Nick LaRocca
Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca (born April 11, 1889 in New Orleans ; † February 22, 1961 ibid) was an American cornet player , band leader and jazz pioneer . He was a member of some of the bands in which jazz was developed in New Orleans and which finally brought the then new form of music to Chicago and New York around 1916 . Together with musicians from these bands, he founded The Original Dixieland Jass Band . If you believe his own words, he was one of the "Creators of Jazz" with this band, was the " Christopher Columbus of Music" and the "person about whom the most lied since Jesus Christ ".
Live and act
LaRocca was the son of a Sicilian shoemaker who tried to suppress his son's musical inclinations. It was only when his father died and LaRocca began to earn his own living as a stage worker and electrician that he was free to make music. He never learned to read music.
LaRocca made experiences in numerous bands like those of Papa Jack Laine or those of the Brunies brothers . Eventually he joined the New Orleans founded Johnny Stein 's Dixie Jass Band in 1916 . The group played for some time in 1916 at the New Schiller Café in Chicago. After the formation broke up, LaRocca founded the Original Dixieland Jass Band with Alcide Nunez and Eddie Edwards in Chicago . In January 1917 this band also played in New York City , where they made the first ever jazz record in February of that year, with the titles Livery Stable Blues and Dixieland Jass Band One-Step . The band toured the UK and existed until 1925, later being reactivated on occasion. Further recordings are from 1936.
The importance of LaRocca for the development of early jazz is also evident from the fact that Louis Armstrong wrote “Swing That Music” in his first biography in 1936: Four years before I learned to play the trumpet, the first noteworthy jazz orchestra in New Orleans was made by a cornet player called Dominick James LaRocca ... The Creole Jazzband of King Oliver , regarded by many jazz experts as the original jazz band, was only founded in 1922. Both Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin Armstrong reported that the "Original Dixieland Jass Band" records encouraged replay. Recordings by King Oliver from 1923 (e.g. Canal St. Blues) show clear similarities with the version by Nick LaRocca recorded in 1921.
LaRocca is also considered a composer or co-composer of some early jazz standards such as B. Tiger Rag and Fidgety Feet .
From the second half of the twenties after his time as a jazz musician, he worked as a building contractor in New Orleans.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | LaRocca, Nick |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | LaRocca, Dominic James (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American cornetist, band leader and jazz pioneer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 11, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Orleans , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 22, 1961 |
| Place of death | New Orleans , USA |