Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader.
Red Nichols
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