Nick LaRocca
Encyclopedia
Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca (April 11, 1889 – February 22, 1961), was an early jazz
cornet
ist and trumpet
er and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band
. He is the composer of one of the most recorded jazz classics of all-time, "Tiger Rag
". He was part of what is generally regarded as the first recorded jazz band, a band which recorded and released the first jazz recording, "Livery Stable Blues
" in 1917.
, the son of poor Sicilian
immigrants. His father was Girolamo LaRocca of Salaparuta
, Sicily
and his mother was Vita De Nina of Poggioreale
, Sicily
. Young Nick was attracted to the music of the brass bands in New Orleans and covertly taught himself to play cornet
against the wishes of his father who hoped his son would go into a more prestigious profession. LaRocca at first worked as an electrician, playing music on the side.
From around 1910 through 1916 he was a regular member of Papa Jack Laine
's bands. While not considered as one of the most virtuosic or creative of the Laine players, he was well regarded for playing a solid lead with a strong lip which allowed him to play long parades without let up or to play several gigs in a row on the same day.
In 1916 he was chosen as a last-minute replacement for Frank Christian in Johnny Stein
's band to play a job up in Chicago, Illinois. This band became the famous Original Dixieland Jass Band
, making the first commercially issued jazz recordings in New York City
in 1917. These recordings were hits and made the band into celebrities.
Soon other New Orleans musicians began following the O.D.J.B.'s path, arriving in New York to play jazz. LaRocca was uneasy about competition. Frank Christian recalled that LaRocca offered him $200 and a return railway ticket to go back home. After a band featuring New Orleans musicians Alcide Nunez
, Tom Brown
, and Ragbaby Stevens
won a battle of the bands against the O.D.J.B., drummer Ragbaby found his drum heads all mysteriously slashed.
The band gave LaRocca the nickname "Joe Blade", and published a song called "Joe Blade, Sharp as a Tack".
LaRocca led this band on tours of England and the United States into the early 1920s, when he suffered a nervous breakdown. He returned to New Orleans and retired from music, going into the construction and contracting business. His chair in the band was taken by Henry Levine, a teenaged trumpeter devoted to traditional jazz stylings. Levine later led one of the house bands on NBC
's radio series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
.
In 1936 Nick LaRocca reunited the O.D.J.B. for a successful tour and more recordings. LaRocca proclaimed that he and his band were the inventors of the now nationally popular swing music. Personality conflicts broke up the band again the following year, and LaRocca again retired from music. He died in New Orleans in 1961.
of Music", and "The most lied about person in history since Jesus Christ
". Jazz historians used this largely as a pretext to attack and dismiss him and his contributions to jazz.
When Tulane University
established their Archive of New Orleans Jazz in 1958, LaRocca donated his large collection of papers related to the O.D.J.B. to Tulane, after adding numerous glosses in the margins.
At the same time, he worked with writer H.O. Brunn on the book The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. In the book LaRocca claimed that he founded the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1908. The book is dismissive of the other members of the O.D.J.B. It is perhaps kindest to clarinetist Larry Shields
.
Those musicologists and historians who seek to accurately assess LaRocca's contributions to jazz are as much hindered as helped by LaRocca's own exaggerated statements. A small few, mostly in England, have taken LaRocca on his word, while a much larger segment of jazz historians have dismissed his biased and self-serving statements. LaRocca may have inadvertently done much damage to his own reputation. Nevertheless, musicologists and jazz historians can rely on the historical record and the evidence and do not have to go on self-serving statements.
A balanced assessment would have to acknowledge that Nick LaRocca was an important figure in taking jazz from a regional style to international popularity, the leader of the most influential jazz band of the period from 1917 to 1921, and a good player in a very early jazz style on records such as "Clarinet Marmalade". LaRocca's playing and recordings were an important early influence on such later jazz trumpeters as Red Nichols
, Bix Beiderbecke
and Phil Napoleon
. Nick LaRocca's 1917 composition "Tiger Rag
" was covered by Louis Armstrong
in several different versions throughout his career, while Duke Ellington
, Art Tatum
, and The Mills Brothers also recorded important and influential cover versions of the jazz standard. Additional information about Nick LaRocca and his biographer can be found in Salvatore Mugno's novel: "Il biografo di Nick LaRocca. Come entrare nelle storie del jazz", Besa Editrice, Nardò (Lecce), Italia, 2005.
" is one of the most important and influential jazz standards of the twentieth century. There were 136 cover versions of LaRocaa's copyrighted composition "Tiger Rag
" by 1942 alone.
