jack Lewis and they formed an act called Lewis and Friedman.  When performing in the Carolinas, he noticed a billing of "Lewis and Lewis" outside the theater.  The manager explained that his name was changed to Lewis to better fit on the marquee.  Thereafter, he was known to the world as Ted Lewis, but he never legally changed his name.  In 1916, while in New York, Lewis put together his first band, a five-piece ensemble called the Ted Lewis Nut Band.  He then proceeded to talk his way into an engagement at Coney Island.  The band was an instant success and Bert Cooper booked Ted for a season with Bessie Clayton and later with Joan Sawyer in "Au Caprice." 

In 1917 Ted's band was signed by Earl Fuller to appear at Rector's Restaurant on Broadway and 48th Street in New York City.  The same year during an intermission at Rectors, the battered old top hat, which became Ted's trademark, was acquired in a dice game from a cab driver, a former prizefighter called "Mississippi."  When resuming a performance after a dance set one night, he tipped the old hat and asked the question, "Is everybody happy?"  Everybody was; they applauded and that became his catch phrase used throughout the remainder of his career.  Thereafter, the old hat, along with his clarinet and cane, was always a part of his act.

In a short time, Ted Lewis was on stage at the Greenwich Village Follies, Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic and B.F. Keith's Palace Theatre.  He was the first show business celebrity who had ever been a headliner at three Broadway nightspots at the same time.

He was soon recording for Columbia and making his brand of syncopated jazz a nation- wide craze.  On the wave of such popularity, in 1918 Ted opened his own cabaret, the Bal Tabarin, which catered to the New York social set.  He later became a partner in the Montmartre Club and then opened the Ted Lewis Club on 52nd Street.

Ted recorded for Columbia, Mercury, Decca and RKO Unique.  For many years he received royalties from such standards as "When My Baby Smiles At Me" (his theme song)," "St. Louis Blues," "Sunny Side of The Street," "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave To Me," "Rose of Washington Square," "Georgette," Three O'Clock In The Morning," and "Me And My Shadow."  His 1926 Columbia recording of "Tiger Rag" sold more than five million copies. As its highest-paid artist of the 1920s, Columbia designed a customized silver label for him—his name and a silhouette of the bandleader in his top hat. In December 1929, he signed a new contract with the label, guaranteeing him $42,000 plus royalties on each record pressed each year, for two years.

Ted shared the stage with the show business greats Texas Guinan, Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice, George Jessel, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Victor Moore and Will Rogers.  Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden Muggsy Spanier and Jimmy Dorsey all performed or recorded with Ted's band. 

His famous "Me and My Shadow" routine came about when one of Ted's performers vaudevillian Eddie Chester was watching Ted  perform the song from the wings. Chester followed Ted onto the stage and mimicked his movements and Ted kept the routine in his act for the rest of his career. Lewis would work with four other shadows (all African-American performers) during his career, making him the first prominent white entertainer to showcase African-American performers. 

Known as “The Jazz King” and “The High-Hatted Tragedian Of Song,” Ted was a magician in the art of extracting drama from jazz.  Throughout his career he maintained one method, one style of administering song and dance.  His theory was that the only way to reach the public with music was to give it to them in a form they could understand and thus enjoy.  In 1925 he appeared in England at the London Hippodrome and the Kit-Kat Restaurant with his band.  He gave performances for nine United States Presidents and a command performance for King George V of England.  He appeared in several movies, and was a major star signed by Warner Brothers to make a film based on his life story, called “Is Everybody Happy?”  His show business career spanned more than 60 years.  Ted brought jazz music into the mainstream and popularized the genre.

In 1915 Ted met his wife, ballerina Adah Becker, in Rochester, New York.  Six weeks later they were wed in three separate ceremonies on the same day (first by a justice of the peace, next by a rabbi, and finally on stage that night).  They were married 56 years.  Adah gave up her dancing career and was his secretary, business manager and loving helpmate throughout his long career.  The young couple settled into a lovely 15-room apartment overlooking New York City's Central Park.  Ted and Adah continued to live there the remainder of their lives.  

Ted Lewis died in his sleep on August 25, 1971, at the age of 81.  Following a Jewish funeral service in New York City, his body was brought to his beloved Circleville where thousands walked past his coffin.  Rabbi Jerome D. Folkman officiated; he remarked, "The song has ended, but the memory lingers on."  Burial took place in the local Forest Cemetery.  Ted's stone, in the family plot, has his hat and cane incised upon it.  Ted's beloved wife, Adah, who died on May 31, 1981, rests beside him.


Ted Lewis Biography (1955)

Well, I was born in a little town called Circleville, Ohio, that’s about 28 miles from Columbus, Ohio. And when I was Nine years old, naturally I went to School and there was an old German who came to town by the name of Oscar Arminger and he organized a boys band and I persuaded my Father, my Brother Edgar and I to let us join the band. In these days lessons were twenty five cents an hour. Twenty-five cents apiece, so we had a Band practice once a week and we all brought our Quarters. And we had private lessons with that to and it didn’t cast anymore. This little town of mine, it was a Town of about Five thousand people, where everyone knows each other, you know and we had a wonderful little band we got together and I started out on piccolo, because my fingers were so small I couldn’t reach a clarinet yet. After a couple of years I started playing an Eb clarinet which you very seldom see today, be—cause they are very shrill you know, and they are only used in Brass Bands. I jogged along, for I’d always been crazy about show business. My Folks were the Marshall Fields of Circleville, Ohio or the May Company of Circleville Ohio, I still have the building and I rent it to the J.C. Penny Company. When the circus came to town I would be the first to help them unload and when the Minstrels came to town I was the first one to help them carry the banner down the street in the parade. When Uncle Tom’s Cabin came to town I was the first one to lead the Bloodhounds down the main street. My Folks would be very much embarrassed when all the clerks and everyone from the store would come out and they would see their boy Theodore Leopold Friedman, I was known as in those days, and naturally I would be reprimanded for those things, but, I just couldn’t help it for it was in my blood. 

Finally a Medicine Show came along, you know the old time Medicine Show, and this fellows name was Dr. Cooper, he had a medicine that would cure anything. He had tape worms in bottles, he had all kinds of different things in these little bottles you know with alcohol, he had an appendix, he had everything. The way we would get the crowd together, I’d take this little Eb clarinet and I’d play all these shrill notes same as Jazz today and I’d bring the crowd together and tell them a few jokes. I was just a kid 13 or 14 years old. But before we got on the street corner we would have a sort of a parade with the handsome cabs with a team of horses. This Doctor would have a high hat on, a high silk hat, a swallow tail coat, five dollar gold pieces for buttons and little two and one-half dollar gold pieces for studs in the back of his coat he’d have two big ten dollar gold pieces and he would throw out change and we would have red flares going down the main street to get the crowds to come up to the corner and we would entertain the crowd for a littlewhile and then the Doctor would go to work and with his spiel about this wonderful medicine, you see, in fact we would tell them that he would be there three or four days and we’d go out that night and go to the next town. Then there was a home talent show that they got together in Circleville, Ohio and I was one of the main players in the show, I made quite a hit. Every time I would go away from town with this medicine show, my father would find out where I was and he would take me and bring me back home. The reason I didn’t want to stay around home in this store my father had, I had to sweep out the store every morning, I had to deliver packages every afternoon after school and there was no fun. There never was any real play time. In fact, all of us boys had to the same thing and when a customer came in the store I could never wait on them because they always wanted a lady clerk, if they wanted a pair of stockings it was very embarrassing to ask a man for a pair of stockings or anything like that. 

Then I went away with a Carnival, I spieled for what they called a Wild Rosie show, they, had a fellow from my home town all painted up and we put one of these wild wigs on him, we had raw bones down around there, get the crowd together at this carnival with my clarinet, and I’d spiel about this wild man who makes his wants known by grunts and groans, he can’t talk and he’d go grrrrrr-rr down in his pits and he’d have all these ladies and farmers and all these people wondering and scared to death you know. They would all be talking about the oddity. Cost was a dime to get in and I had to spiel for it, talk about Wild Rosie, then we would come out and get the crowd out of there, get another crowd to come in, Now in another corner I’d sell gas balloons and candy and then my Father would find out that I was there and came and got me and brought me back again. 

