- Key People:
- Henry Allen
- Spike Jones
- Related Topics:
- jazz
- Chicago style
- New Orleans style
Dixieland
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What is Dixieland music?
Dixieland is a style of jazz that is often associated with the jazz pioneers in New Orleans, but is also descriptive of styles that were refined by Chicago-area musicians a little later. It can also refer to the traditional jazz that underwent a revival in the 1940s and has continued to be played into the 21st century.
New Orleans was a hub for early jazz activity at the start of the 20th century, and many seminal figures of early jazz were active there. It is probable that both Black and white musicians played what came to be known as Dixieland jazz. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, formed in 1916, was a highly influential group that borrowed from the marching band tradition in using the trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, and trombone as front-line instruments.
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Where and when did Dixieland music begin?
Dixieland jazz emerged in New Orleans around the start of the 20th century. It's likely that both Black and white musicians contributed to its development. New Orleans' unique urban culture, especially in Storyville, fostered this new musical style in brothels, taverns, and gambling halls. While white bands leaned towards ragtime and European music, Black bands incorporated their 19th-century ethnic heritage. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, an influential group, made the first jazz record in 1917, "Livery Stable Blues". After Storyville closed during World War I, many New Orleans musicians moved to Chicago, where Dixieland flourished.
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What instruments are typically used in Dixieland bands?
Dixieland jazz, which can be traced to the early 20th century in New Orleans, is typically played by a small band featuring ensemble and solo improvisation. A standard Dixieland band often includes cornet (or trumpet), clarinet, and trombone as front-line instruments, backed by a rhythm section. The rhythm section usually consists of tuba or bass, piano, banjo, and drums. The saxophone did not become common in jazz for about another decade.
Each instrument has a defined role. The cornet states the melody, the clarinet plays a descant, and the trombone offers counterpoint. The rhythm instruments provide a harmonic foundation.
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How is Dixieland music different from other types of jazz?
Dixieland is a style of jazz traced back to the early 20th century in New Orleans, and it is often associated with the traditional jazz that saw a resurgence in the 1940s.
Dixieland differs from other jazz styles in a few key ways:
* Instrumentation Dixieland often uses trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, and trombone as front-line instruments, a tradition borrowed from marching bands.
* Improvisation While both ensemble and solo improvisation are key features, Dixieland is especially known for group improvisation, where all ensemble members freely embellish the melody.
* Rhythm New Orleans-style Dixieland has a strong marching band influence with a square rhythm and ensemble focus. Chicago-style Dixieland, however, incorporates more blues trademarks, emphasizing the offbeats.
* Focus Chicago-style Dixieland places greater emphasis on individual solos, with a less relaxed feel compared to the New Orleans style.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who are some famous musicians or bands known for Dixieland music?
Dixieland is a style of jazz often associated with New Orleans and early Chicago jazz musicians.
Some famous musicians and bands known for Dixieland music include:
- Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) ODJB, formed in 1916, made the first jazz record, "Livery Stable Blues," in 1917, which was also the first million-selling recording in history.
- King Oliver. Oliver made what are considered to be the first authentic New Orleans-style jazz recordings with his Creole Jazz Band in 1923.
- Louis Armstrong. Armstrong played second cornet in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. He would emerge as jazz’s first great soloist and influence many white Chicago-area musicians.
- Jelly Roll Morton. Morton was an important innovator in the transition from early jazz to orchestral jazz.
- Sidney Bechet. Along with Louis Armstrong, Bechet was one of the first musicians to improvise with jazz-swing feeling.
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How has Dixieland music influenced modern music?
Dixieland, a style of jazz that emerged in the early 20th century in New Orleans, has had a lasting influence on modern music. While its popularity declined in the 1930s, a revival in the 1940s kept the style alive.
Dixieland's influence can be seen in the development of the Chicago style of jazz, which emphasized individual solos and improvisation. The emphasis on improvisation and individual expression, which can be traced back to Dixieland, continues to be a fundamental aspect of various genres, such as blues and rock.
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Dixieland, in music, a style of jazz, often ascribed to jazz pioneers in New Orleans, but also descriptive of styles honed by slightly later Chicago-area musicians. The term also refers to the traditional jazz that underwent a popular revival during the 1940s and that continued to be played into the 21st century. See also Chicago style, New Orleans style.
New Orleans was not the only city where early jazz took root at the turn of the 20th century, but it was the centre of that musical activity, and most of the seminal figures of early jazz, Black and white, were active there. It is likely that both Blacks and whites played the music that came to be known as Dixieland jazz.
