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Nick LaRocca the leader of the white “Original Dixieland Jazz Band” claimed that he and his band had created jazz. In his interviews with the Hogan Jazz Archive he told of how he sang countermelodies as a child to “The Holy City” (1892). “The Holy City” is paraphrased in Joe “King” Oliver’s “Chimes Blues” and “Canal Street Blues.” He also spoke of singing with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band they sang songs such as “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” and “Some of these Days.” These were African American songs that they found more suitable for group singing. This chapter discusses the relationship between pentatonic melody and barbershop harmonisation. It also considers Papa Jack Laine’s recollections on the repertoire of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. This chapter concludes that the white bands also applied similar barbershop principles to their playing.

On 2 April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter the European war, and Congress voted to do so on Friday, 6 April. On the 15th of that month, Victor released the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s record of “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixieland Jass Band One-Step”; it caused an immediate nationwide sensation. James Reese Europe travelled to Puerto Rico in search of woodwind players for the Fifteenth New York Regiment Band, and the Creole Band ended its vaudeville career when it missed the train to Portland, Maine. German musicians in the United States came under increased scrutiny in the weeks after the declaration of war, as the country prepared to adopt new laws and regulations for wartime.

The chapter “In Memory: Uncle Lionel Batiste,” traces the life of popular New Orleans musician and cultural activist Uncle Lionel Batiste (born Feb. 11, 1932) in the context of his family, community, music, baby dolls, Dirty Dozen Kazoo Band, Mardi Gras, second line parades, Spiritual churches and ancestry. The experience and enrichment of African American music and cultural traditions, expressions and lifestyles are presented in relationship to social and economic oppression and the Civil War, Reconstruction and the movement for equality, equity and justice. The author challenges the monophonic and repeated reckoning that the practice of Black women masking as Baby Dolls was originated solely by a group of prostitutes from Black Storyville in 1912. The work attempts to define the ambiguous term “baby doll” in historical, social, cultural and political context and traces “baby doll” inclusions in popular music and theater. Uncle Lionel’s mother Alma Batiste started the Batiste baby dolls and was active in community organizing and rose to the position of Reverend Mother Alma Batiste in the Spiritual church. The beginnings of the Dirty Dozen Kazoo Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band along with research into the origination of the second line parade tradition as it relates to Uncle Lionel, his family and neighborhood is advanced. It concludes with Benny Jones and the Treme Brass Band whom Uncle Lionel performed with the last two decades of his life (death July 8, 2012).

69,937 Italians, mostly from Sicily, arrived in New Orleans between 1898 and 1929. A culture of close families, loyal to the Church and one another, gave birth to a Sicilian ghetto in the Vieux Caré backstreets. Public opinion turned against Sicilians after police chief David C. Hennessy’s assassination in 1890. Joe Macheca and members of the Provenzano and Matranga clans were arrested but acquitted. In retaliation, a mob stormed the prison where the defendants were held and killed 11 people, including Macheca. Prostitution was rampant in late 19^th-century New Orleans. In 1897, patrician alderman Sydney Story passed an ordinance that confined prostitution to a 16-square block area in lower Tremé. The “District”, also known as “Storyville”, flourished into a vibrant community where men and women of all classes, races, and ethnicities mingled intimately, casually, and continuously. Black musicians like Jelly Roll Morton and Joe Oliver gained venues in the bordellos. Jazz musicians began to leave New Orleans in the early 20^th century, making successful careers for themselves across America. Among these were Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Jazz entered the vocabulary of America, and, despite disdain from some, jazz became popular with the elite.

Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917 created a domino effect in the musical world, as Walter Damrosch and other conductors rushed to assert their patriotism by adding “The Star-Spangled Banner” to their concerts. Debates about German music revolved around issues of internationalism in classical music. The management of the Metropolitan Opera gave assurances that its German singers and European repertoire would not be impacted by future political events. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the most beloved German singer in America, suffered potentially career-ending injuries in an automobile accident. Responding to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s sensational popularity, the Victor Talking Machine Company recorded two numbers by the band on 26 February for later release in the spring.

The Carnegie Hall further established its position as a venue for popular music performance following Goodman’s concert, as evidenced by the subsequent performances of W. C. Handy, Paul Whiteman, and a recital by Ethel Waters. There have been various re-creations of the Carnegie Hall concert which contributed to its distribution beyond the limits of the audience members present at the event. A concert tour was held at the Symphony Hall in Boston where the audience reaction was indicative of its success, much like the one at Carnegie Hall. The program for the Boston concert revealed some changes in the repertoire, and members of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band were guests on this broadcast. Re-creating “Twenty Years of Jazz” was an appropriate way of capturing and preserving the Carnegie Hall concert. Another notable re-creation of the concert was presented as part of the film The Benny Goodman Story.

This chapter initially looks at the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB), which is widely recognized for creating the first jazz recordings. ODJB’s “Sensation Rag” was also performed at Carnegie Hall, involving improvised variations and drumming styles that were arguably better presented as a live performance than in a recording studio. The chapter then examines the other concert pieces that were originally recorded by various artists, and how Goodman incorporated his own style into them, together with corresponding photos of the band’s rehearsals at Carnegie Hall. This evidence affirms that musicians were certainly used to producing different versions of the same musical piece, altering them in accordance with one’s preferred technique.

In fall 1917, military rhetoric entered many realms of American life, including music. Orchestras and concert series publicized tentative programs for the coming season as new European works became difficult to obtain; some American commentators called for works by American composers as a stopgap measure. The warrantless search of Karl Muck’s home in Seal Harbor, Maine, by naval investigators caused anxiety among the musical residents of the summer colony. Schumann-Heink continued to perform frequently after recovering from her accident of the previous winter. The Fifteenth Regiment Band performed daily shows while on guard duty at Camp Dix in New Jersey.

In a 2 December article entitled “Rising Tide of Sentiment against German Music,” critic W. J. Henderson detailed the ways that musical attitudes in the United States had been altered in recent months. Fritz Kreisler and Karl Muck were restricted in their performances, while Schumann-Heink took a temporary break from public concerts. Walter Damrosch and Leopold Stokowski took pains to emphasize their loyalty, but Damrosch’s new arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was criticized for being too ornate. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the Original Creole Band continued to ride the wave of jazz popularity. After further delays, the Fifteenth New York National Guard Regiment finally crossed the Atlantic Ocean and prepared to join the war in France.

Within weeks of the release of the ODJB’s “Livery Stable Blues” on 15 April, jazz became a household word across the United States. The frantic, unbridled sound of the new music seemed to suit the spirit of the times ideally. In the midst of a copyright dispute with Victor, the ODJB recorded for Columbia. Walter Damrosch’s New York Symphony Orchestra toured from coast to coast, and Karl Muck brought the Boston Symphony Orchestra season to an end amid rumors of his loyalty to Germany. New restrictions on enemy aliens threatened to impact musical performers and presenters. James Reese Europe gathered woodwind players on a whirlwind trip to Puerto Rico, then took his Fifteenth Infantry Regiment Band to train and rehearse at Peekskill, New York.

The first selective service registration on 5 June forced Schumann-Heink’s sons, the members of the ODJB, and millions of other American men between twenty-one and thirty to register for the draft. George M. Cohan’s song “Over There” was introduced to the public by singer Nora Bayes. James Reese Europe played a concert before seven thousand on 22 June but underwent thyroid surgery days later. The ODJB took a two-week vacation, during which Dunbar’s Tennessee Ten took their place on the Reisenweber’s bandstand. The board of the Oratorio Society of New York replaced popular conductor Louis Koemmenich with Walter Damrosch against the wishes of the membership.