Among the artists who have recorded "Tiger Rag" are Louis Armstrong
, Charlie Parker
, Benny Goodman
, Frank Sinatra
, Duke Ellington
, Kid Ory
and his Creole Jazz Orchestra, Bix Beiderbecke
, Les Paul
, Art Tatum
, The Mills Brothers in a no. 1 pop version, and Bob Crosby
.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band is now regarded as one of the seminal groups in the formation and development of modern jazz. The ODJB compositions have been covered by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Joe Jackson. The influence and enduring impact of the ODJB in the history and development of modern jazz are undeniable.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
ist and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band
Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band were a New Orleans, Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz single ever issued. The group composed and made the first recordings of many jazz standards, the most famous being Tiger Rag...
. He is the composer of one of the most recorded jazz classics of all-time, "Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
". He was part of what is generally regarded as the first recorded jazz band, a band which recorded and released the first jazz recording, "Livery Stable Blues
Livery Stable Blues
"Livery Stable Blues" is a 1917 jazz composition copyrighted by Ray Lopez and Alcide Nunez. It was famously recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band on 26 February 1917 and, with the flip side "Dixie Jass Band One-Step" , became the first jazz recording ever released...
" in 1917.
Background
Nick LaRocca was born in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, the son of poor Sicilian
Sicilian
Sicily is an autonomous Italian island. The adjectival form Sicilian can also refer to:* Sicilian language* Sicilian Baroque, baroque architecture in 17th & 18th centuries on Sicily...
immigrants. His father was Girolamo LaRocca of Salaparuta
Salaparuta
Salaparuta is a town and comune in South-Western Sicily, Italy, in the valley of the Belice river, administratively part of the province of Trapani. It had 1,781 inhabitants as of 2007....
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and his mother was Vita De Nina of Poggioreale
Poggioreale
Poggioreale is a small town and comune in Sicily, Italy, set on the Belice valley, which administratively belongs to the province of Trapani....
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. Young Nick was attracted to the music of the brass bands in New Orleans and covertly taught himself to play cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
against the wishes of his father who hoped his son would go into a more prestigious profession. LaRocca at first worked as an electrician, playing music on the side.
From around 1910 through 1916 he was a regular member of Papa Jack Laine
Papa Jack Laine
George Vital "Papa Jack" Laine was a pioneering band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish-American War to World War I....
's bands. While not considered as one of the most virtuosic or creative of the Laine players, he was well regarded for playing a solid lead with a strong lip which allowed him to play long parades without let up or to play several gigs in a row on the same day.
In 1916 he was chosen as a last-minute replacement for Frank Christian in Johnny Stein
Johnny Stein
John Philip Hountha "Johnny" Stein was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.Stein's surnames are the subject of much confusion; his mother's name was Stein from a previous marriage, and although he was apparently given the last name Hountha, he used Stein professionally...
's band to play a job up in Chicago, Illinois. This band became the famous Original Dixieland Jass Band
Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band were a New Orleans, Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz single ever issued. The group composed and made the first recordings of many jazz standards, the most famous being Tiger Rag...
, making the first commercially issued jazz recordings in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1917. These recordings were hits and made the band into celebrities.
Soon other New Orleans musicians began following the O.D.J.B.'s path, arriving in New York to play jazz. LaRocca was uneasy about competition. Frank Christian recalled that LaRocca offered him $200 and a return railway ticket to go back home. After a band featuring New Orleans musicians Alcide Nunez
Alcide Nunez
Alcide Patrick Nunez was an early United States jazz clarinetist. Also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, he was born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana of an Isleño family and moved to New Orleans in his childhood.He initially played guitar, then switched to clarinet about 1902...
, Tom Brown
Tom Brown (trombonist)
Tom Brown , sometimes known by the nickname Red Brown, was an early New Orleans dixieland jazz trombonist. He also played string bass professionally....
, and Ragbaby Stevens
Ragbaby Stevens
Joe Stephens, generally known as "Ragbaby" or "Rag Baby Stephens", was an early New Orleans dixieland and jazz drummer....
won a battle of the bands against the O.D.J.B., drummer Ragbaby found his drum heads all mysteriously slashed.
The band gave LaRocca the nickname "Joe Blade", and published a song called "Joe Blade, Sharp as a Tack".
