Anthony Sbarbaro as portrayed by a student from the Immaculate Conception School of
Jamaica Estates, NY.
My name is Anthony Sbarbaro and I was born on June 27, 1897 and was a drummer for the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. We were the first jazz group to ever record a jazz record and made history in 1917. We were not the first group to ever play jazz Buddy Bolden had preceded us by 22 years, but we were lucky to be the first band to get a big break and during the period between 1917 and 23 we did a great deal to popularize jazz. I was known professionaly as Tony Spargo and this is my band�s story.
We learned about jazz from our fellow New Orleans players and moved to New York where, on the recommendation of Al Jolson, we landed a gig at Reisenweber's Caf� on Columbus Circle and 58th Street, a fashionable restaurant and nightspot. Our band created quite a stir and was an immediate success, with our wacky stage antics, like wearing top hats that spelled out Dixie, playing the trombone's slide with the foot, and so on. The band's slogan was "Untuneful Harmonists Playing Peppery Melodies", and our leader Nick La Rocca delighted in stirring up the press, describing us as musical anarchists and coining fun statements like "Jazz is the assassination of the melody, it's the slaying of syncopation".
Victor Talking Machine Company recorded us playing the novelty Livery Stable Blues [click here for Real Audio sample - 406 KB] which found the horns imitating barnyard animals and the Dixie Jazz Band One Step. It became the first Jazz record ever released on February 26, 1917 and was wildly successful. Its release signaled the beginning of the Jazz age and helped define the wild, exuberant era we call the "Roaring Twenties".
One of our biggest hits was the Tiger Rag, which was more popularly called Hold that Tiger. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band went on to record and play in London, producing 20 tracks for Columbia Records, including another big hit, Soudan.
Presented May 22, 2004 by The Richmond Hill Historical Society, Maple Grove Cemetery, and The Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY (Dr. Charlene Jaffie, principal).
Copyright © 2004 Carl Ballenas & Nancy Cataldi.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
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