Finally, in 1911, there was a boy piano player by the name of Oscar Y. Young who had wandered into town and was playing piano in all the little movie houses. These little nickelodeons I use to sing along with too. My father talked me out of that. My father was a wonderful man, he was always high-class, he didn’t want anything to do with show business. He didn’t want any of his sons to go into show business, and after awhile he was sorry he let me play the clarinet. My father used to go to New York twice a year to buy goods and in 1911 he finally consented to take Oscar Young, this piano player and I and a singer and we got together there in Circleville and take us to New York. My Brother Edgar who went to Ohio State University, we got together and formed an act called “THE WARDEN” AND THE “JAILBIRD COON”. We played for Gus Sun who would be booking out of Springfield, Ohio, he is a wonderful man today, tho’ very old is still a very dear and wonderful friend. He booked us into towns like Catlettsburg, Kentucky, Huntington, Va. Wheeling, West Virginia. Barberton, Ohio, all these little towns around. Twenty-two fifty a week and we paid our own expenses, we’d get room and board for $1.75 a day, room and board. That is when a dollar was really something. Sometimes for 75¢ a day we would get room and board with three meals a day and a lunch after the show. In 1911 we went to New York with my Father and Mother to buy goods, we went to a place on 48th Street called “Ma Cook’s Boarding house, $7.00 a week, board and room. Then we went around to Music Publishers, that is the time Irving Berlin was writing numbers like “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “Mr. Brown Had a Violin” a lot of different numbers like that and he was with Masterson, Berlin, and Snyder Publishing Company. Then Harry Von Tilzer and Remick and all of them we would demonstrate our wares in these little booths. Harry Von Tilzer heard us and he sent for the manager of Hammerstein’s Victoria in New York City. We got two weeks booking at Hammerstein’s Victoria, which was one of the best places in the country. 

On that bill of Hammerstein’s that I was on was the late Will Rogers, who was a very dear friend of mine, Ada Overton Walker who was the wife of the famous Williams and Walker were together. Walker died and Williams went out by himself and achieved dame with those wonderful songs of his such as the “Poker Game” that is being imitated oday. I once wrote a song for him which he recorded called the “Unlucky Blues”. It was on the back of his “Ten Little Bottles”. I’m sure all the old timer’s remember. It was a very big seller. Well we went to Hammerstein’s Victoria Theater for two weeks and we got the Wilburn & Vincent time out of that. Those were towns like Youngstown, Ohio, Akron, Ohio and all very nice and wonderful theaters. The singer in our act became involved in romance and left the act which broke it up. I went back to New York with my saxophone in my velvet bag and got a job at a place called “THE ELDORADO CAFÉ”. That was in a cellar where every waiter was a murderer and a hop fiend. One of those places that they dragged them in and threw them out. I used to catch nickels, dimes and quarters in my saxophone while I was playing it. It was an old C Melody Saxophone that my Father had bought me in one of his trips to New York. On one of my Fathers trips to New York he brought an old friend of his, Mrs. McCoy who was a very good customer of his. And when I found out that they were in town, I spoke to my boss at the “ELDORADO CAFÉ” and told him that my folks were in town and that I wanted to give them a party but I didn’t much money, actually we didn’t make too much money at this place, just enough to live on. So they came down to see me work at “THE ELDORADO CAFE” and we fixed them up, they thought they were drinking champagne, cause they never had champagne before, actually what they were drinking was Celery Tonic, served by the waiters in a lovely champagne bottle just like a vintage champagne, and they thought that this was great, but they still didn’t want their boy working this p. place like this in New York. So my father went to the boss of the place, a man called Herman Moss, and told him how much he enjoyed his place and tried to get Mr. Moss to talk me into going back home. So the next night the boss called me into his office, and said “Saxey, (they called me Saxey) you’ve got to go home; you come from wonderful people and this place is no place for you, you’ve just got to go home, YOU ARE FIRED!!!!!!!!!!! Now get your stuff together and go back home. So I went home again, and in a few weeks I got that old itch again to get back into Show Business, so a week or so later I formed myself an act, but I got cancelled many times, those were the days when your act was cancelled when they didn’t like your act, so I was cancelled so many times that I used to wire Gus Sun back under assumed names to get different booking I had all kinds of names. 

Finally I went home on my own, and I tried to stick around again but this just couldn’t be done, so I got into a little disagreement with my folks and I went up to Columbus and I got into a little Music store. “HENRY GOLDSMITH’S MUSIC STORE” I cleaned instruments. I collected, I sold, I demonstrated just about every instrument in the store, and in those days we sold records and when I sold a record I had to run down to the Wholesale House and get a duplicate, in those days we didn’t keep stock. I stayed with this job a short while and shortly after finally got back to New York again, and I met a little fellow by the name of “Lewis” we got an act together and started off. My folks still hadn’t heard from me, and I knew I just had to make my own way. Jack Lewis my partner sang songs and was a very good character actor and we worked up a very nice little act, and we got what they called the “Muckenfu Time” that’s a peculiar name but it was all throughout the South, now the name of the act was “LEWIS AND FRIEDMAN” and we were getting along just fine, not m making much money, but getting along fine and in “Show Business” and that’s all that counted, finally we got into a little town in the Carolinas, and I’m looking for our billing out in front of the theatre before we go into rehearsal and I see a name there “LEWIS AND LEWIS”, so I went into see the manager and said “What’s the big idea, your just billing my partner”, so the manager said “Well you see Friedman, our Marquee is very small, and so I thought I’d change your name to ‘LEWIS AND LEWIS”, what’s the difference, it doesn’t make such a difference,” so I said “OK”, and from then on I had the name of “TED LEWIS” that little incident caused me to take the name “TED LEWIS” instead of “TED FRIEDMAN”. 

So we were getting along fine with our act, and out agent was a fellow by the name of “HARRY RAPP” in New York, Harry Rapp later on in life became a very big man with the “MGM” people out here. He was a very big high official, in fact he was a big stockholder and everything, he became a very dear friend of mine, but he’s past away since then. He booked us on a new vaudeville circuit way up in Canada, it started from Saskatoon, Canada all the way up into Alberta, around up Moose Jaw even further that that, and this took place during the months of November, December, and January, in 1913 and every little town and house were miles and miles apart, and it so happened we got no money and we were stranded in a place called Alber a couple of months later. And during our trip down south I was lucky enough to join the “MOOSE” in Birmingham, Alabama, we were both broke and both stranded in this Alberta, Canada, I met a Chinaman and he gave us a dime and we went into a store and bought a big bowl of beans and some bread in facet we had all we could eat for this dime. Later I said how are we going to get back to Winnipeg, and in those days it took three days to get from Alberta to Winnipeg, on the Canadian Pacific Train, so I started talking to some of the fellows around and he one said “If you were only a Moose all these trainman belong to the Moose,” and I said “I am a Moose, then he said “That’s great I’ll tell you what you do, there’s an Eight o’clock train in the morning so you take your trunk and see the man at the station and show him your card tell him your troubles and you’ll get to Winnipeg,” So we sat up all that night and the train comes in, in the morning, I got in touch with the conductor, I showed him my Moose card, Told him my troubles, gave him the whole story and he said “Well I’ll tell you, I’m only going as far as so and so I’ll talk to the other Conductor and maybe he’ll take you on further, in other words we went in relays, and we finally got to Winnipeg, we had to sleep in the smoker, we got our meals by entertaining the waiters, when they were finished waiting on their regular customers, everybody in the dining car, all the waiters belong to the Moose, and we entertained them while they were eating and then we got our food. When we finally got to Winnipeg, I went up to the manager’s office who had the new circuit we were on, and in the meantime I wired Harry Rapp collect, but I received no answer, and I didn’t want to let my folks know that I was stranded, in fact they didn’t even know where I was, or that I was going under the name of “LEWIS” so we got to this managers office, a big beautiful office, with a receptionist and everything, so I said “ Is Mr. so and so in?” and she said “Who is it” and I said “This is LEWIS AND LEWIS and we were just stranded up in Moose Jaw Alberta and we happen to beat our way down here and we happen to get as far as Winnipeg, and we want to get out of town, we want to get to Chicago,” and she said “I’m sorry the manager’s out of town Mr. Lewis, I’m sorry I can’t do anything for you.” Then I said “Well what are we going to do we’ve got money coming, but my agent in New York won’t answer my wire, and I just don’t know what we’re going to do here. She then said “well I’m sorry I can’t do anything for you.” well in the meantime on the way going out there was one of these hall trees with a big Raccoon Coat on it. so on the way out this Raccoon Coat happen to slip around my arm and it came right off the Hall tree, and I went on down with this Raccoon Coat on my arm, we had to do some-thing, and I went to a pawnshop and I pawed this coat and we got enough money to get to Chicago. In Chicago, my partner left me, he met a girl, and I didn’t want to let my folks know where I was yet, and we stopped in an old hotel in Chicago called the Revere House, lots of the oldtimers will remember that, they still have my old candleback trunk, and I finally got a job in Chicago with my little Saxophone under my arm on Twenty Second Street, where the girls would hang around for drinks, and they’d get a percentage of the drinks that they sold and I’d entertain and I was there Two nights when I got fired. 

