Editing New Orleans Rhythm Kings (section)

===NORK sound===

The ODJB and the NORK were the two leading white bands of the day, but their musical styles were very different. As opposed to the short, choppy style of the ODJB, NORK played more [[legato]] pieces.<ref name="NewGrove"/> [[Leon Roppolo]]'s famous clarinet sound gave the band its characteristic, bluesy feel.
	
Richard M. Sudhalter, in his book ''Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz'', wrote that 
"Three takes of '[[Tin Roof Blues]]' exist, three opportunities to listen to Roppolo's mind at work, arranging and rearranging the pieces of his elegiac little statement. He begins all three on his high G (concert F), ends all three on the same two-bar resolution. But the differences in between, matters of [[Pitch (music)|tone]], [[dynamics (music)|dynamics]], and [[shading]] as much as specific notes, are spellbinding.

"This solo, in each of its three variants, contains many 'bent' notes, the exact pitches of which resist attempts at formal notation. In certain cases…. a sustained note will have both a 'sharp' sign and a 'flat' sign above it, indicating a progression from one pitch variation to the other, in the order given."<ref name="LostChords"/>
	
Earlier in the same chapter, Sudhalter described the full band's sound in their first Gennett recordings:

"The notion of tunefulness implies particular attention to the aesthetics of sound. The [[tutti]] passages on '[[Farewell Blues]]', with their echoes of railroad whistles, the carefully arranged interludes and fadeout ending on Schoebel's unusual 'Discontented Blues', bespeak rehearsal and behind-the-scenes work aimed at achieving a polished and varied band sound. Nothing on any record by a black band of the early '20s is anywhere near as aesthetically venturesome.<ref name="LostChords"/>