By Tim Gracyk
from the book "Popular American Recording Pioneers 1895 -1925." If you would like to order a copy of this book, click here for details.

This ensemble was among the first groups to record jazz. It made tests for Columbia in early 1918, and its first records to be issued--on the Emerson label--were recorded later that year. The group consisted of clarinetist Alcide "Yellow" Nuņez; pianist Joe Cawley, trombonist Charlie Panelli, banjoist Karl Berger and drummer Anton Lada, who served as the band's manager.

It was the second New Orleans ensemble to make jazz records, entering a studio only months after the Original Dixieland Jass Band made the first jazz record (Victor 18255) on February 26, 1917. Nuņez had played clarinet for the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1916 in Chicago but had been replaced by Larry Shields. Relations between Nuņez and Original Dixieland Jass Band members had soured, and soon after the Original Dixieland Jass Band debut disc was issued, Nuņez further antagonized the others by filing a copyright for "Livery Stable Blues" (the song was copyrighted for the Original Dixieland Jass Band under the name "Barnyard Blues"), claiming credit along with Ray Lopez.

The Louisiana Five recorded for various companies, including Emerson, Columbia and Edison. The March 15, 1919 issue of Talking Machine World features a photograph of the five musicians and states, "Among the many new additions to the Emerson staff of artists the Emerson Phonograph Co. present the group whose photograph appears here. The Louisiana Five are an entirely new combination....They have recently closed a tour of Keith's Orpheum circuit and are now under contract to tour the world. The first of their recordings to be listed in the Emerson catalog are 'Orange Blossom Rag' and 'Heart Sickness Blues' on Emerson record No. 9150." Emerson 501, featuring "Yelping Hound Blues" and "High Brown Babies' Ball," is a twelve-inch disc, one of the few issued by the company.

The first Columbia disc was made on April 1, 1919: "Just Another Good Man Gone Wrong" backed by "Yelping Hound Blues." During a session later in 1919, a cornetist (either Doc Behrendson or Alfred Laine) is added for "Slow and Easy" (A2949), enriching the band's sound. "Slow and Easy" has a fullness and variety that other Louisiana Five records lack.

The band's first Edison session was on April 14, 1919, recording "Foot Warmer" and "B-Hap-E." It returned on September 12, 1919, to cut "Clarinet Squawk" and "Yelping Hound Blues." The jacket for the latter when issued on Diamond Disc 50622 states, "By a clever manipulation of the clarinet the effect of a yelping hound is realistically brought out and at the same time a perfect Fox Trot rhythm and also a humorous melody are maintained." The jacket also states, "The organization is perhaps the only one that originates the music it so successfully performs," a curious statement given the fact that the more famous Original Dixieland Jass Band composed its own numbers. "Yelping Hound Blues" was also recorded for Emerson (501) and Columbia (A2742).

"Clarinet Squawk One Step," issued as Diamond Disc 50609, was written by Lada, Nuņez and Cawley. The title reflects the fact that in its early years jazz was widely characterized as a loud music featuring funny noises. The disc jacket states, "It sure does squawk but musically so, if you like cyclonic jazz, played by a quintet which has steeped its musical interpretive qualities in a concentrated essence of contortive jungle music. . . . The 'Louisiana Five' orchestra was featured on the Keith and Orpheum circuits and at the Astor Hotel in New York City."

Edison promotional literature announcing the November 1919 release of Blue Amberol 3843 states, "'Foot Warmer' is delightfully timed and jazzed for the average fox trotter by the Louisiana Five. The word 'Jazz,' meaning 'to liven things up,' was first used on the Gold Coast of Africa."

If you would like to order a copy of "Popular American Recording Pioneers 1895 -1925" click here for details.

Thanks to Verne Buland and Al Simmons their help with this page