These are the first recordings made by W.C. Handy. He was forty-three years old at the time that these records were made in 1917. Handy performs “Livery Stable Blues” which is a cover version of the Original Dixieland Jass Band’s big hit record that was recorded just seven months earlier and is generally considered to have been the first Jazz record.
Handy’s was probably the second African-American band to make jazz records. Wilbur Sweatman and his Jass Band recorded three records for the Pathe label in April of 1917.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| A Bunch O Blues (H. Alf Kelly / J. Paul Wyer) | 9-24-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2418 Columbia 2911 |
| Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag (Al Morton) | 9-21-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2421 Columbia 2910 |
| Livery Stable Blues (Yellow Nuņez / Ray Lopez) | 9-25-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2419 Columbia 2912 |
| Moonlight Blues (Deane) | 9-22-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2418 Columbia 2914 |
| Ole Miss Rag (W.C. Handy) | 9-22-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2420 Columbia 2913 |
| Sweet Child Introducing “Pallet On The Floor” (1. J. Ewing / Stovall 3. Pace / W.C. Handy) | 9-25-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2417 |
| That “Jazz” Dance (The Jazz Dance Everybody Is Crazy ‘Bout) (W. Benton Overstreet) | 9-22-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2419 Columbia 2912 |
| The Hooking Cow Blues (Douglas Williams) | 9-24-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2420 Columbia 2913 |
| The Old Town Pump (Albert Von Tilzer) | 9-22-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2417 Columbia 2911 |
| The Snaky Blues (Will Nash) | 9-22-1917 | New York, New York | Columbia A2421 Columbia 2910 |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Edward Alexander | Violin |
| Sylvester Bevard | Trombone |
| Henry Graves | Cello |
| W.C. Handy | Cornet , Director |
| Charles Harris | Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone |
| Charles Hillman | Piano |
| Darnell Howard | Violin |
| Nelson Kincaid | Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone |
| Alex Poole | Clarinet, Alto Saxophone |
| Wilson Townes | Clarinet, Alto Saxophone |
| Jasper Taylor | Drums, Xylophone |
| William Tyler | Violin |
| Archie Walls | Bass Brass, String Bass |
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.