I finally had to call up one of the ladies in the store at home a lady named Fanny Ward who took care of me when I was a little kid and I told her “Fanny, get some money together, cause I’m coming home. So she sent me the money and I came home again, then I went to New York by myself and I had money in my pocket, and I formed a band and we got out to Coney Island, “TED LEWIS AND HIS NUT BAND” those were the days when the drummer would stand on someone’s shoulders and we’d hit tin pans and it was called a real nut band. Then in 1915 I went with a Burlesque Show called “CHARLIE ROBERSTON’S PARISIAN FLIRTS” I joined an act called Duffy-Heister AND LEWIS” from the Burlesque Show. I went with Bessie Clayton, she was a very wonderful toe dancer, and she was on the Keith Circuit during the Orpheum time, from Bessie Clayton, I came back to New York, I was married then to Mrs. Lewis, we got married in 1915. I finally got my own band together, and I was playing for Joan Sawyer, the very wonderful dancer, at the Au Caprice in the Domino Room on 59th Street and Broadway. Then the Dixieland Jazz Band came to town at Reisenwebers and Rectors had to have a Jazz Band, so they came up to here me in Joan Sawyers place, and they wanted me to form a Jazz Band and come over to Rectors, I did and that’s where I first started to make my big hit, and I acquired my hat from down there from a cab driver by the name of Mississippi, you know those Hansom Cabs they drive through the parks, Mississippi had an old hat cause they used to wear the High Hats, and I shot him a quarter against his hat during Intermissionduring one of the dances, and I won the hat and I went upstairs and I have had the hat ever since. Then from Rectors, the late Murray Anderson who produced all the wonderful shows and musicals got a show together called “THE GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES” and they needed some-body in a little spot while they changed the scenery, and my band and I went down there and we originated the laughing horns on the number called “THERE ARE SMILES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY” and we had the trombone player laughing, and then the Cornet would laugh and then the Clarinet would laugh and got this little spot in the down in the Village, and we stopped the show so cold that from the next day on we were the Stars of the show, “TED LEWIS AND HIS JAZZ BAND.”  

I continued playing with the “GREENWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES” and Rectors and then I went over to the Bal Tabarin and I was interested in the Bal Tabarin, and from Rectors on I got the phrase - - - - “IS EVERYBODY HAPPY?” during the War, after a dance set one night I just happened to say “IS EVERYBODY HAPPY?” and everyone in the house started to applaud, and that phrase has stuck with me ever since, and that’s the way I acquired the Hat, and I was with the GREEWICH VILLAGE FOLLIES, of 1920 and 1922, then I went with the “PASSING SHOW”, I played all the Orpheum Circuit, I made records since 1916 for Columbia, who sold over a million copies a month, then I went with “ARTISTS AND MODELS”, with “LeMaire’s Affairs” and I made pictures for MGM, Warner Brothers, and Columbia and this place that we’re playing now we hold the record still at the Coconut Grove, the attendance since 1929, we got 1300 and some off people in this place we had them in little balconies all around we had them jammed in every night and this was for Mr. Abe Frank. Who was the manager here then. Then we came back here in 1936, and here we are again for a stay from 4 to 6 weeks, and we’ve been going ever since and I feel that my life hasn’t been wasted that I have done some good, that I’ve tried to make “EVERYBODY HAPPY” and that’s the finish I can’t say no more. Incidentally this is my 45th anniversary in Show Business, in Real Show Business, of course I’ve had quite a few little previews before I got into show business and also my 40th Wedding Anniversary, to the same lovely lady, Lots of guys cant’s say that in this business, of course that’s Mrs. Lewis’s fault she’s so wonderful, she’s my manager, she does everything for me, and my wonderful secretary Mrs. Goodman who has been with us 19 or 20 years and it’s a very high compliment for me to be on Monitor and I know the folks won’t know what they’re going to hear until they hear it and I hope that it’ll be interesting enough that they’ll - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


Clarinetist Ted Lewis was born in Circleville, Ohio in 1890 and was playing leading bands in Ohio as early as 1910.

Ted formed a musical vaudeville act with his older brother Edward Friedman that was billed as “Ted and Ed” which toured the Gus Sun Vaudeville circuit. When his brother tired of show business Ted moved to New York and got a job playing clarinet and saxophone at El Dorado Cafe in New York.

Ted then teamed up with a young singer named Jack Lewis and they called their act “Lewis and Lewis”. From then on Ted Friedman went by the last name of Lewis. “Lewis and Lewis” disbanded after a disastrous vaudeville tour of Canada in December of 1912 and January of 1913 which left them broke and stranded.

Ted briefly returned to Circleville before moving to New York in 1915 where he formed a band that played at the College Cabaret at Coney Island. In 1916 Lewis joined Earl Fuller’s band which had engagements at the Aux Caprice Domino Room and Rector’s supper club in Manhattan. It was in Fuller’s group that Ted Lewis rose to fame and made his first recordings in 1917.

The success of the Original Dixieland Jass Band had opened the doors for other hot and novelty syncopated orchestras and Earl Fuller’s Famous Jazz Band was the most successful of the bunch. Lewis’ wild stage antics and crazy clarinet sound stole the show and by 1919 he had left Fuller’s band and started his own group which was featured in the “Passing Show of 1919” and the “Greenwich Village Follies” of 1919 through 1922.

When not taking part in these productions Lewis and his band were busy performing at Manhattan nightclubs such as the Bal Tabarin and the Montmarte and recording for Columbia. Ted Lewis and his BandTed Lewis (1890-1971) became one of the most popular bands of the early 1920s and continued to be very successful throughout the rest of the decade and the 1930s.

Lewis’ bands and records over the years featured many up-and-coming Jazz musicians like Muggsy Spanier, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, George Brunies, Jack Teagarden and Fats Waller.

He was renowned for his famous saying “Is Everybody Happy?” Lewis wore a battered top hat on stage and was billed as the “High-hatted Tragedian of Jazz” and “The Medicine Man for Your Blues”.

There were three films made about Ted Lewis or starring him entitled “Is Everybody Happy?”. The first was made in 1929 starring Tod Todd as Ted. In 1942 Universal made a musical short starring Lewis in 1942 with that title. In 1943 Columbia Pictures made a movie about Lewis’ life called “Is Everybody Happy?” with Larry Parks playing Lewis (Parks also played Jolson in “The Al Jolson Story”). Ted Lewis’ career continued up into the 1960s appearing on TV and playing in Las Vegas.

Here is a special bonus recording by Ted Lewis and his Band from the 1929 talkie movie “The Show Of Shows”. The band performs the songs “Bold Pirates” and “Lady Luck”.

Earl Bunn Fuller (March 7, 1885 – August 19, 1947) was a pioneering American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, composer and instrumentalist. Fuller helped to initiate the popularity of jazz in New York City shortly before America's entry into World War I. He also had an ear for talent, and discovered Ted Lewis and Teddy Brown.[1]
Biography

Fuller was born on March 7, 1885[2] in Stonington, Illinois;[3] however, his family had longstanding ties to Warren County, Ohio. Practically nothing is known of his musical education, but he was proficient on several instruments; photos of his jazz band show him seated at the piano, whereas he also is credited with playing trumpet and trombone in his Novelty Orchestra; other accounts identify him as a drummer. Fuller was hired, in 1913,[4] as musical director of Rector's Restaurant on Broadway in Manhattan's theater district, where it was established as a place where famous personalities from the New York Stage rubbed shoulders with politicians and other prominent New Yorkers.[5] Fuller's Novelty Orchestra's star attraction was xylophonist Teddy Brown, then just a teenager and later destined for far greater fame in Britain.[6] However, a Christmas ad placed in Variety on December 28, 1917, shows that Fuller also used George Hamilton Green in this role.[7]

