Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca, was an American early jazz cornetist and trumpeter and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band, who is credited by some as being "the father of modern jazz". He is the composer of one of the most recorded jazz classics of all-time, "Tiger Rag". He was part of what is generally regarded as the first recorded jazz band, a band which recorded and released the first jazz recording, "Livery Stable Blues" in 1917.
Nick LaRocca
1923 release of "Tiger Rag" by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band as an Okeh 78 single, 4841B.
Original Dixieland Jass Band
The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the most famous being "Tiger Rag". In late 1917, the spelling of the band's name was changed to Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
1918 promotional postcard of the ODJB showing (from left), drummer Tony Sbarbaro (aka Tony Spargo), trombonist Edwin "Daddy" Edwards, cornetist Dominick James "Nick" LaRocca, clarinetist Larry Shields, and pianist Henry Ragas
The first release of "Tiger Rag" on Aeolian Vocalion, B1206, 1917
The world's first jazz record: ODJB 1917 Victor release of "Livery Stable Blues", 18255-B
Victor second pressing release of "Dixie Jass Band One-Step", 18255-A, 1917