Some Important
Early New Orleans Jazz Bands
These bands represent only a fraction of the early New Orleans jazz bands, because time and space wouldn't permit me to include as many as I would've liked to on the Old New Orleans site.  I hope these pages will prompt you to do some research online to find out more about the pioneering jazz bands of New Orleans.
(For the bands of Buddy Bolden, Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver, please see their individual pages.  And for more info on many of the musicians on this page, see the Jazz Musicians page.)
Enjoy.   Nancy Brister
Christen's Brass Band, Southern Park, 1890 - The only "Southern Park" I could find mention of was Parkview Place (Southern Park), bounded by Bayou St. John, Dumaine and Carrollton.  Band leader, Frank George Christen, is in the middle of the back row.
Frank Christen's Band on Quarellas Pier at Milneburg, on Lake Pontchartrain, 1905
"Papa" Jack Laine's Band - By the age of 16, Laine (above on drums) had led both string and brass bands; he led a drum & bugle corps during the Spanish American War.  After segregation laws precluded whites and blacks from playing together, Laine still provided places in his band for African-Americans with light-medium skin color, so that, if a segregationist made any trouble over it, Mr. Laine could profess that the musician was "Cuban."  He was out of the music business by the end of WWI, but his influence was important enough that it affected the course of jazz.  He spent his life in New Orleans and died at the age of 93, having been honored many times in his later years for his contributions to jazz. 
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band contributed two important firsts, they made the first jazz recordings in 1917 and they were the first New Orleans band to make an impact in New York City.  Some original members of the band: Nick LaRocca, Alcie Nunez, Johnny Stein, Henry Ragas & Eddie Edwards.  This band was influential in the development of modern jazz and leader Nick LaRocca's composition, "Tiger Rag," was an important jazz standard.
Above:  Oscar "Papa" Celestin's Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra, 1926 - Papa Celestin was one of the great early jazz men; Louis Armstrong and many other notable jazz musicians played in the Orchestra early on.
Born in the Milneburg area of New Orleans, Sharkey Bonano (leaning, with hat on) and his Kings of Dixieland Band, are shown above performing in the Blue Room, Roosevelt Hotel, 1955.  Sharkey's band was very popular and he remained active in New Orleans, New York and Chicago until the 1960's when his health forced him to retire.  He died in New Orleans in 1972. 
Sidney Bechet and his band - In the 1920's, Sidney Bechet made some recordings with Louis Armstrong and these constitute one of the most important bodies of New Orleans Jazz available.  More about Sidney Bechet on the Musicians page.
A band at one of Tom Anderson's Restaurant/Saloons, Storyville District, bet. 1892-1915
San Jacintos Dance Hall band, Storyville, New Orleans
West End Concert Band - Can you identify any of these musicians?
Fate Marable's Orchestra on the  S.S. Capitol, 1923.  Left to right:  Warren "Baby" Dodds, William Bebe Ridgley, Joe Howard, Louis Armstrong, Marable, David Jones, Johnny Dodds, Johnny St. Cyr and George "Pops" Foster.
An unidentified brass band marches in traditional New Orleans style, 1950's.
Trumpeter Frank Assunto's Dukes of Dixieland Band - The Italian community of New Orleans has produced many notable jazz musicians.  Frank, Fred and their 2 sisters grew up listening to and learning from their dad, banjoist, Jacob "Papa Jac" Assunto.  Dad and brothers founded the Dukes of Dixieland in the late 1940's and it gained national popularity.  They toured, recorded and performed on early TV variety shows.  The band was featured on the very first stereo record, released in 1957.  Fred and Frank Assunto both died young and the Dukes of Dixieland disbanded in the early 1970's.
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Imperial Band - "Big Eye" Louis Nelson, center, clarinet; rear, right, cornetist Manuel Perez
At the West End resort on Lake Pontchartrain:  Abbie Brunies,
Charlie Cordilla and Emil "Stale Bread" Lacoume; about 1903.
Onward Brass Band, ready to parade, about 1913.  Manuel Perez is at the left; 3rd from left is Peter Bocage; next to him, Lorenzo Tio, Jr., teacher of many great clarinetists.
Tuxedo Brass Band, also, led by Papa Celestin.  Three of the musicians in the photo on the left were destined to be important names in Chicago days:  Jimmy Noone (rear, left); John Lindsay (rear, right);  Johnny St. Cyr (front, right).