Editing Original Dixieland Jass Band (section)

==="Tiger Rag"===
{{Main|Tiger Rag}}
{{listen | filename=Tiger Rag ODJB.ogg| title=Tiger Rag (1918)|description=The Original Dixieland Jass Band's 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag".| pos=left | format=[[Ogg]]}}
The band's 1917 composition "Tiger Rag" became one of the most popular and ubiquitous of jazz standards. There were 136 cover versions of ODJB's copyright jazz standard and classic "Tiger Rag" by 1942. It has been standard ever since.

Their first release, "[[Livery Stable Blues]]", featured instruments doing barnyard imitations and the fully loaded [[trap set]], [[Woodblock (instrument)|wood block]]s, [[cowbell (instrument)|cowbell]]s, [[gong]]s, and Chinese [[gourd]]s. This musical innovation represented one of the first experimental exercises in jazz. At the time, their music was liberating; the barnyard sounds were experiments in altering the tonal qualities of the instruments, and clattering wood blocks broke up the rhythm. The music was very lively when compared to the pop music of the time.

Many of the tunes first composed and recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band, such as "Tiger Rag" and "Margie", were recorded by many of the major jazz bands and orchestras of the twentieth century, black and white. "Tiger Rag" was recorded by many artists, from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington to Glenn Miller to Benny Goodman. "Tiger Rag", in particular, became popular with many colleges and universities having a tiger as a mascot. In the biography ''John Coltrane: His Life and Music'', published in 1999, [[Lewis Porter]] noted that ODJB's classic, "Margie", was a "specialty" of [[John Coltrane]], a song he performed regularly in his early career. "Tiger Rag", "Margie", "Clarinet Marmalade", "At The Jazz Band Ball", "Sensation Rag", and "Fidgety Feet" remain much played classics in the repertory of contemporary Dixieland and traditional jazz bands. Their tunes were published as collaborations by some or all of the entire ensemble, including band leader Nick La Rocca.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recording of "Tiger Rag" was no. 1 for two weeks on the U.S. Hit Parade charts beginning on December 11, 1918. The Mills Brothers recorded "Tiger Rag" in 1931 with lyrics and spent four weeks at no. 1 on the charts in 1931–1932 with their version of the ODJB song.

The Eddie Edwards composition "Sensation Rag" (aka "Sensation") was performed at the 1938 landmark Benny Goodman jazz concert at [[Carnegie Hall]] released on the album ''[[The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert]]''.

Compared to later jazz, the ODJB recordings have only modest improvisation in mostly ensemble tunes. Clarinetist Larry Shields is perhaps the most interesting player, showing a good fluid tone, and if his melodic variations and breaks now seem overly familiar, this is because they were imitated widely by musicians who followed in the band's footsteps.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

Their concept of arrangement was somewhat limited, and their recordings can seem rather repetitive. The lack of a bass player is scarcely compensated for by the piano on their earlier, acoustically recorded sessions. Nonetheless, ODJB arrangements were wild, impolite, and definitely had a jazz feel, and that style still is referred to as the style of music known as Dixieland.