New Orleans during the late 19th century was, in effect, two cities: Downtown was home to most whites and Creoles, and Uptown was home to freed Black slaves. The strictness of the city’s segregation was evidenced in 1897 with the establishment of Storyville (known as “the district” to locals), a 38-square-block area, designed to isolate such activities as prostitution and gambling, that was split by Canal Street into Black and white areas. Virtually every brothel, tavern, and gambling hall in Storyville employed musicians. The unique urban culture of New Orleans provided a receptive environment for a distinctive new style of music.
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The scant available evidence (mostly anecdotal) suggests that the Black and white musicians of New Orleans shared many common influences, although it would appear that white bands tended to draw on ragtime and European music, whereas Black bands also built on their 19th-century ethnic heritage. This distinction is illustrated in the styles of the city’s two most popular musicians, “Papa” Jack Laine and Buddy Bolden. Laine, a drummer who led bands in New Orleans from 1891, is often referred to as the father of white jazz. Specializing first in French and German marching music, his band by 1910 had converted almost entirely to ragtime. Nick La Rocca, one of the many musicians who apprenticed with Laine, incorporated the sound, and much of the repertoire, of Laine’s band when forming the Original Dixieland Jazz (originally “Jass”) Band (ODJB) in 1916. A highly influential group, the ODJB also borrowed from the marching band tradition in employing the trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, and trombone as front-line instruments. The following year, the ODJB cut what is regarded as the first jazz record, “Livery Stable Blues,” which also became the first million-selling recording in history. This and subsequent ODJB recordings, such as “Tiger Rag,” “Dixie Jazz Band One Step,” and “At the Jazz Band Ball,” reflected the “white style” of playing: technically proficient but less experimental than Black styles.
The approach that was more characteristic of Black bands could be heard in the music of Buddy Bolden, known as “the King” to Uptown residents. A flamboyant, tragic figure with a prodigious appetite for women and whiskey, Bolden has been credited as the first jazz cornet player. His bold style showed blues influences as early as the 1890s in his use of “bent” notes and an overtly emotional style. He is also credited with establishing the tradition of group improvisation, as well as being the primary influence on the young Louis Armstrong. Bolden, like other very early jazz figures, was never recorded. Yet traces of his style could probably be heard in the playing of such pioneering figures as Bunk Johnson and Sidney Bechet.
With the closing of Storyville during World War I, many New Orleans musicians who had relied on the district for employment moved elsewhere, many of them to Chicago, which became the next major urban centre of jazz. The form called Dixieland actually flourished and had its greatest success in Chicago. There were two important differences, however, in the cities’ styles. New Orleans music had continued to show the heavy influence of marching bands in its square rhythm and in its ensemble focus. The Chicago style incorporated more blues trademarks: the music emphasized the second and fourth beats (the offbeats) in each measure, and the soloist came to the fore.
King Oliver, who moved from New Orleans to Chicago in 1918, made what are considered to be the first authentic New Orleans-style jazz recordings with his Creole Jazz Band in 1923. Featuring the young Louis Armstrong on second cornet, the band exemplified the group improvisation approach to early jazz, in which all members of the ensemble were free to embellish the melody. Particularly effective, and of great interest to jazz historians, are the cornet duets in which Armstrong played harmony to Oliver’s lead; their recording of “Dippermouth Blues” is a much-heralded example. Within a few years, Armstrong would emerge as jazz’s first great soloist and would influence many white Chicago-area musicians in this regard. The white players of the “Chicago school”—Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher, and Bix Beiderbecke—were the leading practitioners of solo improvisation, the trait that most distinguishes Chicago jazz from New Orleans jazz.
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In the 1930s the big bands overshadowed Dixieland, but by the early 1940s older styles were returning to fashion. The popular recordings (beginning in 1942) of Chicago-based Dixieland bands led by Bunk Johnson are often cited as the catalyst for the revival of traditional jazz. Older Black players, such as Johnson, trombonist Kid Ory, and clarinetist George Lewis, figured prominently in the revival; younger Black musicians avoided associating themselves with the past.
In the years since, much of the music of the traditional revival of the 1940s—particularly that of Wilbur de Paris, Turk Murphy, Lu Watters, Art Hodes, and Chris Barber—has proven to be of great lasting value. Dixieland continued to be essential to the musical life of New Orleans, particularly during Mardi Gras time, and its traditions were carried on in later years by such popular New Orleans natives as clarinetist Pete Fountain and trumpeter Al Hirt.