Original Dixieland Jazz Band - I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now (1920)
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Original Dixieland Jazz Band plays Irving Berlin's "I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now" on England's Columbia 815.
Recorded in London on January 8, 1920.
The five ODJB records issued by Victor in 1918 and early 1919 sold well. Sales would have been greater had not wartime shortages limited the production of records at this time.
All ten titles issued from the 1918 sessions were original compositions. Most became jazz standards. Whereas composer credits on the Victor disc in 1917 were given to the ensemble as a collaborative unit (though LaRocca alone was given credit for "Barnyard Blues" on Aeolian Vocalion 1205), individuals were assigned credit in 1918, LaRocca and Shields taking the lion's share.
The two share credit for "At the Jazz Band Ball," "Ostrich Walk," and "Fidgety Feet." Shields and Ragas share credit for "Clarinet Marmalade." LaRocca is credited for "Skeleton Jangle" and "Tiger Rag." LaRocca, Shields, and Ragas are credited for "Lazy Daddy." Other members are credited for remaining numbers: Edwards for "Sensation," Ragas for "Bluin' the Blues," and Sbarbaro for "Mourin' Blues."
Turns may have been taken when some composer credits had been assigned. In a letter dated October 11, 1952, Edwards reminded Shields, who lived at 6075 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, of the unusual manner in which composer credit had been assigned in 1918: "If memory serves, you will recall that the names of the numbers were decided at a rehearsal in the 400 Club Room, Reisenweber's, by drawing out of a hat but neither Spargo's [Sbarbaro] nor my name had been drawn. Nick said (as he was in charge of the drawing) that my name should go on Sensation and the one other number that had been forgotten, Mournin [sic] Blues, I suggested that Spargo's name appear on it."
Edwards must have earned far more in royalities for "Sensation Rag," covered often by jazz bands (usually as "Sensation"), than Sbarbaro. Of the 1918 recordings, "Mourin' Blues" was probably least popular.
When Edwards was drafted in late July 1918, New Orleans musician Emile Christian was hired as a temporary replacement. After a hiatus from Reisenweber's, on September 7 the band was again featured for a couple of weeks at the 400 Club Room (9:00 PM nightly), this time with Bert Kelly's Jazz Band as a second band. The next change in personnel was a result of the influenza of late 1918: pianist Harry Ragas was a flu victim, dying on February 18, 1919 (he was survived by a wife, Bertha).
A telegram sent at 9:29 AM on February 20 from LaRocca to Edwards, who was stationed at Campupton, New York, states, "RAGAS PASSED AWAY FEB 18/19 WE ARE MAKING UP A COLLECTION FOR A FLORAL DESIGN TO BE MADE IN NEW ORLEANS AND SENT TO HIS HOME 1018 ST CLAUDE WITH OUR BAND NAME ON IT..." Composer-pianist J. Russel Robinson joined. Raised in Indianapolis, he was the first ODJB member not from New Orleans (Sidney Lancefield was the group's pianist too briefly in 1919 to count as a member).
Recorded in London on January 8, 1920.
The five ODJB records issued by Victor in 1918 and early 1919 sold well. Sales would have been greater had not wartime shortages limited the production of records at this time.
All ten titles issued from the 1918 sessions were original compositions. Most became jazz standards. Whereas composer credits on the Victor disc in 1917 were given to the ensemble as a collaborative unit (though LaRocca alone was given credit for "Barnyard Blues" on Aeolian Vocalion 1205), individuals were assigned credit in 1918, LaRocca and Shields taking the lion's share.
The two share credit for "At the Jazz Band Ball," "Ostrich Walk," and "Fidgety Feet." Shields and Ragas share credit for "Clarinet Marmalade." LaRocca is credited for "Skeleton Jangle" and "Tiger Rag." LaRocca, Shields, and Ragas are credited for "Lazy Daddy." Other members are credited for remaining numbers: Edwards for "Sensation," Ragas for "Bluin' the Blues," and Sbarbaro for "Mourin' Blues."
Turns may have been taken when some composer credits had been assigned. In a letter dated October 11, 1952, Edwards reminded Shields, who lived at 6075 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, of the unusual manner in which composer credit had been assigned in 1918: "If memory serves, you will recall that the names of the numbers were decided at a rehearsal in the 400 Club Room, Reisenweber's, by drawing out of a hat but neither Spargo's [Sbarbaro] nor my name had been drawn. Nick said (as he was in charge of the drawing) that my name should go on Sensation and the one other number that had been forgotten, Mournin [sic] Blues, I suggested that Spargo's name appear on it."
Edwards must have earned far more in royalities for "Sensation Rag," covered often by jazz bands (usually as "Sensation"), than Sbarbaro. Of the 1918 recordings, "Mourin' Blues" was probably least popular.
When Edwards was drafted in late July 1918, New Orleans musician Emile Christian was hired as a temporary replacement. After a hiatus from Reisenweber's, on September 7 the band was again featured for a couple of weeks at the 400 Club Room (9:00 PM nightly), this time with Bert Kelly's Jazz Band as a second band. The next change in personnel was a result of the influenza of late 1918: pianist Harry Ragas was a flu victim, dying on February 18, 1919 (he was survived by a wife, Bertha).
A telegram sent at 9:29 AM on February 20 from LaRocca to Edwards, who was stationed at Campupton, New York, states, "RAGAS PASSED AWAY FEB 18/19 WE ARE MAKING UP A COLLECTION FOR A FLORAL DESIGN TO BE MADE IN NEW ORLEANS AND SENT TO HIS HOME 1018 ST CLAUDE WITH OUR BAND NAME ON IT..." Composer-pianist J. Russel Robinson joined. Raised in Indianapolis, he was the first ODJB member not from New Orleans (Sidney Lancefield was the group's pianist too briefly in 1919 to count as a member).