Ida Cox (February 26, 1888 or 1896 – November 10, 1967) sang in church choirs as a child in Georgia. She ran away from home in 1910 when she was a teenager and performed in minstriel and tent shows as a comedienne and singer. Sometime during this period she married a performer minstriel named Alder Cox. Ida worked her why into vaudeville and eventually became a headliner. She toured the country throughout the Teens and 1920s sometimes singing with Jazz greats like Jelly Roll Morton and with King Oliver at the Plantation Cafe in Chicago. In 1923 she began her recording contract with the Paramount label, who billed her as the Uncrowned Queen of the Blues. She recorded extensively throughout the 1920s often using pseudonyms such as Kate Lewis, Velma Bradley, Julia Powers and Jane Smith. Cox wrote many of her own songs, and had several of her own touring companies such as Raisin’ Cain and Darktown Scandals which criss-crossed the country during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Unlike many of the Classic Blues singers of the 1920s Cox continued to perform and occasionally record during the Depression. She was married to Blues pianist Jesse Crump during the 1920s and 1930s. They recorded together often for Paramount. In 1934 Cox and Bessie Smith appeared together in the musical revue Fan Waves at the Apollo Theatre. She spent most of the rest of the decade on the road until 1939 when she performed regularly at the Cafe Society night club in New York City. She also appeared in John Hammond’s Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1939. which briefly revitalized her recording career. She released records under the name of Ida Cox and her Allstar Band and Ida Cox and her Allstar Orchestra during this time period.
In the mid 1940’s she had a stroke and passed out during a performance in New York. She left show business and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee where she lived with her daughter. Some time in the 1950s she began performing again sporadically. In 1961, Cox recorded for the last time on the Riverside label. The album was called “Blues for Rampart Street”. She was accompanied by the Coleman Hawkins Quintet on this record. She died of cancer in 1967.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Alphonsia Blues (Jessie Crump / Ida Cox) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12540-B |
| Any Woman’s Blues (2) (Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12053-A |
| Any Woman’s Blues (4) (Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12053-A |
| Bama Bound Blues (1) (Ida Cox / Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12045-A |
| Bama Bound Blues (2) (Ida Cox / Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12045-A |
| Bear-Mash Blues (Ida Cox / Jessie Crump) | 12-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12087-B |
| Blue Monday Blues (DeSylva / Gershwin / Goetz) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12053-B |
| Bone Orchard Blues (Ida Cox) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12664-A |
| Booze Crazy Man (Ida Cox) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12677-A |
| Broadcasting Blues | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12677-B |
| Chattanooga Blues (1) (Lee Allen / Lovie Austin) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12063-B |
| Chattanooga Blues (3) (Lovie Austin) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12063-B |
| Chattanooga Blues (4) (Lovie Austin) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12063-B |
| Chicago Bound Blues (Famous Migration Blues) (2) Lovie Austin Piano Accompaniment (Ida Cox / Williams) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12056-A |
| Chicago Bound Blues (Famous Migration Blues) (3) Lovie Austin Piano Accompaniment (Ida Cox / Williams) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12056-A |
| Chicago Bound Blues (Famous Migration Blues) (4) Lovie Austin Piano Accompaniment (Ida Cox) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12056-A |
| Coffin Blues (Aletha Dickerson / Rose Taylor) | 9-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12318-A |
| Cold And Blue Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Ida Cox) | 9-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12556-A |
| Crow Jane Woman (Ida Cox) | 8-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12738-A |
| Fogyism Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Jesse Crump) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12690-A |
| ‘Fore Day Creep Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Jesse Crump) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12488-A |
| Georgia Hound Blues (Chas J. Parker) | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12263-B | |
| Give Me A Break Blues (Ida Cox / Mae Collins) | 10-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12582-B |
| Gypsy Glass Blues Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Jesse Crump) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12488-B |
| Hard Oh Lawd Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Ida Cox) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 1250-A Broadway 5016 |
| How Long Daddy (Ida Cox) | 9-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12325 |
| I Love My Man Better Than I Love Myself Lovie Austin Piano Accompaniment (Ida Cox) | 7-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12056-B |
| I’m So Glad (Skip James) | 10-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12965 |
| Jail House Blues (Bessie Smith / Clarence Williams) | 10-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12965 |
| Lost Man Blues (Ida Cox) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12513-A |
| Lovin’ Is The Thing I’m Wild About (1) Lovie Austin at the Piano (Ida Cox / Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12045-B |
| Lovin’ Is The Thing I’m Wild About (2) Lovie Austin at the Piano (Ida Cox / Lovie Austin) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12045-B |
| Marble Stone Blues (Ida Cox) | 8-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12738-B |
| Mercy Blues Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump (Ida Cox) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12502-B |
| Midnight Hour Blues (Ida Cox / Mae Collins) | 10-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12582-A |
| Mojo Hand Blues (Ida Cox / Jesse Crump) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12540-A |
| Pleading Blues (Ida Cox) | 7-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12513-B |
| Rambling Blues (Ida Cox / Emma McClure) | 9-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12318-B |
| Separated Blues (Ida Cox) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12727-B |
| Seven Day Blues Piano Accompaniment Jesse Crump | 9-1927 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12556-B |
| Sobbing Tears Blues (Ida Cox) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12727-A |
| Someday Blues (Jesse Crump) | 4-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12282 |
| Those Married Man Blues (Rose Taylor / Alberta Dickerson) | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12263-A | |
| Tree Top Tall Papa | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12690-B |
| Weary Way Blues (Lovie Austin / Ida Cox) | 6-1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12044 |
| Western Union Blues (Mary Johnson) | 7-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12664-B |
| Worn Down Daddy Blues | 8-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12704-A |
| You Stole My Man | 8-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12704-B |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Lovie Austin | Piano |
| Jessie Crump | Piano |
| Papa Charlie Jackson | Banjo |
| Dave Nelson ? | Cornet |
| Roy Palmer | Trombone |
| Tiny Parham | Piano |
| B.T. Wingfield ? | Cornet |