According to an unpublished autobiography by Ted Lewis,[8] Lewis and his "clown band" was playing at the boardwalk at Coney Island; this was a group that had evolved from a circus band and included cornetist Walter Kahn, trombonist Harry Raderman and drummer John Lucas—at that time the "clown band" did not have a pianist. Sometime towards the end of the summer, Fuller approached Lewis' clown band and offered to hire them into Rector's. The contract they signed in April 1917 still survives,[9] and shows that what became "Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band" was signed, as a whole, into Rector's at one time. Trading in their clown costumes for tuxedoes, Fuller's Jazz Band was an immediate success, and began appearing at Rector's just a few months after the Original Dixieland Jazz Band made its acclaimed debut at Reisenweber's Cafe in January 1917. The Novelty Orchestra—playing rags, schottisches, waltzes, polkas and two-steps—alternated sets with the more raucous jazz band. While the jazz band was exciting, only the bravest dancers could contend with its tempo. So the resulting show was a successful balance between the revolutionary rhythm of jazz and more sedate material that was friendlier to dancers. According to the 1917 Christmas ad, Fuller also maintained two other groups, his "Celebrated Society Orchestra" and "Earl Fuller's Combination Seven," but of these only the first group is known on recordings through a single Victor side.[10]

The Novelty Orchestra recorded for the first time for Columbia on June 1, 1917, and the jazz band three days later for Victor. Fuller's groups remained busy in the recording studios through February 1919, recording for Victor, Columbia, Edison, Emerson and Starr/Gennett. There is some controversy as to whether Fuller functioned as pianist in the jazz band; some sources contend that the pianist in the Earl Fuller Famous Jazz Band was actually Ernest Cutting, rather than Fuller.[11] However, the Victor ledgers show Fuller as pianist, at least on sides made for that company; Cutting did play with the Famous Jazz Band in live engagements, however.[12] Likewise, Fuller's authorship has been challenged for five Fuller Jazz Band titles credited to Fuller as composer. However, Fuller did publish sheet music that he had written,[13] and Lewis in his autobiography makes no such claim.

Ted Lewis has taken some criticism over his handling of the matter of extracting himself from Rector's and Fuller's control, which included the whole of the Fuller Jazz Band, minus Fuller. In his autobiography, Lewis recalled that by mid-1919 he was being offered outrageous sums of money by Florenz Ziegfeld to play the Roof Garden of the New Amsterdam Theater. Neither Lewis nor his fellow jazz band members were paid more than other musicians at Rector's, and when his contract came up, he opted not to renew, and the band simply left Fuller along with him, including pianist Ernest Cutting. However, Cutting returned to Fuller after only about a month, and Cutting's composition Jazology was featured on the last recording credited to Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band, made in December 1919. This disc was issued both on Arto and as a special "Earl Fuller Record" with Fuller's picture on the label; the latter is one of the rarest of all early jazz records.[14]

Jazology was one of 15 pieces compiled in Earl Fuller's Collection of Classic Jazz, published by a cooperative which Fuller headed called the American Musicians Syndicate with offices located at 1604 Broadway. The collection was available both as a piano folio and as a set of orchestral parts arranged by Harry L. Alford, whom Fuller brought out from Chicago to make the arrangements; among other pieces in the collection were early works composed by future bandleaders Lou Gold and Irving Aaronson. The folios were issued in conjunction with three QRS piano roll medleys consisting of nine pieces from the set.[15]

With the final passage of the Volstead Act (prohibiting the production, sale, and transport of "intoxicating liquors") in October 1919, rather than to continue as a restaurant without a liquor license, Rector's opted to close its doors. After making the final Earl Fuller Famous Jazz Band disc, Fuller took his bands on a coast to coast tour of vaudeville houses in the United States. Variety stated in his obituary that Fuller therefore "was the first big time orchestra leader to invade the hinterland."[16] On returning to New York, Fuller diversified, renaming his band "Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra" and establishing a dance band booking agency, primarily run by his wife, Katherine.[17] While Fuller's band halted its recording activities in 1921, the booking agency continued in New York until at least 1925.[18] By 1928, Fuller had relocated to Cincinnati to continue the business there, but it ultimately foundered. Afterward, Fuller served as manager of WFBF radio in Cincinnati.

When he died of a heart attack in Morrow, Ohio, on August 19, 1947, Earl Fuller was working as a real estate agent in nearby Lebanon.[19] He was buried in Morrow Cemetery, near to, but not in, the Fuller family plot.[20]
Legacy

Outside of enthusiasts of early jazz and vintage record collectors, Earl Fuller is a forgotten figure. He has not been regarded well by mainstream jazz experts; Gunther Schuller's evaluation of the Fuller Band in the seminal survey Early Jazz[21] was couched in mostly negative terms. However, there are listeners who are attracted to the "crude sort of excitement" that Schuller also alludes to, and overall their recordings are more violent and chaotic sounding than even the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Some post-modern scholars refer to its like as "punk jazz," a kind of early jazz with a nihilistic aesthetic akin to the punk rock movement in England in the 1970s. The one inescapable factor of Earl Fuller's legacy is that he played a major role in popularizing jazz in New York City; Ted Lewis' "clown band" may have been one of the first groups to play something that could be regarded as instrumental jazz in New York, and by incorporating their act into his high-profile show at Rector's, Fuller exposed the new sound to the very clientele that would take to it most ardently. Moreover, like the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Fuller's groups were among the first artists to record pieces that have become standards, such as W. C. Handy's Beale Street Blues.

Apart from Ted Lewis, Teddy Brown and George Hamilton Green, musicians who worked in Fuller's various groups included Sig Behrendson (who sometimes filled in for Raderman), Willie Creager, Ben Selvin, Joe Green, Joe Kayser, Joseph Samuels and Ted Weems. Variety states that of the band Fuller took on tour of the United States "many of the men later formed the basis of the late Ben Bernie's first stage band."[22]
Discography
Earl Fuller's first record, "Cold Turkey"

