Jazz band chord progression. The clarinet is a woodwind instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece. A clarinet player is known as an clarinetist. Originally, the clarinet was a central instrument in jazz, beginning with the New Orleans players in the 1910s. It remained a signature instrument of jazz through much of the big band era into the 1940s. Larry Shields was the clarinetist for the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the first jazz band to record commercially in 1917. The American players Ted Lewis and Jimmie Noone were pioneers of the instrument in jazz bands. The B soprano clarinet was the most common instrument,
Dixieland the term "Dixieland" is still in wide use, the term's appropriateness is a hotly debated topic in some circles. For some it is the preferred label (especially bands on the USA's West coast and those influenced by the 1940s revival bands), while others would rather use terms like "Classic jazz" or "Traditional jazz". Some of the latter consider "Dixieland" a derogatory term implying superficial hokum played without passion or deep understanding of the music and because "Dixie" is a reference to pre-Civil War Southern States. Many black musicians have traditionally rejected the term as a style distinctive from traditional jazz,