The Southern Rag-a-Jazz Orchestra was an early jazz band that formed in Lincoln, Nebraska by six students at the University of Nebraska, and played for a while at the Fontonelle Hotel in Omaha. In the summer of 1921 the band were one of the first to tour to Europe, playing at the Rector's Club and the Hammersmith Palais in London and the Birmingham Palais, where they performed opposite Benny Peyton's Jazz Kings and with the young Jack Payne. While in England they also recorded three sessions for Edison Bell. The band spent most of late 1921 and early 1922 in France, but most members had returned to the United States by mid 1922.