Earl Fuller made an impressive number of recordings in a very short time. The table below contains all known Earl Fuller recordings, minus non-U.S. issues; some undocumented items may have also been issued on Olympic, Arto or Starr/Gennett, labels incompletely documented in this period. Edison Blue Amberol cylinders are generally identical to the Diamond Disc issues, though takes may vary. Victor 18395 was announced, but ultimately not released. Fuller is also credited as a director and/or manager on some Pathé recordings by Joseph Samuels' Orchestra, but his connection to these items remains uncertain.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]
Artist Credit     Title     Date     Label     Issue     Matrix
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Cold Turkey     6-1-1917     Columbia     A2298     77092-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     12th Street Rag     6-1-1917     Columbia     A2298     77093-7
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Slippery Hank     6-4-1917     Victor     18321-A     B-20062-2
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Yah-de-dah     6-4-1917     Victor     18321-B     B-20063-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Cold Turkey     6-4-1917     Victor     unissued     B-20064
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     I Never Knew     6-4-1917     Victor     unissued     B-20065
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     One Fleeting Hour     6-9-1917     Columbia     A5989     49235
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Castle Valse Classique     6-9-1917     Columbia     A5989     49236
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Pork and Beans     7-20-1917     Columbia     A2370     77220-3
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzin' Around     8-13-1917     Victor     unissued     B-20502-1-4
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     A Coon Band Contest     8-13-1917     Victor     unissued     B-20503-1-3
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     The Old Grey Mare     8-13-1917     Victor     18369-A     B-20504-2
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Beale Street Blues     8-13-1917     Victor     18369-B     B-20505-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     More Candy     9-5-1917     Columbia     A2403     77307-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Ida Sweet As Apple Cider     9-5-1917     Columbia     A2403     77308-2
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzin' Around     9-10-1917     Victor     18395-A     B-20502-5
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     A Coon Band Contest     9-10-1917     Victor     18394-A     B-20503-4
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     L'il Liza Jane     9-10-1917     Victor     18394-B     B-20549-3
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Cotton Blossoms     9-10-1917     Victor     18395-B     B-20550-1
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Smiles     11-17-1917     Columbia     A2578     77516-2
Earl Fuller's Orchestra     When the Incense is Burning     11-19-1917     Victor     18450-B     B-21465-1
Earl Fuller's Orchestra     Charming     11-19-1917     Victor     unissued     Vi trial
Earl Fuller's Orchestra     What Could Be Sweeter?     11-19-1917     Victor     unissued     Vi trial
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Mama's Baby Boy     12-18-1917     Columbia     unissued     77582
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Graveyard Blues     3-1-1918     Columbia     A2523     77583-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Sweet Emalina My Gal     3-1-1918     Columbia     A2523     77697-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     I Ain't Got Nobody Much     3-18-1918     Columbia     A2547     77725-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Down Home Rag     3-18-1918     Columbia     A2547     77726-1
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazz De Luxe     3-1918     Emerson     952     3182-1, -2
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzbo Jazz     3-1918     Emerson     952     3183-1, -2
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzbo Jazz     3-1918     Medallion     817     3183
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazz De Luxe     3-1918     Medallion     818     3182
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Mickey     5-3-1918     Columbia     A2595     77806-1
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     We'll Do Our Share     5-7-1918     Columbia     A2566     77815-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     I Want Him Back Again     5-7-1918     Columbia     A2566     77816-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     The Missouri Waltz     5-14-1918     Columbia     A2578     77821-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Here Comes America     5-1918     Columbia     A2595     77838-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     When I Feel Sad and Lonely     6-3-1918     Columbia     unissued     49439
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Texas - Fox Trot     6-3-1918     Columbia     A6075     49440-1
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Oriental - One Step     7-1918     Columbia     A6075     49474-1
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     I'm Sorry I Made You Cry     6-4-1918     Edison Blue Amberol     3585     6198-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     I'm Sorry I Made You Cry     6-4-1918     Edison Diamond Disc     50521-L     6198-A-B-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzbo Jazz - One Step     6-4-1918     Edison Blue Amberol     3554     6199-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzbo Jazz - One Step     6-4-1918     Edison Diamond Disc     50505-L     6199-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazz De Luxe     6-13-1918     Edison Blue Amberol     3610     6005-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazz De Luxe     6-13-1918     Edison Diamond Disc     50541-R     6005-C
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzin' Around     6-13-1918     Edison Blue Amberol     3572     6225-C
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Howdy     8-6-1918     Columbia     A2649     77987
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Cold Turkey     8-1918     Gennett     8504-B     1334
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     I'm Sorry I Made You Cry     8-1918     Gennett     8504-A     1335
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Unknown Selection     8-1918     Gennett     unknown     1336
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazz De Luxe     8-1918     Gennett     8522-B     1337
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Russian Rag     8-30-1918     Columbia     A2649     78034
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Sand Dunes     8-30-1918     Columbia     unissued (12")     49488
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Singapore     12-10-1918     Columbia     A2686     78194-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Out of the East     12-10-1918     Columbia     A2686     78195-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Sand Dunes     12-19-1918     Columbia     A2697     78195-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Spaniola     12-19-1918     Columbia     A2697     78195-3
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Egyptland     1-31-1919     Columbia     A2722     78280-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Mummy Mine     1-31-1919     Columbia     A2722     78281-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Ruspana     2-21-1919     Columbia     A2712     78310-2
Earl Fuller's Novelty Orchestra     Sweet Siamese     2-21-1919     Columbia     A2712     78311-3
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazorient     12-1919     Arto/Earl Fuller     9009-A     31001-
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band     Jazzology     12-1919     Arto/Earl Fuller     9009-B     31002-2
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Ain't We Got Fun     5-1921     Olympic     15116-A     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Ain't We Got Fun     5-1921     Symphony Concert Record     21180-A     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Just Because     5-1921     Olympic     15116-B     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Just Because     5-1921     Symphony Concert Record     21180-B     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Melody in F     5-1921     Olympic     15118     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Melody in F     5-1921     Black Swan     2058-B     
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     Just Because     6-17-1921     Edison Diamond Disc     50824-R     8076
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     I Wonder Where My Sweet, Sweet Daddy's Gone     6-17-1921     Edison Blue Amberol     4392     8077-A
Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra     I Wonder Where My Sweet, Sweet Daddy's Gone     6-17-1921     Edison Diamond Disc     50824-L     8077-A 

The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the most famous being "Tiger Rag". In late 1917, the spelling of the band's name was changed to Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

The band consisted of five musicians who had played in the Papa Jack Laine bands.

ODJB billed itself as "the Creators of Jazz". It was the first band to record jazz commercially and to have hit recordings in the genre. Band leader and cornetist Nick LaRocca argued that ODJB deserved recognition as the first band to record jazz commercially and the first band to establish jazz as a musical idiom or genre.

The original quintet disbanded in 1926. Ten years later, Nick LaRocca recruited most of the quintet to form a new swing band featuring the ODJB members. The full quintet reunited in 1936 to great acclaim, and finally disbanded in 1938.
Origins
The first release of "Tiger Rag" on Aeolian Vocalion, B1206, 1917

In early 1916, a promoter from Chicago approached clarinetist Alcide Nunez and drummer Johnny Stein about bringing a New Orleans-style band to Chicago, where the similar Brown's Band From Dixieland, led by trombonist Tom Brown, was enjoying success.[1] They then assembled trombonist Eddie Edwards, pianist Henry Ragas, and cornetist Frank Christian. Shortly before they were to leave, Christian backed out, and Nick LaRocca was hired as a last-minute replacement.

On March 3, 1916 the musicians began their job at Schiller's Cafe in Chicago under the name Stein's Dixie Jass Band. The band was a hit and received offers of higher pay elsewhere. Since Stein as leader was the only musician under contract by name, the rest of the band broke off, sent to New Orleans for drummer Tony Sbarbaro, and on June 5, started playing under the name, The Dixie Jass Band. LaRocca and Nunez had personality conflicts, and on October 30 Tom Brown's Band and ODJB agreed to swap clarinetists, bringing Larry Shields into the Original Dixieland Jass Band. The band attracted the attention of theatrical agent Max Hart, who booked the band in New York City. At the start of 1917 the band began an engagement playing for dancing at Reisenweber's Cafe, on Columbus Circle, in Manhattan.
First recordings
The world's first jazz record: ODJB 1917 Victor release of "Livery Stable Blues", 18255-B
Livery Stable Blues
Duration: 3 minutes and 9 seconds.3:09
Original Dixieland Jass Band's original 1917 recording of Livery Stable Blues.
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While a couple of other New Orleans bands had passed through New York City slightly earlier, they were part of vaudeville acts. ODJB, on the other hand, played for dancing and hence, were the first "jass" band to get a following of fans in New York and then record at a time when the American recording industry was essentially centered in the northeastern United States, primarily in New York City and Camden, New Jersey.

Shortly after arriving in New York, a letter dated January 29, 1917, offered the band an audition for the Columbia Graphophone Company. The session took place on Wednesday, January 31, 1917. Nothing from this test session was issued.[2]

The band then recorded two sides for the Victor Talking Machine Company, "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step", on February 26, 1917 at Victor's New York studios.[3] These titles were released as Victor 18255 in May 1917, the first issued jazz record.[4][5] The band's recordings, first marketed as a novelty, were a surprise hit, and gave many Americans their first taste of jazz. Musician Joe Jordan sued, since the "One Step" incorporated portions of his 1909 ragtime composition "That Teasin' Rag". The record labels subsequently were changed to "Introducing 'That Teasin' Rag' by Joe Jordan". A court case dispute over the authorship of "Livery Stable Blues" resulted in the judge declaring the tune in the "public domain".

In the wake of the group's success of the Victor record, the ODJB returned to Columbia in May, recording two selections of popular tunes of the day chosen for them by the label (possibly hoping to avoid the copyright problems which arose after Victor recorded two of the band's supposedly original compositions) "Darktown Strutters' Ball" and "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" as catalogue #A-2297.

Numerous jazz bands were formed in the wake of the success of ODJB that copied and replicated its style and sound. Also bands were brought from Chicago and California (such as the Frisco Jass Band) in an attempts to join the jazz craze. Established bands of different types and bandleaders such as Wilbur Sweatman began billing their groups as "jass" or "jazz" bands. Earl Fuller, bandleader at a competing New York venue, was ordered by management to form a "jass" band.

W. C. Handy recorded one of the earliest cover versions of an ODJB tune when he released a recording of "Livery Stable Blues" by Handy's Orchestra of Memphis for Columbia in 1917.

In 1918, the song "When You Hear That Dixieland Jazz Band Play" by Shelton Brooks, "the King of Ragtime Writers", was published by Will Rossiter in Chicago. It was a tribute to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who were featured on the cover.[6][7]
Original New Orleans Jazz Band

When the New Orleans Jazz style swept New York by storm in 1917 with the arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jimmy Durante was part of the audience at Reisenweber's Cafe on Columbus Circle when ODJB played that venue. Durante was very impressed with the band and invited them to play at a club called the Alamo in Harlem where Jimmy played piano.

