Nick LaRocca

The founder and leader of the initial Dixieland Jazz Music group, Nick LaRocca did very much to greatly help popularize jazz through the band’s existence, although he harm his own cause years afterwards by claiming to have already been among jazz’s primary originators. LaRocca, who acquired a good build but had not been a significant improviser, was self-taught. He co-led a children music group with violinist Henry Youthful in 1905, freelanced (with Dominic Barocca, Costs Gallity as well as the Brunies Brothers, amongst others), and sometimes headed his personal group. During 1912-1916, LaRocca regularly used Papa Jack port Laine’s Reliance Music group. He caused drummer Johnny Stein in 1915 and remaining New Orleans to become listed on Stein in Chicago on March 1, 1916. Significantly less than three months later on, he broke aside and shaped the ODJB, which quickly included trombonist Eddie Edwards, clarinetist Larry Shields, pianist Henry Ragas (changed by J. Russell Robinson after his loss of life in 1919), and drummer Tony Sparbaro (later on generally known as Tony Spargo). The music group became very popular in Chicago and caused a feeling in NY in 1917 if they opened up at Reisenweber’s. They truly became the very first jazz music group to ever record and, although their design seems extremely primitive today (playing all ensembles without solos, and a lot of repetition from chorus to chorus with LaRocca generally sticking with the melody), these were light years before every one of the various other bands that acquired previously documented. Their “Livery Steady Blues” (which discovered the horn players emulating barnyard pets) was a significant hit, lots of the band’s music (including “Primary Dixieland One Stage,” “On the Jazz Band Ball,” “Clarinet Marmalade,” “Jazz Me Blues,” “Fidgety Feet,” and “Tiger Rag”) became hallmarks, and their stop by at London during 1919-1920 helped present jazz to European countries, causing another feeling overseas. Personality issues and the speedy progression of jazz produced the initial Dixieland Jazz Music group fairly unimportant by 1923, and in January 1925, when LaRocca experienced a nervous break down, the group split up. LaRocca came back to New Orleans and got a day work beyond music (owning a contracting business). Restored fascination with the group in 1936 discovered him re-forming the ODJB. LaRoca documented six remakes using the music group that year and in addition made nine game titles having a 14-piece big music group which includes Shields, Robinson ,and Sbarbaro. Nevertheless the “return” soon finished and in Feb 1938, LaRocca retired from music completely. While various other bandmembers sometimes came back to playing (and Tony Spargo didn’t retire), Nick LaRocca never really had any wish to play music once again. His tone of voice was documented in 1959 presenting the musicians on the Southland LP offering Sharkey Bonano as well as other New Orleans players; it had been released by “Nick LaRocca & His Dixieland Jazz Band,” but he didn’t play an email.