| In 1937 Ben Pollack moved to Los Angeles where he led a new band filled with fine local players plus the great cornetist Muggsy Spanier. In addition to a series of big band titles, he led a small-group from the orchestra, called Ben Pollack’s Pick-A-Rib Boys (featuring Spanier), and accompanied Connee Boswell on some of her recordings. Spanier stayed with Pollack until a serious illness knocked him out of action.
In 1947 Pollack was back playing drums, leading a Dixieland combo with the revived name of the Pick-A-Rib Boys. Pollack ran the Pick-A-Rib restaurant in Hollywood during the 1950s and early ’60s, leading a Dixieland group to perform at his establishment. His sidemen included clarinetist Barney Bigard and, for three months in 1956, his old friend Jack Teagarden. Excerpts from Ben Pollack: Profiles in Jazz, by Scott Yanow |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Alice Blue Gown (Joseph McCarthy / Harry Tierney) |
9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1546 B |
| Boogie Woogie | 9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1517 |
| California, Here I Come (Buddy Desylva / Al Jolson / Joseph Meyer) |
9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1517 |
| Can’t You Hear Me Calling, Caroline? | 9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1458 A |
| Cuddle Up A Little Closer | 9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1546 A |
| If It’s The Last Thing I Do Vocal Chorus by Peggy Mann (Sammy Cain / Saul Chaplin) |
9-21-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1465 A |
| I’m In My Glory From Universal Production “Merry Go Round of 1938”) Vocal Chorus by Peggy Mann (Harold Adamson / Jimmy McHugh) |
9-21-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1488 B |
| Morocco | 4-9-1938 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1851 A |
| My Wild Irish Rose (Chauncey Olcott) |
9-11-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1458 B |
| Nobody’s Gonna Take You From Me | 4-9-1938 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1851 B |
| The Snake-Charmer (Leonard Whiteup / Teddy Powell) |
9-21-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1488 A |
| You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want To Do It) Vocal Chorus by Peggy Mann (James V. Monaco / Joseph McCarthy) |
9-21-1937 | Los Angeles, California | Decca 1465 B |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Paula Gayle | Vocals |
| King Guion | Tenor Saxophone |
| Bob Hemphill | Guitar |
| Clyde Hurley | Trumpet |
| Ben Kanter | Clarinet |
| Bob Laine | Piano |
| Charles LaVere | Piano |
| Happy Lawson | Tenor Saxophone |
| Peggy Mann | Vocals |
| Garry McAdams | Guitar |
| Francis Palmer | String Bass |
| Ben Pollack | Drums |
| Muggsy Spanier | Trumpet |
| Slim Taft | String Bass |
| Ted Vesley | Trombone |
| Joe Yukl | Trombone |
Redhotjazz.com was a pioneering website during the "Information wants to be Free" era of the 1990s. In that spirit we are recovering the lost data from the now defunct site and sharing it with you.
Most of the music in the archive is in the form of MP3s hosted on Archive.org or the French servers of Jazz-on-line.com where this music is all in the public domain.
Files unavailable from those sources we host ourselves. They were made from original 78 RPM records in the hands of private collectors in the 1990s who contributed to the original redhotjazz.com. They were hosted as .ra files originally and we have converted them into the more modern MP3 format. They are of inferior quality to what is available commercially and are intended for reference purposes only. In some cases a Real Audio (.ra) file from Archive.org will download. Don't be scared! Those files will play in many music programs, but not Windows Media Player.
