Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca papers, 1885-1961 | Hogan Jazz Archive

By Samantha Bruner

Collection Overview

Title: Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca papers, 1885-1961Add to your cart.View associated digital content.

Predominant Dates:1915-1961

ID: HJA/MS 008

Primary Creator: LaRocca, Nick

Extent: 100.0 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The materials have been arranged into twelve series according to medium or subject: newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, journals and magazines, sheet music, publicity, business and personal documents, deposition, oversize materials, scrapbooks, books, albums and test pressings. Each series has its own box and folder list.

Date Acquired: 05/18/1960

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The collection contains newspaper clippings, fliers, posters, programs and other publicity materials, along with photographs, books, test pressings of O.D.J.B. records, correspondence and sheet music. The collection also includes five scrapbooks, created by Nick LaRocca.

Biographical Note

Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca (1889-1961) was a self-taught New Orleans cornetist who became the leader of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which made the first recording of jazz in New York City in 1917. Based on the popularity of the recording and live performances, the O.D.J.B. became a sensation, traveling to England in 1919. After returning to the U.S. in 1920, the band broke up in 1925 and then refomed briefly from 1936-38, after which LaRocca Returned to New Orleans to resume work as a contractor.

Administrative Information

Repository: Hogan Jazz Archive

Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Acquisition Source: Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca

Acquisition Method: Donation

Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Newspaper Clippings],
[Series 2: Correspondence, 1917-1960],
[Series 3: Photographs],
[Series 4: Journals and Magazines],
[Series 5: Sheet Music],
[Series 6: Publicity],
[Series 7: Business and Personal Documents],
[Series 8: Deposition],
[Series 9: Oversize Materials],
[Series 10: Scrapbooks],
[Series 11: Books],
[Series 12: Albums and Test Pressings],
[All]