Durante had his friend, Johnny Stein (the previous drummer and leader of the group), assemble a group of like-minded New Orleans musicians to accompany his act at the Alamo. Stein did so, with a band consisting of fellow veterans of the Laine bands in New Orleans, other than pianist Durante. In late 1918 they recorded two sides for Okeh under the name of the New Orleans Jazz Band. They recorded the same two numbers a couple of months later for Gennett under the name of Original New Orleans Jazz Band, and in 1920 the same group recorded again for Gennett as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band. They later billed themselves as "Durante's Jazz and Novelty Band".[citation needed]
Sicilian influence

Both LaRocca and Sbarbaro were children of immigrants from the Italian region of Sicily.[8] The Sicilian capital of Palermo had long held cotton and citrus fruit trade with New Orleans.[8] This resulted in the establishment of a direct shipping line between the two port cities which enabled a vast number of Sicilians to migrate to New Orleans, and other American cities, between the late 1800s and early 1900s.[8] With this migration, Sicilian sound was brought to New Orleans and integrated with regional African-American music.[8][9] The band would capitalize on this growing integration.[8]
Later history of the band
Victor second pressing release of "Dixie Jass Band One-Step", 18255-A, 1917

After their initial recording for the Victor Company, the ODJB recorded for Columbia Records (after the first Victor session, not before as has sometimes been reported) and Aeolian-Vocalion in 1917, then returned to Victor the following year, while enjoying continued popularity in New York. Trombonist Edwards was drafted for World War I in 1918 and replaced by Emile Christian, and pianist Henry Ragas died of influenza in the 1918 flu pandemic the following year and he was replaced by pianist and composer J. Russel Robinson.

Robinson's compositions for the band recorded and released in 1920, include the classic "Margie" and "Palesteena (Lena from Palesteena)", were among the most popular and best-selling hits of 1920. "Aggravatin' Papa" was composed with lyricist Roy Turk and Addie Britt and was recorded by Alberta Hunter in 1923 with Fletcher Henderson's Dance Orchestra and also by Bessie Smith, Sophie Tucker, Florence Mills, Lucille Hegamin, and Pearl Bailey. Robinson also collaborated with Roy Turk on the compositions "Sweet Man O' Mine" and "A-Wearin' Away the Blues", and he wrote "Mama Whip! Mama Spank! (If Her Daddy Don't Come Home)" for blues and jazz singer Mamie Smith and her Jazz Band in 1921, which were released on the Okeh label. Robinson was a member of the band until 1923; he rejoined the band when it reformed in 1936.

"Margie", composed by J. Russel Robinson with Con Conrad, with lyrics added by Benny Davis, has been covered over a hundred times. "Margie" has been recorded by Louis Armstrong, who also covered the band's "Tiger Rag", Ray Charles, Al Jolson, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in 1935, the Billy Kyle Swing Club Band, Claude Hopkins, Red Nichols, Django Reinhardt, George Paxton, the Dutch Swing College Band, Fats Domino, Sidney Bechet, Don Redman, Cab Calloway, Jim Reeves, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman.

"Margie" was a no. 9 hit for ODJB in 1921 with J. Russel Robinson on piano. Eddie Cantor had the biggest hit version of the ODJB classic, spending five weeks at no. 1 in 1921. The song also was featured in the movie The Eddie Cantor Story and was the theme of the television series of the same name in 1961–1962. Cantor also recorded ODJB's "Palesteena (Lena from Palesteena)". Gene Rodemich and His Orchestra reached no. 7 with their version in 1920. Ted Lewis and His Band reached no. 4 in 1921. Frank Crumit had a no. 7 hit in 1921. Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra reached no. 5 in 1934 with Orlando Peterson on vocals. Don Redman and His Orchestra got to no. 15 in 1939 with a cover of the ODJB song. Dave Brubeck, Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, Charlie Shavers, Jimmy Smith, Joe Venuti, Ray Barretto, and Shelly Manne also have recorded the song. Jimmie Lunceford recorded the song in 1938 with a Sy Oliver arrangement that featured Trummy Young.
London tour
"Tiger Rag" sheet music, 1918, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Leo Feist, New York

Other New Orleans musicians, including Nunez, Tom Brown, and Frank Christian, followed ODJB's example and went to New York to play jazz as well, giving the band competition. LaRocca decided to take the band to London, where they would once again enjoy being the only authentic New Orleans jazz band in the metropolis, and again present themselves as the Originators of Jazz because they were the first band to record the new genre of music dubbed jass or jazz. The band's April 7, 1919[10] appearance in the revue Joy Bells at the London Hippodrome was the first official live jazz performance by any band in the United Kingdom[11] and was followed by a command performance for King George V at Buckingham Palace. The concert did not start auspiciously, with the assembled aristocracy, which included French Marshal Philippe Pétain, peering through opera glasses at the band "as though there were bugs on us", according to LaRocca. The audience loosened up, however, after the king laughed and loudly applauded their rendition of "The Tiger Rag". The British tour ended with the band being chased to the Southampton docks by Lord Harrington, who was infuriated that his daughter was being romanced by the lead singer of the band.[12][13] In London, they made twenty more recordings for the British branch of Columbia. While in London, they recorded the second, more commercially successful, version of their hit song "Soudan" (also known as "Oriental Jass").

The band returned to the United States in July 1920 and toured for four years. This version of the band played in a more commercial style, adding a saxophone to the arrangements in the manner of other popular orchestras. Jazz pianist and composer Frank Signorelli, who collaborated on the jazz standards "A Blues Serenade" recorded by Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington, "Gypsy", and "Stairway to the Stars", joined the ODJB for a brief time in 1921.

In November 1925 Nick LaRocca announced that he was retiring from the music business. He was replaced by 19-year-old trumpeter Henry Levine, who in 1940 brought this kind of repertoire to the NBC radio show The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. With LaRocca's departure Tony Sbarbaro, now the only original member of the ODJB, became the bandleader. The personnel for this final incarnation of the "original" ODJB was Tony Sbarbaro (drums), Henry Levine (trumpet), Artie Seaberg (clarinet), Al Caplan (trombone), and Wilder Chase (piano).[14] The band finished out its contract with New York's Cinderella Ballroom in February 1926, and then disbanded.
Break-ups and reunions

The band broke up in 1926 because its brand of free-wheeling jazz was then considered old-fashioned. As Abel Green of Variety put it: "[Paul] Whiteman with his symphonic syncopation came along and made America and the world conscious of his arranged sweet foxtrotology. Then the Dixieland Band folded for good."[15]

The band members scattered. Leader/trumpeter Nick LaRocca returned to his construction business in New Orleans. Clarinetist Larry Shields moved to Chicago, then to New Orleans where he worked for a Bible publisher. Trombonist Eddie Edwards was discovered operating a newsstand in New York City; newspaper publicity resulted in Edwards fronting a local nightclub band. Drummer Tony Sbarbaro was now a mechanic. Pianist J. Russel Robinson was in radio, a musical director for the NBC network. Although Variety reported in November 1932 that Victor planned to use the band in new remakes of their old hits, only Eddie Edwards and Tony Sbarbaro were mentioned, with nightclub emcee Kendall Capps set to front the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band" in live performances.[16] Nothing came of this and no recordings resulted.

In October 1935 Tony Sbarbaro recorded four sides for Vocalion with his own quintet, billed as "Original Dixieland Jazz Band". In early 1936 Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields reunited in New Orleans for a hotel date. Encouraged by the response, they continued to play local clubs and private functions. LaRocca, gauging the audiences for dance-band music, listened to the latest swing records and decided that the ODJB could appeal to those listeners as well. He assembled a 14-piece swing band featuring four members of the ODJB: himself, Larry Shields, J. Russel Robinson, and Tony Sbarbaro. "Nick LaRocca and The Original Dixieland Band" recorded nine sides for Victor in September 1936. Trade columnists welcomed these new big-band versions of the old hits, with the technological advance of electrical recording (with microphones) yielding a tremendous improvement in fidelity over the old acoustic recordings. Clarinetist Larry Shields received particularly positive attention: "It is here that one of the all too few opportunities to hear and judge Shields by himself is found," wrote The Record Changer. "It is Larry Shields who packs the punch, much as he did in the regular, smaller band."[17]

Eddie Edwards, the only ODJB member absent from the first big-band session on September 2, showed up at the studio toward the end of the second big-band session on September 25. The original quintet ran through "Skeleton Jangle" without the big band. The take went so well that Victor invited the quintet back into the studio to record five more songs on November 10, 1936. Victor credited these records to "The Original Dixieland Five" to avoid confusion with Victor's "Original Dixieland Band" records then in circulation. Benny Goodman (who was present at the quintet's Victor recording session) named Shields as an important early influence, and invited the band to appear on his network radio show, where the ODJB was a sensation. The band was booked into New York's famous Paramount theater in April 1937, one month after Goodman's spectacular showing at the Paramount.[18] Victor even coupled the new Goodman recording of "St. Louis Blues" with the Original Dixieland Five's recording of "Clarinet Marmalade" on the same 78-rpm disc.

