1917 in music

Events

• First Jazz recordings made by the Original Dixieland Jass Band
• First African American jazz recordings made by Wilber Sweatman's Band

Top Hits

• "Rockaway" by Howard Johnson[?]
• "Huckleberry Finn" by Cliff Hess[?]
• "My Sunshine Jane" by Keirn Brennan[?]
• "The Bombo-Shay" by Henry Creamer
• "Indiana" by Ballard MacDonald[?]
• "Hawaiian Butterfly" by George Little[?]
• "Lily of the Valley" by L.W. Gilbert
• "Some Sunday Morning" by Gus Kahn[?]
• "Livery Stable Blues" by Alcide Nunez & Ray Lopez[?]
• "At the Darktown Strutters Ball" by Shelton Brooks

Hit Recordings

• "Livery Stable Blues/Dixie Jass One Step" by the Original Dixieland Jass Band

Births

• January 10 - Jerry Wexler[?], record producer
• March 17 - Nat King Cole (+ 1965)
• March 26 - Rufus Thomas[?]
• May 28 - Papa John Creach[?], Hot Tuna
• June 30 - Lena Horne[?]
• August 22 - John Lee Hooker
• October 6 - Bob Neal[?], ex-Presley manager
• October 10 - Thelonius Monk
• October 21 - Dizzy Gillespie

Deaths

• April 1 - Scott Joplin