First Jazz Record Cut: The Original Dixieland Jass Band
The first jazz record wasn't made by a Black band. It was five white guys from New Orleans who couldn't even spell the genre right — they called it "jass." The Original Dixieland Jass Band walked into Victor's New York studio on February 26, 1917, and cut "Livery Stable Blues." It sold a million copies. Meanwhile, the Black musicians who actually invented jazz — Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver — couldn't get recording contracts. Some never recorded at all. So the sound that defined American music entered history through the wrong door, and we've been arguing about credit ever since.
February 26, 1917
109 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on February 26
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