The ODJB reunion received widespread publicity, including a March of Time newsreel re-creating the group's first recording session and showing their successful performance in Boston on December 31, 1936. J. Russel Robinson compared the band's style to modern swing, which reporter Abel Green encapsulated: "Swing is no different basically than the old Dixieland style. The sole difference is that today it is closer harmony, because it's arranged. The arranger scores the supposed improvisations because otherwise it would sound like bedlam. When a small combo of four or five jams it out, no arrangement is necessary because each instrumentalist merely takes the chorus lead in sequence."

Ken Murray, always a fan of bygone acts, hired the band in late 1936 for a tour of personal appearances. Bass violinist Harry Barth was added to the band in January 1937 for these stage shows. A Variety reviewer caught the Baltimore engagement and disapproved of Murray's handling: "Unfortunately boys aren't getting the spotlight they deserve. They're part of Murray's act and, with two brief exceptions, there's something in front of band [at] all times. To many, that old act has been mythical, especially in last year-and-half. Murray didn't even adequately explain band's background when intro'ing it. Comic should certainly take advantage of what he has in his own act."[19]

After the stint with Murray, the band's radio and stage appearances were now being arranged by veteran band booker and manager Ed Kirkeby. The band opened Billy Rose's opulent Frontier Fiesta club in Fort Worth, Texas in July 1937.[20] They played throughout the summer at the Dallas-Fort Worth Exposition, and returned to New York on October 1 for a booking at the Old New York nightclub.[21] Toward the end of the tour, there were disagreements about LaRocca's leadership; Harry Barth had left angrily on August 7 when he asked LaRocca for a raise and was refused.[22] LaRocca and Edwards also argued back and forth. On January 17, 1938, LaRocca served notice on both the band members and the musicians' union in New York that the ODJB would be disbanding. The band officially broke up on February 1, 1938.

In the immediate aftermath, two factions competed as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Edwards, Shields, and Sbarbaro had one more recording date with Victor on February 18, 1938; they were augmented by New York-area sidemen and vocalist Lola Bard. They recorded six songs for Victor's Bluebird label, and the records were credited to the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band with Shields, Edwards and Sbarbaro; vocal refrain by Lola Bard." The Edwards band toured the southern United States in the spring of 1938. Meanwhile the other two members, LaRocca and Robinson, had "their own combo in New York".[23]

Most of the ODJB veterans continued to work after Nick La Rocca retired completely from the musical scene. In November 1943 Tony Sbarbaro, claiming ownership of the ODJB name, brought back Eddie Edwards (and went after Larry Shields) to appear with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in Sol Hurok's stage production Tropical Review in Forrest, New York.[24] In 1944, a new version of "Tiger Rag" was released as V-Disc 214, featuring Edwards and Sbarbaro under the ODJB name; "Sensation Rag" also was released as V-Disc 214B2. V-Discs were non-commercial recordings issued only to the U.S. armed forces. In 1946 Tony Sbarbaro (now using the name Tony Spargo) led a new eight-man group, "The Emperors of Jazz", with ODJB alumnus Frank Signorelli on piano.[25] J. Russel Robinson moved to California and continued to write songs, forming his own publishing company Southern California Music in 1952.

In 1960 the book, The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, was published. Writer H. O. Brunn based it on Nick LaRocca's recollections, which sometimes differ from that of other sources.

Of the veteran quintet, only Tony Sbarbaro lived to witness RCA Victor's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Larry Shields died in 1953, Nick LaRocca in 1961, Eddie Edwards and J. Russel Robinson in 1963, and Tony Sbarbaro in 1969.

Back in New Orleans, LaRocca licensed bandleader Phil Zito to use the ODJB name for many years. Nick LaRocca's son, Jimmy LaRocca, continues to lead bands under the name The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which LaRocca the younger has trademarked.
Influence

The ODJB was the first band to record jazz successfully, establishing and creating jazz as a new musical idiom and genre of music. Bix Beiderbecke was influenced by the ODJB to become a jazz musician and was heavily influenced by Nick LaRocca's cornet and trumpet style. Louis Armstrong acknowledged the importance of ODJB:

    Only four years before I learned to play the trumpet in the Waif's Home, or in 1909, the first great jazz orchestra was formed in New Orleans by a cornet player named Dominick James LaRocca. They called him 'Nick' LaRocca. His orchestra had only five pieces but they were the hottest five pieces that had ever been known before. LaRocca named this band 'The Old Dixieland Jass Band'. He had an instrumentation different from anything before, an instrumentation that made the old songs sound new. Besides himself at the cornet, LaRocca had Larry Shields, clarinet, Eddie Edwards, trombone, Ragas, piano, and Sbarbaro, drums. They all came to be famous players and the Dixieland Band has gone down now in musical history. 

— Louis Armstrong, Swing That Music, 1936[26]

Many years later, another Jazz Band using the ODJB theme was formed by Detroit saxophonist Grover Overton, called the Second Dixieland Jazz Band.[27]
Film appearances
Further information: The Good for Nothing (1917 film)

In 1917, the band made the first appearance of a jazz band in a motion picture, a silent movie entitled, The Good for Nothing (1917), directed by Carlyle Blackwell, who also played the lead role as Jack Burkshaw. Written by Alexander Thomas, it also featured Evelyn Greeley and Kate Lester and was produced by William Brady. Nick LaRocca, Larry Shields, Tony Sbarbaro, and Henry Ragas appeared in the film as a band, with LaRocca on cornet, Shields on clarinet, Ragas on piano, and Sbarbaro on drums. The film was released on December 10, 1917, produced by Peerless Productions, and distributed by World Pictures.

Nick LaRocca and the reunited Original Dixieland Jass Band performed "Tiger Rag" in The March of Time newsreel segment titled "Birth of Swing", released to U.S. theaters on February 19, 1937.[28]
Music of ODJB
    
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"Tiger Rag" and "Sensation" released on V Disc by the ODJB, No. 214B, VP 435, Hot Jazz, June, 1944, with Eddie Edwards and Tony Sbarbaro
"Tiger Rag"
Main article: Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag (1918)
Duration: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.3:05
The Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag".
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The band's 1917 composition "Tiger Rag" became one of the most popular and ubiquitous of jazz standards. There were 136 cover versions of ODJB's copyright jazz standard and classic "Tiger Rag" by 1942. It has been standard ever since.

Their first release, "Livery Stable Blues", featured instruments doing barnyard imitations and the fully loaded trap set, wood blocks, cowbells, gongs, and Chinese gourds. This musical innovation represented one of the first experimental exercises in jazz. At the time, their music was liberating; the barnyard sounds were experiments in altering the tonal qualities of the instruments, and clattering wood blocks broke up the rhythm. The music was very lively when compared to the pop music of the time.

Many of the tunes first composed and recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band, such as "Tiger Rag" and "Margie", were recorded by many of the major jazz bands and orchestras of the twentieth century, black and white. "Tiger Rag" was recorded by many artists, from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Glenn Miller to Benny Goodman. "Tiger Rag", in particular, became popular with many colleges and universities having a tiger as a mascot. In the biography John Coltrane: His Life and Music, published in 1999, Lewis Porter noted that ODJB's classic, "Margie", was a "specialty" of John Coltrane, a song he performed regularly in his early career. "Tiger Rag", "Margie", "Clarinet Marmalade", "At The Jazz Band Ball", "Sensation Rag", and "Fidgety Feet" remain much played classics in the repertory of contemporary Dixieland and traditional jazz bands. Their tunes were published as collaborations by some or all of the entire ensemble, including band leader Nick La Rocca.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recording of "Tiger Rag" was no. 1 for two weeks on the U.S. Hit Parade charts beginning on December 11, 1918. The Mills Brothers recorded "Tiger Rag" in 1931 with lyrics and spent four weeks at no. 1 on the charts in 1931–1932 with their version of the ODJB song.

The Eddie Edwards composition "Sensation Rag" (aka "Sensation") was performed at the 1938 landmark Benny Goodman jazz concert at Carnegie Hall released on the album The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.

Compared to later jazz, the ODJB recordings have only modest improvisation in mostly ensemble tunes. Clarinetist Larry Shields is perhaps the most interesting player, showing a good fluid tone, and if his melodic variations and breaks now seem overly familiar, this is because they were imitated widely by musicians who followed in the band's footsteps.[citation needed]

Their concept of arrangement was somewhat limited, and their recordings can seem rather repetitive. The lack of a bass player is scarcely compensated for by the piano on their earlier, acoustically recorded sessions. Nonetheless, ODJB arrangements were wild, impolite, and definitely had a jazz feel, and that style still is referred to as the style of music known as Dixieland.
Covers

ODJB's songs were recorded by other musicians, such as Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra, one of the most popular and influential jazz bands of the 1920s.