Series 9: Oversize MaterialsAdd to your cart.
Box 18: Oversize Photographs and Sheet MusicAdd to your cart.
Sub-series 1: Sheet MusicAdd to your cart.
Item 1: "At the Jazz Band Ball", 1917, 1918Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca and Larry Sheilds. Two copies.
Item 2: "Everybody Step", 1958Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca.
Item 3: "I'm Buzz'in Round (All Night Long)", 1923Add to your cart.
Music by Edgar Dowell. Lyrics by Mamie Medina. Cover annotated by LaRocca.
Item 4: "Irish Channel Drag", 1958Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca.
Item 5: "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate", 1919Add to your cart.
Words and music by A.J. Piron. Arranged by Larry Wagner. Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 6: "Just Blue", 1918Add to your cart.
Composed by F. Wheeler Wadsworth and Victor Arden.
Item 7: "The Kingdom Within Your Eyes", 1919Add to your cart.
Composed by Horatio Nicholls.
Item 8: "Lasses Candy", 11/27/1918Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca. Arranged by J. Russell Robinson.
Item 9: Music Cover: "Latest Jazz Numbers Composed by the O.D.J.B."Add to your cart.
Item 10: "Let's Jam It", 1958Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca.
Item 11: Music Cover: "Oh! My Goodness"Add to your cart.View associated digital content.
Item 12: "Old Joe Blade", 1936Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca, Mercer Cook and J. Russell Robinson.
Item 13: "Once in a While"Add to your cart.
Music by Nick LaRocca and Carey Morgan. Words by Arthur Swanstrom. Piano score. 2 copies.
Item 14: "Ostrich Walk"Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca. Includes a printed copy and an autograph copy by Alice Kiern which is badly damaged.
Item 15: "Sensation Rag"Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca. Copied by Alice Kiern. Very fragile condition.
Item 16: "Swampwater Ballad"Add to your cart.
Music by Nick LaRocca. Lyrics by Ed Jones.
Item 17: Music Cover: "Sweet Mama, Papa's Getting Mad"Add to your cart.View associated digital content.
Item 18: "That Dixieland Jazz Band", 1920Add to your cart.
Composed by Huntley Trevor and John Neat.
Item 19: "That Javanese Jazz Band", 1919Add to your cart.
Composed by Enrique Smith.
Item 20: "That Old Fashioned Mother of Mine", 1919Add to your cart.
Music by Horatio Nicholls. Words by Worton David.
Item 21: "Tiger Rag"Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca. Copied by Alice Kiern. Very fragile condition.
Item 22: "Toddlin' Blues", 1919, 1936Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca. Two copies.
Item 23: "Vieux Carre Parade", 1960Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca, Armand Hug, and Joseph Mares Jr.
Item 24: "Weary Weazel", 1923Add to your cart.
Music by Ray Lopez. Words by James Lester. Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 25: "You Get Me Wondering", 1918Add to your cart.
Composed by Harry Gifford and  Alf J. Lawrence.
Item 26: "You Name It", 1958Add to your cart.
Composed by Nick LaRocca.
Item 27: "Your Ideas are My Ideas (and That's My Idea of Love)", 1936Add to your cart.
Music by Nick LaRocca and J. Russell Robinson. Words by Arthur Terker.
Sub-series 2: PhotographsAdd to your cart.
Item 1: O.D.J.B. at Schiller Cafe, 1916Add to your cart.View associated digital content.
Mounting annotated by LaRocca.
Item 2: O.D.J.B. Studio Portrait, January 1917Add to your cart.
Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 3: Audience of Soldiers, 12/1/1918Add to your cart.View associated digital content.
At the Sunday Afternoon Vaudeville Show given by the War Camp Community Service at the Manhattan Opera House. Matting annotated by LaRocca.
Item 4: O.D.J.B. Band Photo, 1920Add to your cart.
Item 5: O.D.J.B. Members Portrait, 1920sAdd to your cart.
Item 6: O.D.J.B. Portrait, 1920Add to your cart.
Two copies.
Item 7: O.D.J.B. at Central Park Zoo, 1921Add to your cart.
At polar bear cage. Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 8: Sophie Tucker, undatedAdd to your cart.
Badly damaged. Inscribed by Tucker.
Box 19: Oversize Journals, Correspondence, Business DocumentsAdd to your cart.
Sub-series 1: Oversize JournalsAdd to your cart.
Item 1: Dance Review, 10/10/1922Add to your cart.
Two copies.
Item 2: True Tone Magazine, 1923Add to your cart.
Vol. XIII, No. 1.
Item 3: Boardwalk Illustrated News, 4/7/1924Add to your cart.
Item 4: Tempo, October 1936Add to your cart.
Item 5: The March of Time Photo Reporter, 1937Add to your cart.
Issue No. 7
Item 6: Esquire's 1945 Jazz Book, 1945Add to your cart.
Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 7: Pic Magazine, March 1946Add to your cart.
Very fragile, housed in two parts. Heavily annotated by LaRocca.  Includes materials he has pasted into the pages.
Item 8: International Musician, November 1960Add to your cart.
Sub-series 2: Oversize CorrespondenceAdd to your cart.
Item 1: Nick LaRocca to Per. J. Dunn, 8/23/10Add to your cart.View associated digital content.
LaRocca pictured on reverse along with many other band leaders.
Item 2: Bill Lambert to Nick LaRocca, 10/21/1936Add to your cart.
Photocopy of original. Annotated by LaRocca.
Item 3: Nick LaRocca to Senator Willis Smith, 1/26/1954Add to your cart.
Attached is a page from Who's Who in Music, featuring LaRocca.
Sub-series 3: Oversize Business DocumentsAdd to your cart.
Item 1: Contract: J.J. Robbins and  Nick LaRocca, 12/28/1922Add to your cart.
Two copies.
Sub-series 4: Oversize  EphemeraAdd to your cart.
Item 1: Leather WalletAdd to your cart.
"Compliments of Blum's Cafe, Paul Blum Prop., 116 &118 Exchange Place, New Orleans, Louisiana."
Item 2: Embroidered Name PatchesAdd to your cart.
"Laine", "Reliance", "Ellerbusch", "LaRocca"
Box 20: Large PhotographsAdd to your cart.
Item 1: Nick Larocca, circa 1917Add to your cart.
Item 2: O.D.J.B., 1919 (?)Add to your cart.
Band members labeled.
Item 3: Portrait, Palais de Danse, London, 1919-1920Add to your cart.
Item 4: Central  Park Zoo Clippings, 1921Add to your cart.
Item 5: Grand Testimonial Dinner by the 2nd Ward Republican Club, 1921Add to your cart.
O.D.J.B. pictured with instruments. In Atlantic City.
Item 6: O.D.J.B., 1936Add to your cart.
Item 7: Recreation of the O.D.J.B.'s 1917 recording session, 1936Add to your cart.
Item 8: Orpheum Theatre  Sign, 1937Add to your cart.
Item 9: Nick LaRocca with Phil Zito's Orchestra, 1946Add to your cart.
Item 10: Nick LaRocca with Cornet, 1960Add to your cart.
From the Tulanian  photoshoot.
Box 21: Oversize PostersAdd to your cart.
Item 1: O.D.J.B. Darewski Jazz Dances, 1919(?)Add to your cart.
Item 2: "Kings of the Dance" Victor Records AdvertisementAdd to your cart.
Item 3: O.D.J.B. at the Palladium, 4/21/1919Add to your cart.
Item 4: "Broadway Rose" BannerAdd to your cart.
Item 5: O.D.J.B. at the Rosebud Ballroom, May 1922Add to your cart.
Item 6: O.D.J.B. at Heimenz AuditoriumAdd to your cart.
Item 7: Paul Whiteman with the O.D.J.B.Add to your cart.
Item 8: "Livery Stable Blues" PosterAdd to your cart.
Item 9: "St. Louis Blues" PosterAdd to your cart.
Item 10: O.D.J.B. Victor Records AdvertisementAdd to your cart.

Pasted to the back are two letters:

Telegram from Milwaukee Rhythm Club to the O.D.J.B., undated

Ed J. Weisfeldt to Nick LaRocca, 3/25/1937

Item 11: Map of Long IslandAdd to your cart.
Item 12: "Livery Stable Blues" BannerAdd to your cart.
Item 13: "How Swing Was Born", 1938Add to your cart.
Broadside magazine article. Annotated by  LaRocca.

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Newspaper Clippings],
[Series 2: Correspondence, 1917-1960],
[Series 3: Photographs],
[Series 4: Journals and Magazines],
[Series 5: Sheet Music],
[Series 6: Publicity],
[Series 7: Business and Personal Documents],
[Series 8: Deposition],
[Series 9: Oversize Materials],
[Series 10: Scrapbooks],
[Series 11: Books],
[Series 12: Albums and Test Pressings],
[All]

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