Description: 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.
Review Quotes: "Pioneers of Jazz is an extraordinary definitive work that illuminates the careers of many previously overlooked members of that historically important band. It also brightens our image of those that later achieved recognition and fame."--Floyd Levin, Jazz Journal International
"This is a volume I've been waiting for for a long time. The book is extremely evocative of the spirit of the vaudeville era. Vaudeville was done twenty years before I was born and I've never really read much about it. After reading this book I finally understand what it was and how it worked. The author has done a tremendous job documenting the band's entire history, including very interesting chapters on the musicians' careers before and after their time with the Creole Band. This is a first-class piece of research and one that should be in every collection of jazz historians."--Jazzbeat"In this unusual and excellent book, Lawrence Gushee traces the activities of an important band during the 1910s, as it makes its way across North America on vaudeville circuits. The range of documentary evidence Gushee brings to bear on the topic is truly astonishing. Virtually no kind of documentary evidence escapes his notice. In a series of earlier articles that are well known among jazz scholars, Gushee demonstrated how to work with this range of diverse evidence. In Pioneers of Jazz he goes much further. The book reflects the work of a lifetime. Embedded in these pages is some of the smartest thinking I have seen about not just this topic but vernacular music generally. Gushee has opened up so many wonderful issues in this book that it will take some time to come to grips with it."--Journal of the American Musicological Society"Gushee includes numerous illustrations, detailed notes, and explanations of the origins of jazz and other matters...Highly recommended."--Choice"Gushee persuasively argues that the little-known Creole Band of New Orleans was the first outfit to export jazz to the rest of America during its tours between 1914 and 1918...Such meticulous scholarship is enriched by the author's obvious personal passion for the music (he performs ragtime and early jazz on clarinet). Written in a congenial scholarly tone, this book makes an important contribution to jazz history."--Library Journal"Pioneers of Jazz is first of all a masterpiece of scholarly research, then also a damn good read. A truly major contribution to our comprehension of the music's early history."--Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University; author of Living with Jazz"This is the book we have been waiting for. Lawrence Gushee's Pioneers of Jazz is meticulously researched and soundly reasoned. It offers a compelling argument for the primacy of the Original Creole Orchestra in the dissemination of New Orleans jazz and masterful insight into the world of vaudeville. Required reading for anyone interested in the history of jazz or American music."--Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Curator, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University"Gushee is the most tenacious of musical sleuths as he traces the earliest days of jazz. Following one lead to another, he uncovers documents that flesh out what had previously been the stuff of musty and misty legend. His methods, discoveries, and analyses are eye-opening lessons that leave us breathless and panting for more."--Edward A. Berlin, author of King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era