A spasm band is a musical group that plays a variety of

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

trad jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a re ...

jug band A jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of conventional and homemade instruments. These homemade instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, bones, stovepi ...

, or

skiffle Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United State ...

music. The first spasm bands were formed on the streets of New Orleans in the late nineteenth century.Hugues Panassie and Madeleine Gautier. (1954). ''Dictionary of Jazz.'' The term "spasm" applied to any band (often made up of children) who made musical instruments out of found objects not usually employed for such. The earliest band to play under the name "spasm band" in New Orleans was formed in 1895, known informally as "Stale Bread's Spasm Band" and billed as the " Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band" at semi-professional engagements, such as outside the West End Opera House.Daniel Hardie. (2002). ''Exploring Early Jazz: The Origins and Evolution of the New Orleans Style.'' They played, amongst other things, a length of gas pipe, a kettle and a fiddle made from a

cigar box A cigar box is a box container for cigar packaging. Traditionally cigar boxes have been made of wood, cardboard or paper. Spanish cedar has been described as the "best" kind of wood for cigar boxes because of its beautiful grain, fine textu ...

. The spasm band style was one ingredient in the development of instrumental New Orleans jazz. Contemporaries report that the style was imitated by adult orchestras such as the Right At 'Em Razz Band, which featured future

Original Dixieland Jass Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their " Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the ...

clarinetist

Alcide Nunez Alcide Patrick Nunez (March 17, 1884 – September 2, 1934), also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, was an American jazz clarinetist. He was one of the first musicians of New Orleans to make audio recordings. Biography Alcide Patrick Nunez wa ...

. The term "spasm band" has been revived by jazz groups the Barnstormers Spasm Band,

The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band is a seven-piece blues rhythm and blues band based in Oxford, England. The band play original material influenced by 1920s and 1930s jazz and 1940s jump blues. The band has been cited for its "extraordinar ...

, The End Times Spasm Band, and

Anthony Joseph Anthony Joseph (born 12 November 1966 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) is a British/Trinidadian poet, novelist, musician and academic. Biography Joseph was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he was raised by his grandparents. He b ...

and The Spasm Band. The term was also adopted by

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...

group The Nihilist Spasm Band.

References

Types of musical groups Jazz terminology Music of New Orleans {{band-stub