1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,239 Speaker 1: Hey, history enthusiasts, you get not one, but two events 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: in history today. With that said, on with the show, 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: Welcome back to this day in History class, where we 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: reveal a new piece of history every day. The day 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: was February nineteen. A five man ensemble called the Original 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: Dixie Land Jazz Band That's Jazz with Two s Is 7 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: recorded two songs in the New York City recording studios 8 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: of the Victor Talking Machine Company. The band members in 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: the Original Dixie Land Jazz Band where coordinetist Nick Larocca, 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: clarinetist Larry Shields, trombonis Eddie Edwards, drummer Tony Sparbaro, and 11 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: pianist Henry Ragis, and the two songs were Livery Stable 12 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: Blues and Dixie Jazz Once Step, the first commercial jazz 13 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: recordings ever. See jazz had been evolving for years before 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: these songs were recorded. Jazz chases its origins to African 15 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: American communities in the American South and New Orleans in 16 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century, and it has roots in ragtime 17 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: and blues. New Orleans especially was a soupy mix of 18 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: people of many different ethnicities, and jazz was influenced by 19 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: African rhythms, African American musical traditions, and European music improvisation, 20 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: call in response and syncopated rhythms are important features of jazz, 21 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: but they're just some of many. The thing about jazz 22 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: is that it's hard to pin down the kinds of 23 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: music that fall under the umbrella. Jazz are vast, and 24 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: jazz is nearly impossible to define as a musical genre, 25 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: so as you could imagine, the task of awarding the 26 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: honor of first Jazz recording to anyone is dangerous territory. 27 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,119 Speaker 1: Here's how the original Dixieland Jazz Band or O d 28 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: j B won the title. After some member switch ups, 29 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: band name changes, a move from Chicago to New York, 30 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: and a considerable rise and attention, O d j B 31 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: got a residence at Rise in Webber's Cafe in New York, 32 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: and they had been drawing sizeable crowds. So the Victor 33 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: Talking Machine Company offered to record them, and they recorded 34 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: Livery Stable Blues and Dixie Jazz one Step. The songs 35 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: were marketed as novelty. Livery Stable Blues even had animal 36 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: like sound effects, but the songs were energetic, brash and 37 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: new and they caught on, while O d j B 38 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: gained even more popularity. The recordings were East was announced 39 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 1: in the May nineteen seventeen issue of the Victor Supplement, 40 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: which listed newly released recordings. There's a picture of the 41 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: band in the announcement, accompanied by the following copy. The 42 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: jazz band is the very latest thing in the development 43 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: in music. It has sufficient power and penetration to inject 44 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: life into a mummy and will keep ordinary human dancers 45 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: on their feet till breakfast time. Livery stable blues in 46 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: particular we recommend because on the principle that like cures 47 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: like this particular variety will be a positive cure for 48 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: the common or garden type of blues. The recordings sold well, 49 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: even though both songs faced legal issues later, and some 50 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: people look back on the songs as tacky, lacking and 51 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: technical skill, and too closely associated with minstrelsy. Others note 52 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: the band's merits either way. The original Dixieland Jazz band 53 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: success helped spur a jazz craze and lead to jazz 54 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: spreading widely and developing quickly. The band was reportedly the 55 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: first to use the word jazz in its name, and 56 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: they helped bring jazz to an international audience. The members 57 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: of the original Dixie Land Jazz Band were all white, 58 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: unlike so many other early jazz musicians and many of 59 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: the musicians that inspired O d j B. Considering the 60 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: racially mixed roots of jazz, it's not that off the 61 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: wall for the first commercial jazz recordings to be attributed 62 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: to an all white band. That said, record companies didn't 63 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: pay too much attention to black musicians at the time, 64 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: despite the notable integration in New Orleans, so when record 65 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: companies began taking serious notice of jazz in the nineteen tens, 66 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: it makes sense that they would turn to a white band. 67 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: Some critics don't fill the need to label O d 68 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: j B songs the first jazz recordings, as jazz doesn't 69 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: have a definitive starting point. There had been recordings before 70 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: that that were well on their way to jazz, like 71 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: The Versatile Four's recording of composer and band leader Wilbur 72 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: Sweatman's down Home Rag and The O d j B 73 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: wasn't really improvising in the recording, but the recording still 74 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: marked a turning point in jazz history as it incited 75 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: a surgeon commercial jazz recordings and introduced the world of 76 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: jazz to many more people. I'm Eve Steffcote and hopefully 77 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 78 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: did yesterday, and I wanted to know a few things here. 79 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: According to legend, the Victor Talking Machine Company offered a musician, 80 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: Freddie kepperd a recording before it