Original Dixieland Jazz Band - Complete Original Dixieland Jazz Band (CD)

All Music Guide

This double-CD has all of the Victor recordings of the first jazz group to record, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The five-piece New Orleans band, which essentially stuck exclusively to ensembles, set the standard for 1917-21 jazz. Their "Livery Stable Blues" (which found the horns imitating barnyard animals) was a big hit, and The ODJB introduced such future Dixieland standards as "Original Dixieland One-Step," "At the Jazz Band Ball," "Fidgety Feet," "Sensation," "Clarinet Marmalade," "Jazz Me Blues," "Royal Garden Blues," and "Tiger Rag." The 23 numbers from 1917-21 (which are rounded out by the humorous "Bow Wow Blues (My Mama Treats Me like a Dog)") were reissued on a single CD by Bluebird, but this two-fer also has The ODJB's "comeback" recordings of 1936; six titles by the original five members, plus eight very rare titles which find The ODJB forming the nucleus of a musical, if not too distinctive, big band. Important historical music.

- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide