Pioneers of Jazz

The Creole Band, which existed from 1914-1918, was the first important jazz band, bringing jazz to the wider American public, from California to Massachusetts. This is the first history of the important group, written by a renowned scholar of early jazz.

Lawrence Gushee is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has devoted himself to research on music in the Middle Ages, as well as jazz and related musics. A clarinetist, he performs ragtime and jazz of the period 1900-1920.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1.: Dramatis Personae
2.: Before the Beginning
3.: The First Season
4.: The Second Season
5.: The Third Season
6.: The Final Season
7.: Life and Music After the Band
APPENDIX 1: Itinerary
APPENDIX 2: Billing Names
APPENDIX 3: Repertory
APPENDIX 4: On the word and concept "Creole"
APPENDIX 5: Digression on the History of the word "Jazz"
APPENDIX 6: Jelly Roll Morton on Keppard and on the Creole Band
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE