Original Dixieland Jass Band was a tribute to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who were featured on the cover. When the New Orleans Jazz style swept New York by storm in 1917 with the arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Jimmy Durante was part of the audience at Reisenweber's Cafe on Columbus Circle when ODJB played that venue. Durante was very impressed with the band and invited them to play at a club called the Alamo in Harlem where Jimmy played piano. Durante had his friend, Johnny Stein (the previous drummer and leader of the group), assemble a group of like-minded New Orleans
Bop City War II. While modern jazz, whether in the form of swing or bebop, was popular on Los Angeles' Central Avenue, San Francisco was at the time a haven of traditional jazz (also known as Dixieland). In the 1940s and early 1950s, the Bay Area scene was dominated by Dixieland revival bands such as Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band. In the late 1940s, however, new clubs emerged in the Tenderloin and North Beach districts, which changed the music scene in the city. Bop City emerged from the short-lived club Vout City, run by Slim Gaillard on the same premises. Gaillard