How the Creole Band Came to Be

A profile and history of the Creole Band, a ragtime band consisting of musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana, that toured the United States during the early 20th century, is presented. New Orleans musicians formed the Creole Band in Los Angeles, California, in 1914 to become the first, albeit less popular, ragtime band to tour the country through vaudeville and musical comedy shows. Because so little documentation of the Creole Band exists, they have often not been included in the history of jazz music. Gushee and Carr examine the history of the band, mostly through the existing reviews of shows from the period, in an attempt to better understand the early dissemination of New Orleans jazz.