    "Beale Street Mama" – by J. Russel Robinson, recorded by Henderson in 1923 as an instrumental on Paramount.
    "Clarinet Marmalade" – recorded in 1926, released on Vocalion and Brunswick. In 1931, Henderson recorded a new version for Columbia.
    "Livery Stable Blues" – recorded in 1927, released on Columbia
    "Fidgety Feet" – by Nick LaRocca, recorded in 1927, released on Vocalion
    "Sensation" – recorded in 1927, released on Vocalion
    "Tiger Rag" – recorded in 1931, released on Crown
    "Aggravatin' Papa" – collaboration with Robinson, recorded in 1923 with Alberta Hunter on vocals
    "Singin' the Blues (Till My Daddy Comes Home)" – recorded in 1931 with Rex Stewart on cornet

Bix Beiderbecke recorded nine compositions associated with the ODJB from 1924 to 1930: "Fidgety Feet", his first recording in 1924, "Tiger Rag", "Sensation", "Lazy Daddy", "Ostrich Walk", "Clarinet Marmalade", "Singin' the Blues" with Frankie Trumbauer and Eddie Lang, "Margie", and "At the Jazz Band Ball".
Discography

The band's seminal 78-rpm recordings include the following (on Victor, Columbia, and Aeolian Vocalion):
1917–1920
Dixieland Jass Band One-Step (1917)
Duration: 2 minutes and 36 seconds.2:36
The Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1921 recording of "Dixie Jass Band One-Step".
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    "Dixie Jass Band One-Step"/"Introducing That Teasin' Rag"/"Livery Stable Blues", 1917, Victor 18255. This was the second pressing. The original title of the A side was "Dixieland Jass Band One-Step".
    "At the Jazz Band Ball"/"Barnyard Blues", 1917, Aeolian Vocalion A1205
    "Ostrich Walk"/"Tiger Rag", 1917, Aeolian Vocalion A1206
    "Reisenweber Rag/Look at 'Em Doing It Now", 1917, Aeolian Vocalion 1242
    "Darktown Strutters' Ball"/"(Back Home Again in) Indiana", 1917, Columbia A2297; the ODJB recording of "Darktown Strutters' Ball" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame on February 8, 2006
    "At the Jazz Band Ball" (1918 version)/"Ostrich Walk" (1918 version), 1918, Victor 18457
    "Skeleton Jangle"/"Tiger Rag" (1918 version), 1918, Victor 18472
    "Bluin' the Blues"/"Sensation Rag", 1918, Victor 18483
    "Mournin' Blues"/"Clarinet Marmalade", 1918, Victor 18513, "Mournin' Blues" also appeared as "Mornin' Blues" on some releases. The full B side title was "Clarinet Marmalade Blues".
    "Fidgety Feet (War Cloud)"/"Lazy Daddy", 1918, Victor 18564
    "Lasses Candy"/"Satanic Blues", 1919, Columbia 759
    "Oriental Jazz" (or "Jass"), 1919, recorded November 24, 1917 and issued as Aeolian Vocalion 12097 in April 1919 with "Indigo Blues" by Ford Dabney's Band
    "At the Jazz Band Ball" (1919 version)/"Barnyard Blues" (1919 version), 1919, recorded in London, England, April 16, 1919, English Columbia 735
    "Soudan" (also known as "Oriental Jass" and "Oriental Jazz"), 1920, recorded in London, England, in May 1920 and released as English Columbia 829; was composed by Czech composer Gabriel Sebek in 1906 as "In the Soudan: A Dervish Chorus" or "Oriental Scene for Piano, Op. 45". The B side was "Me-Ow" by the London Dance Orchestra
    "Margie"/"Singin' the Blues"/"Palesteena", 1920, Victor 18717
    "Broadway Rose"/"Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad)"/"Strut, Miss Lizzie", 1920, Victor 18722

Saint Louis Blues (1921)
Duration: 3 minutes and 11 seconds.3:11
The Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1921 recording of "Saint Louis Blues".
Jazz Me Blues (1921)
Duration: 2 minutes and 59 seconds.2:59
The Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1921 recording of "Jazz Me Blues".
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1921–1923

    "Home Again Blues"/"Crazy Blues"/"It's Right Here For You (If You Don't Get It, Tain't No Fault O' Mine)", 1921, Victor 18729
    "Tell Me/Mammy o' Mine", 1921, recorded in the UK and released as Columbia 804
    "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"/"My Baby's Arms", 1921, Columbia 805
    "I've Lost My Heart in Dixieland"/"I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now", 1921, Columbia 815
    "Sphinx/Alice Blue Gown", 1921, Columbia 824
    "Jazz Me Blues/St. Louis Blues", 1921, Victor 18772
    "Royal Garden Blues"/"Dangerous Blues", 1921, Victor 18798
    "Bow Wow Blues (My Mama Treats Me Like a Dog)", 1922, Victor 18850. The B side was "Railroad Blues" by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago under pianist and composer Roy Bargy
    "Toddlin' Blues"/"Some of These Days", 1923, Okeh 4738

1935–1938
Original Dixieland Jazz Band (led by Tony Sbarbaro)

    "I'm Sittin' High on a Hilltop" (vocal by Terry Shand)/"I Live for Love" (vocal by Russ Morgan) 1935, Vocalion 3084
    "You Stayed Away Too Long/Slipping Through My Fingers", 1935, Vocalion 3099

Nick LaRocca and the Original Dixieland Band

(LaRocca, Shields, Robinson, and Sbarbaro with orchestra)

    "Tiger Rag"/"Bluin' the Blues", 1936, Victor 25403
    "Clarinet Marmalade", 1936, Victor 25411-B, issued as a B-side opposite Benny Goodman's record "St. Louis Blues"
    "Who Loves You?"/"Did You Mean It?", 1936, Victor 25420, vocals by Chris Fletcher
    "Ostrich Walk"/"Toddlin' Blues", 1936, Victor 25460
    "Fidgety Feet", 1936, Victor 25668-B. Unreleased until 1937, when it was issued as a B-side opposite Ray Noble's record "Vieni, Vieni"
    "Old Joe Blade", 1936, Victor 26039-B, vocal by J. Russel Robinson. Unreleased until 1938, when it was issued as a B-side opposite Lionel Hampton's record "Any Time at All".

The Original Dixieland Five

(reunion of the 1919 quintet: LaRocca, Shields, Edwards, Robinson, and Sbarbaro)

    "Original Dixieland One-Step/Barnyard Blues" (new version of "Livery Stable Blues"), 1936, Victor 25502
    "Tiger Rag"/"Skeleton Jangle", 1936, Victor 25524
    "Clarinet Marmalade"/"Bluin' the Blues", 1936, Victor 25525

Original Dixieland Jazz Band with Shields, Edwards, and Sbarbaro; vocals by Lola Bard

    "oooOO-Oh! Boom!"/"Please Be Kind", 1938, Bluebird B-7442
    "Good-Night, Sweet Dreams, Good-Night"/"In My Little Red Book", 1938, Bluebird B-7444
    "Drop a Nickel in the Slot"/"Jezebel", 1938, Bluebird B-7454

Later recordings

    "Tiger Rag" (1943 version), 1944, V-Disc 214B1, issued June, 1944, with Eddie Edwards and Tony Sbarbaro
    "Sensation" (1943 version), 1944, V-Disc 214B2, with Eddie Edwards and Tony Sbarbaro
    "Shake It and Break It"/"When You and I Were Young, Maggie", 1946, Commodore C-613


Soundtracks

The soundtrack album to the 2011 Boardwalk Empire series on HBO includes performances of three songs recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band: "Livery Stable Blues", "Mournin' Blues", and "Margie", performed by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks Orchestra.[29] The soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 54th Grammy Awards.[30]
Honors

In 1977, the ODJB classic "Singin' the Blues", co-written by ODJB pianist J. Russel Robinson, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in a landmark 1927 recording by Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke on cornet and Eddie Lang on guitar, as Okeh 40772-B, recorded on February 4, 1927.

On April 3, 1992, the City Council of New Orleans issued a proclamation honoring the members of the band. In 2003, the 1918 ODJB recording of "Tiger Rag" was placed on the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry. In 2006, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's recording of "Darktown Strutters' Ball", released in 1917 as Columbia single A2297, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Original Dixieland Jazz Band: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards[31]
Year Recorded     Title     Genre     Label     Year Inducted     Notes
1917     "Darktown Strutters' Ball"     Jazz (single)     Columbia     2006