The earliest recording of this primarily African-American and Creole style of music by a non-white band was Kid Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra’s 1922 recording of Society Blues and Ory’s Creole Trombone (Nordskog 3009). However, it was the Original Dixieland Jass Band, an all-white New Orleans quintet playing in the style of African-American and Creole musicians, that gave rise to the popularity of the New Orleans sound. In 1917, the quintet made their Manhattan debut, and while there, recorded Indiana and Darktown Strutters’ Ball for the Columbia label (Columbia A2297). The recording was so successful that the group returned to the studio later that year to record Livery Stable Blues and Original Dixie Jass Band One-Step (Victor 18255). This second recording sold over one million copies. Between 1917 and 1925, the year they disbanded, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. It was the Original Dixieland Jass Band—later renamed the Original Dixieland Jazz Band--that made "jazz" a household word.

The year 1917 also marked the beginning of a mass migration of jazz musicians to the West Coast, and to the cities of New York and Chicago. The movement came as a result of the Navy’s raids of New Orleans’ infamous red-light district. The city was a Navy embarkation point, and this branch of the U.S. armed forces could not permit its reputable sailors to be influenced by the allure of disreputable pleasures. An unfortunate result of this rising moral tide was the obliteration of the nascent New Orleans jazz scene. By 1920, Chicago had become the country’s focal point of jazz innovation.