"High Society" is a multistrain melody, originally a march copyrighted in April 1901 by Porter Steele, which has become a traditional jazz standard. The piccolo obligato is not found in Steele's first version of the song; it appears to have originated in an orchestration by Robert Recker from later in 1901. In New Orleans, Louisiana, Alphonse Picou adapted the piccolo part into a clarinet variation, sometimes considered one of the earliest documented jazz solos. The Picou variations became standard in New Orleans jazz (unusual in a form that values improvisation); many traditional jazz clarinetists from the generation just after Picou until today have copied or closely paraphrased Picou's solo, sometimes followed by their own improvisations on a second chorus. Picou himself recorded it a n