Merritt Brunies led this orchestra at the Friars Inn at 1834 Wasbash Street at Van Buren in Chicago. They got the gig after Merritt’s brother George Brunies‘ band the Friar’s Society Orchestra vacated the job in 1924. Merritt’s band stayed on at the Friar’s Inn for three years before leaving for the Cinderella Ballroom.
The Brunies family produced several jazz musicians. Henry Brunies played trombone in the Friars Inn Orchestra and another of the Brunies brothers, Abbie was the leader of the Halfway House Orchestra back home in New Orleans.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Angry (Merritt Brunies / Henry Brunies / Jules Cassard) |
11-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph 610 |
| Clarinet Marmalade (Larry Shields / Henry Ragas) |
6-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph 624 |
| Flag That Train (Richmond / McPhail / Rothschild) |
5-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph 624 |
| Flamin’ Mamie (Rose / Whiteman) |
2-26-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40579 |
| Follow The Swallow (Rose / Dixon / Henderson) |
9-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph |
| Forever With You | 3-2-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Odeon 03301 |
| Hangin’ Around (Gardner / Hamm) |
2-26-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40579 |
| (I Don’t Know Why) Weep Over You (Volly de Faut / Clarke / Straight) |
11-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph 610 |
| I’m As Blue As The Blue Grass Of Kentucky (Keithley) |
2-26-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40576 |
| Masculine Women! Feminine Men! (Lesilie / Monaco) |
3-2-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40593 |
| She’s Got ‘Em (Davis / Warren) |
11-14-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh Test |
| Someone’s Stolen My Sweet Baby (Brown / Clare / Pinkard) |
3-2-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40593 |
| Sugar Foot Stomp (King Oliver) |
11-14-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40526-B |
| Up Jumped The Devil (Merritt Brunies / Henry Brunies) |
9-1924 | Chicago, Illinois | Autograph |
| Up Jumped The Devil (Merritt Brunies / Henry Brunies) |
11-14-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh unissued |
| Up Jumped The Devil (Merritt Brunies / Henry Brunies / Hamm) |
3-2-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40618 |
| Want A Little Lovin’ Vocal Chorus by Lew King (Davis / Warren) |
11-14-1925 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40526-A |
| When Autumn Leaves Are Falling (Coslow / Silver) |
2-26-1926 | Chicago, Illinois | Okeh 40576 |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Henry Brunies | Trombone |
| Merritt Brunies | Cornet |
| Bill Creger | Tenor Saxophone, Bassoon |
| Volly de Faut | Clarinet / Alto Saxophone |
| Maurie Friedman | Piano |
| Lew King | Vocals |
| Sumner Logan | Tenor Saxophone, C-Melody Saxophone |
| Dudley Mecum | Piano |
| Bill Paley | Drums |
| Clarence Piper | Alto Saxophone, Banjo |
| Gordon Pouliot | Violin |
| Norman Van Hook | Bass Brass |
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.
