Director · Editor
Andrew Homzy
Professor Emeritus, Concordia University. Discoverer of Mingus' Epitaph (1984); Grammy nominee for liner notes on the Mingus Atlantic recordings.
The 37 recordings of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, 1923.
An annotated full edition of one of the foundational documents of recorded jazz — restored as score and parts for scholars, performers, and the next generation of listeners.
01
The Project
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band changed the course of American music in 1923. Their recordings have never received the critical edition they deserve.
Recorded for Gennett, Paramount, Columbia, and OKeh between April and December 1923 — in Richmond, Indiana and Chicago — these are the sessions where a 21-year-old Louis Armstrong played second cornet beside his mentor. They capture collective improvisation at its peak: the moment jazz became jazz, before it turned toward the soloist-focused music that followed.
This project will publish, for the first time, the complete 37 sides the band made that year — as annotated full scores, playable performance parts, and a living, editable digital archive. The work is being undertaken in close collaboration with the Library of Congress and the University of Chicago Jazz Archives, drawing on period sheet music sources from publishers including Melrose Music of Chicago to inform a more accurate and complete transcription of each piece.
Our method pairs technology with deep expertise. Modern audio stem-separation tools isolate each musician's part from the dense, century-old recordings — letting us hear Lil Hardin's piano, Johnny Dodds' clarinet, or Baby Dodds' drums on their own — while a team of world-class expert transcribers renders those parts into precise, performance-ready notation.
All of the music is in the public domain. The edition will be made available without the rental and pricing restrictions that have limited the reach of comparable scholarly editions.
02
The Work
Volumes I & II
Annotated Full Scores
All 37 sides in complete seven-part scores in concert pitch, with informed reconstructions of indistinct passages — expanded to nine parts with presumptive double bass and drum set. Published in two volumes by session — Gennett & Paramount (16 sides) and Columbia & OKeh (21 sides) — with editorial notes and historical context.
Concert pitch · two volumes
Volume III
Performance Parts
A playable working edition: all parts in their appropriate transpositions, with performance-practice guidance and options for authentic or modern instrumentation — prepared so the music can leave the page and return to the bandstand.
For ensembles, students, scholars
Digital · Open Source
Open-Source Editing
Following publication, editable MusicXML files will be released freely worldwide, allowing interested transcribers to propose corrections and refinements. A transparent editorial process, sharing accepted edits posted as public errata — an innovation in critical-edition publishing.
MusicXML · errata posted publicly
03
Sample · "Just Gone"
The very first piece King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recorded — at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana, on April 5, 1923 (Gennett 11383-B, credited to Oliver and Bill Johnson). A few pieces of ephemera survive around it: the 1923 copyright deposit, an early transcription draft, and a lead sheet drawn from it.
Copyright deposit, 1923Copyright deposit card and © notation sent to the Library of Congress — only the melody can be copyrighted, not the chord progression.
Working transcriptionSample pre-draft from the recording, KOCJB · April 5, 1923
Lead sheetFrom a traditional jazz fakebook — melody and changes drawn from a combination of the 1923 copyright sheet and transcription from the recording.
Listen · stem mixer
Inside the recording
Source separation lets us pull the seven-piece band apart, part by part — Lil Hardin's piano (the line we transcribe), the two cornets of Oliver and Armstrong, Honoré Dutrey's trombone, Johnny Dodds' clarinet, Bill Johnson's banjo, and Baby Dodds' drums. Every stem is tuned to concert pitch (A = 440). Solo any one to hear it in isolation, or balance them back into the ensemble as it sat on the 1923 Gennett disc — each fader reshapes its stem's waveform, so you can see the mix as you set it.
0:00 / 0:00
PianoLil Hardin
0 dB
CornetsOliver · Armstrong
0 dB
TromboneHonoré Dutrey
0 dB
ClarinetJohnny Dodds
0 dB
BanjoBill Johnson
0 dB
DrumsBaby Dodds
0 dB
04
Team
The edition is being prepared by a small team of musicians, transcribers, and scholars, in close collaboration with archival partners holding original source materials. After publication, the open-source editing process will invite the wider community of jazz scholars and performers into the work.
The Team
Transcription · Editor
Logan Moore
Composer, arranger, and saxophonist (B.M. Jazz Studies, UNT). Columbus Jazz Orchestra; principal transcriber for the edition.
Transcription · Editor · Tech
Charles Chen
Bay Area jazz pianist, composer, and educator. Transcription and editing, developer of the transcription technology behind this edition, and webmaster of the project.
Transcription · Piano
Tom Roberts
American pianist; specialist in stride and early jazz piano. Has toured with Leon Redbone and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
Transcription · Drums
Nicholas D. Ball
London-based drummer and historian. Author of Drums in the Twenties; specialist in the period drum kit.
Transcription · Banjo
Cem Karayalcin
Dutch jazz banjoist/guitarist (Conservatorium van Amsterdam). Performs with The Fried Seven across Europe.
Archive Partners
Archive
Library of Congress
Copyright deposits, period source materials
Archive
University of Chicago Jazz Archives
Chicago publishers, Melrose Music holdings
05
Help bring this edition into print
The project has been personally financed to date. To complete the remaining transcriptions, critical commentary, and publication, we are seeking partners — institutional, philanthropic, and individual.
All contributions go directly to the editorial work, the archive licensing where applicable, and the production of a printed edition alongside the open-source files.
i.
Fund a piece
Sponsor the transcription of one of the 37 sides
Learn more →
ii.
Institutional partnership
Foundations, presses, conservatories, festivals
Discuss →
iii.
Scholarship and writing
Contribute to the critical commentary and notes
Get involved →
iv.
Transcription review
Once published, propose edits to the open-source parts
Join the list →
06
Get in touch
For funding, partnership, scholarly contribution, or transcription review — write to andrew.homzy@gmail.com.
We respond personally to every inquiry.