While most historians have focused on New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz, big band music was also developing in other large cities such as Chicago and New York. As early as 1905 the sounds of the modern jazz band were heard on stage in New York, with saxophones, brass instruments, drums and string instruments. Band leader James Reese Europe and his Harlem Hellfighters would later record in 1919 for the label Pathe Freres, and take the sound of the jazz big band to Europe.
Source: WNIU Radio, February 5, 2025