I’ve been listening to a series of recordings of Wilbur Sweatman and his Jass Band which are some of the earliest Jazz recordings ever. The first recordings were made by "The Original Dixieland Jass Band".

Fred at the SOTW sez, "The conventional wisdom is that saxes weren’t incorporated into Dixieland bands till 1920 or so. You will find several 1917 recordings by Wilbur Sweatman’s band (Black musicians, but out of Chicago not New Orleans) featuring a bass sax. This is about as old a jazz recording as you can find. Storyville was closed down in 1917, therefore it’s unlikely that the bass was used there.

Jazz bands played in cafes and dance halls in Storyville, not in the "sporting houses" which featured piano players. By the way, the Redhot jazz.com site is an incredible encyclopedia of early jazz – with audio!"

I love to listen to the closest thing we have (in Seattle) to original Jazz the Uptown, Lowdown Jazz Band. I try to attend whenever the band is on the Eastside which is at least twice a year. But I only go if Paul Woltz is playing that Buescher bass sax of his.  :o)