LaRocca led this band on tours of England and the United States into the early 1920s, when he suffered a nervous breakdown. He returned to New Orleans and retired from music, going into the construction and contracting business. His chair in the band was taken by Henry Levine, a teenaged trumpeter devoted to traditional jazz stylings. Levine later led one of the house bands on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's radio series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a musical variety radio program which began on the Blue Network in 1940. The magazine Radio Life described it as "one of radio's strangest offsprings... a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony."It was a weekly...
.
In 1936 Nick LaRocca reunited the O.D.J.B. for a successful tour and more recordings. LaRocca proclaimed that he and his band were the inventors of the now nationally popular swing music. Personality conflicts broke up the band again the following year, and LaRocca again retired from music. He died in New Orleans in 1961.
Later life and controversy
In the 1950s he wrote numerous vehement letters to newspapers, radio, and television shows, stating that he was the true and sole inventor of jazz music, damaging his credibility and provoking a backlash against him and his reputation and career. He made obviously exaggerated claims that he was "The Creator of Jazz", "The Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
of Music", and "The most lied about person in history since Jesus Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
". Jazz historians used this largely as a pretext to attack and dismiss him and his contributions to jazz.
When Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
established their Archive of New Orleans Jazz in 1958, LaRocca donated his large collection of papers related to the O.D.J.B. to Tulane, after adding numerous glosses in the margins.
At the same time, he worked with writer H.O. Brunn on the book The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. In the book LaRocca claimed that he founded the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1908. The book is dismissive of the other members of the O.D.J.B. It is perhaps kindest to clarinetist Larry Shields
Larry Shields
Lawrence James "Larry" Shields was an early American dixieland jazz clarinetist.Shields was born into an Irish-American family in Uptown New Orleans, on the same block where jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden lived...
.
Those musicologists and historians who seek to accurately assess LaRocca's contributions to jazz are as much hindered as helped by LaRocca's own exaggerated statements. A small few, mostly in England, have taken LaRocca on his word, while a much larger segment of jazz historians have dismissed his biased and self-serving statements. LaRocca may have inadvertently done much damage to his own reputation. Nevertheless, musicologists and jazz historians can rely on the historical record and the evidence and do not have to go on self-serving statements.
A balanced assessment would have to acknowledge that Nick LaRocca was an important figure in taking jazz from a regional style to international popularity, the leader of the most influential jazz band of the period from 1917 to 1921, and a good player in a very early jazz style on records such as "Clarinet Marmalade". LaRocca's playing and recordings were an important early influence on such later jazz trumpeters as Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
, Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
and Phil Napoleon
Phil Napoleon
Phil Napoleon , born Filippo Napoli, was an early jazz trumpeter and bandleader born in Boston, Massachusetts...
. Nick LaRocca's 1917 composition "Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
" was covered by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
in several different versions throughout his career, while Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, and The Mills Brothers also recorded important and influential cover versions of the jazz standard. Additional information about Nick LaRocca and his biographer can be found in Salvatore Mugno's novel: "Il biografo di Nick LaRocca. Come entrare nelle storie del jazz", Besa Editrice, Nardò (Lecce), Italia, 2005.
Legacy
Nick LaRocca's 1917 composition "Tiger RagTiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
" is one of the most important and influential jazz standards of the twentieth century. There were 136 cover versions of LaRocaa's copyrighted composition "Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
" by 1942 alone.
Among the artists who have recorded "Tiger Rag" are Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Kid Ory
Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.-Biography:...
and his Creole Jazz Orchestra, Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
, Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, The Mills Brothers in a no. 1 pop version, and Bob Crosby
Bob Crosby
George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...
.
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band is now regarded as one of the seminal groups in the formation and development of modern jazz. The ODJB compositions have been covered by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Joe Jackson. The influence and enduring impact of the ODJB in the history and development of modern jazz are undeniable.
Sources
- The ODJB on RedHotJazz Contains .ram files of their vintage recordings.
- Jimmy LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band
- Stewart, Jack. "The Original Dixieland Jazz Band's Place in the Development of Jazz." New Orleans International Music Colloquium, 2005.
- Lange, Horst H. Wie der Jazz begann: 1916-1923, von der "Original Dixieland Jazz Band" bis zu King Olivers "Creole Jazz Band". Berlin: Colloquium Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3-7678-0779-3
- Brunn, H.O. The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1960. Reprinted by Da Capo PressDa Capo PressDa Capo Press, is an American publishing company with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers. it had additional offices in offices in New York City, Philadelphia and Emeryville, California...
, 1977. ISBN 0-306-70892-2 - Mugno, Salvatore. Il biografo di Nick LaRocca. Come entrare nelle storie del jazz. Lecce, Italy: Besa Editrice, Nardò, 2005.