offered one to the 81 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: original Dixieland Jazz Band, but keper turned it down, maybe 82 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: because he didn't want to be copied or because he 83 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:10,679 Speaker 1: wouldn't be paid. Also in the nineteen fifties, band member 84 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: Nick LaRocco went on to make self aggrandizing claims that 85 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: he invented jazz solely, and he made statements about how 86 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: white people were making jazz before black people were. And 87 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: another thing is The band later replaced the two s 88 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: in the word jazz in their name with two z's. 89 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: In the early days of jazz, the word jazz had 90 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: all kinds of variations in spelling, like one S, two 91 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 1: s s, two z's. I have a lot more notes 92 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: about jazz, but we'll save that for a later date. 93 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: If you have any burning questions or comments to tell us, 94 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 95 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: T D I h C podcast We'll see you here 96 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: in the same place tomorrow. Yeah. Hi everyone, I'm Eves 97 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: and welcome to This Day in History Class, a podcast 98 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: where we dust off a little piece of history and 99 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: placed it ever so gently on your brainshelf every day. 100 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: The day was February nineteen o nine. The first public 101 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: screenings of Kinemacolor took place at the Palace Theater of 102 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: Varieties in London. Kinemacolor was the first successful color motion 103 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: picture process. Hand coloring of motion pictures began in the 104 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties by Frederick Marshall Lee and Edward Raymond Turner 105 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: had applied for the first British color moving picture patent, 106 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: but the early color film processes were rudimentary, costly, and 107 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: time consuming. Over the years, people on the technology for 108 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: color and motion pictures. There was William N. L. Davidson 109 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: who experimented with color cinematography. He patented a three color 110 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: still photography system, but he did not create a successful 111 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: natural color motion picture system. Film producer Charles Urban and 112 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: engineer Alfred Darling also took interest in the issue in 113 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: the early days of film. In nineteen oh three, Urban 114 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: commissioned hypnotist and film pioneer George Albert Smith to work 115 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: on a color motion picture process. In November of nineteen 116 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: o six, Smith patented the Kinemacolor process. Kinemacolor was an 117 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: additive process using alternating red and green filters that were 118 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: applied to the shutter in front of the camera and 119 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: in front of the projector. The two color system couldn't 120 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,079 Speaker 1: produce blue and violet hues, and whites had a yellowish coloration, 121 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: so Smith proposed using blue violet filters over the projection light. 122 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: The first motion picture shown in Kinemacolor was an eight 123 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: minute short filmed and brightened and called A Visit to 124 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: the Seaside, screened in nineteen o Eight months later, on 125 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: February nineteen o nine, short films were shown at the 126 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: Palace Theater in London. It was the first time the 127 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: general public saw Kinema color. The process was first shown 128 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: in the United States in December of that year at 129 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: an exhibition in Madison Square Garden in New York. Charles 130 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: Urban formed the Natural Color Kinematograph Company Limited in March 131 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: of nineteen o nine, and he began producing films using 132 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: the process. Hundreds of Kinemacolor projectors were installed in theaters 133 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 1: across Britain, the US, and Japan, but it was hard 134 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: to make back the money spent on installing the projectors. 135 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: On top of that, the process caused distortions and images 136 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: that audiences weren't particularly fond of. In the US, Kinemacolor's 137 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: Hollywood studio was taken over by director D. W. Griffin. 138 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,319 Speaker 1: He was shown a Kinemacolor adaptation of Thomas Dixon's novel 139 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: The Klansman, a book that depicts the Ku Klux Klan 140 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: in a positive light. Griffith took over the project, and 141 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: though the film was never released, it led him to 142 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: make the controversial film The Birth of a Nation. The 143 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: company was not financially successful, and it went into liquidation 144 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen in the wake of a legal case 145 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: over the Kinemacolor patent. It stopped production that year. Companies 146 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: continue to experiment with and refine color motion picture film 147 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: throughout the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, and in nineteen 148 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: thirty two Technicolor introduced a three color process. It was 149 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: the first full color process used successfully in theaters. On 150 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 1: eve Steffcote and hopefully you know a little more about 151 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. No, any fellow history 152 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: buffs who would enjoy the show, you can share it 153 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: with them. We're on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 154 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: B I h C Podcast and you can send your 155 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,840 Speaker 1: thoughts are comments to us at this Day at I 156 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks for going on this trip 157 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: through history with us. We'll see you again tomorrow with 158 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: another episode. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 159 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 160 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.