In 1915 Jimmy Blythe (May 20, 1901 – June 14, 1931) moved from his native Kentucky to Chicago. He was an accomplished musician and composer and found a great deal of work as a pianist for Paramount, Vocalion and Gennett. Blythe’s style of playing was influenced by Clarence M. Jones who was his piano teacher.
Blythe was very prolific and accompanied many Jazz and Blues artists such as Ma Rainey and Blind Blake on their recordings. He also produced hundreds of piano rolls for use in nickelodeons for the Capitol Music Roll Company of Chicago. He led dozens of recording sessions, often with Southside musicians like Jimmy Bertrand or Johnny Dodds.
Blythe is considered one of the first Boogie Woogie style piano players, but he was a versatile musician who could handle many diverse styles. The song “Chicago Stomp” is generally considered to be the first recorded example of Boogie Woogie. He died suddenly of epidemic meningitis in 1931.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Alley Rat (Jimmy Blythe) | 3-23-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Vocalion 1181 |
| Armour Ave. Struggle (Jimmy Blythe) | 4-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12207 |
| Chicago Stomp (Jimmy Blythe) | 4-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12207 |
| Fat Meat And Greens (Jimmy Blythe) | 7-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12304 |
| Jimmie Blues (Jimmy Blythe) | 7-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12304 |
| Lovin’s Been Here And Gone To Mecca Flat (Robinson / Jimmy Blythe / Williams) | 5-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12370-B |
| Mr.Freddie Blues (H. Shayne) | 5-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Paramount 12370-A |
| Sweet Papa (Jimmy Blythe) | 3-23-1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Vocalion 1181 |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Barney Google (Rose / Conrad) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Columbia 607 |
| Girl Of My Dreams | 1927 or 1928 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 4189 |
| (I’d Love To Call You) My Sweetheart (Brown / Schraubstader) | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5835 | |
| I’ve Got The Yes! We Have No Banana Blues (Frank Silver / Irving Cohn) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5332 |
| Last Night On The Back Porch (Brown / Schraubstader) | 1923 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5343 |
| Me Too | 1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5851 |
| Mr. Freddie Blues (J.H. Shayne) | ? | Chicago, Illinois | National Piano Co. |
| Regal Stomp (Jimmy Blythe) | 3-20-1931 | Chicago, Illinois | Capitol Music Roll Co. |
| Regal Stomp (Jimmy Blythe) | 3-20-1931 | Chicago, Illinois | Capitol Music Roll Co. |
| Say It While Dancing (Henry Davis / Abner Silver) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5235 |
| Shake That Thing (Charlie Jackson) | 1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5701 |
| Sweet Indiana Home (Walter Donaldson) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Columbia 395 |
| The Sneak (Nacio Herb Brown) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Supertone 5245 |
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.
