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This black-and-white formal band portrait is a significant document of early jazz history, depicting one of the most influential ensembles of the early 1920s Chicago scene — King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. The musicians pose with their instruments — drums, trombone, trumpet, slide trumpet, bass, banjo, clarinet, and piano — dressed formally in suits and bow ties, with Lil Hardin Armstrong seated at the piano on the far right. Mutes and other accessories sit visible on the floor in the foreground. A photographer's studio imprint, "Daguerre Chicago," appears in the lower right.

Handwritten captions along the bottom margin identify the musicians left to right as Baby Dodds, Honoré Dutrey, Joe Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bill Johnson (mislabeled in the caption as Pops Foster), Johnny Dodds, and Lil Hardin Armstrong.