Papa Jack Laine

George Vital "Papa Jack" Laine (September 21, 1873 – June 1, 1966) was an American musician and a pioneering band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish–American War to World War I. He was often credited for training many musicians who would later become successful in jazz music. Laine's Reliance Brass Band was the first to fuse European, African, and Latin music. The earliest jazz musicians can be traced back to playing in the Reliance Brass Band or being influenced by those who had. Many of the New Orleans musicians who first spread jazz around the United States in the 1910s and 1920s got their start in Laine's marching band, including the members of the Original Dixieland Jass Band.