Redhotjazz.com was a crown jewel of the early internet. Starting in the mid ’90s it made the offline discographies and biographies of early jazz available to the online public. It also hosted thousands of audio files donated by people who were digitizing their 78 RPM record collections, making many obscure recordings available for the first time. This all started long before Youtube and even before Wikipedia was much more than an idea.
We are duplicating the content of the Red Hot Jazz Archive from a snapshot saved in Archive.org’s Wayback Machine. Keeping with both the original intent and mission of Redhotjazz.org everything will be publicly available outside of our paywall. For ease of use we are improving each entry to meet the norms of the phone friendly modern internet.
The downloadable music files are mostly MP3s but some are in the ancient Real Audio (.ra) format. Rather than opening a new tab so you can stream or download them like the mp3 files will the Real Audio files will download when you click. You don’t need Real Audio player to play them but they won’t work on Windows Media Player. We recommend the free and open source VLC player.
For more information read: About the Archive
Busse’s Buzzards was a “hot” side project of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Whiteman‘s trumpet player Henry Busse was the leader of this recording session. Busse stayed with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra until 1928 when
In 1917 this band cut nine titles for Edison, all issued on Blue Amberol as well as Diamond Disc. It was among the first to
Henry Busse was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1916 where he found work playing trumpet in a movie theatre pit
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Block And Tackle 3-30-1932 New York, New York Banner 32435 Oriole 8137 Artist Instrument W.E. Burton Piano, Vocals Bob
Thanks to J.E. Knox for his help with this page. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company All Over You 6-10-1929 Richmond, Indiana Gennett 6918 Crossin’
The song “Dustin’ The Keys” features both Jimmy Blythe and Buddy Burton playing on one piano simultaneously. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Block And Tackle Blues (W.E.
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company London Blues (Jelly Roll Morton) 10-1923 Chicago, Illinois Okeh 8105-B Someday Sweatheart (J.C. Spikes ) 10-1923 Chicago, Illinois Okeh
Multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Buddy Burton appeared on a quite a few 1920s Chicago South Side Jazz and Blues records as vocalist and playing drums, washboard,
Pianist Peck Kelley led this influential territory band in Texas in the 1920s. Kelley’s style was said to be ahead of his time and more
Paul Mares was from New Orleans and a childhood friend of Leon Roppolo and Abbie and George Brunies. While still a teenager Mares played in Tom Brown‘s band and with
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings Gennett recordings were a big influence on many of the white bands and musicians of the 1920s. In 1920, Paul Mares and George
Leon Roppolo was considered a genius by his contemporaries and like Bix Beiderbecke and Buddy Bolden he was another of the tragic young men of early Jazz. He is
Little is known about the life of Alberta Brown, but she made this excellent Blues record in 1928. She is backed up by members of
“Papa” Jack Laine is often credited with being the first White Jazz musician. He was a drummer and saxophonist. He formed his first brass band
The Halfway House Orchestra was named after a dancehall called the Halfway House that was halfway between New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. The group was
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
Trombone player George Brunies got his start at age eight playing with Papa Jack Laine‘s band and later went on to play with Laine’s son Alfred
Also See: Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) & Sidney Bechet: Profiles in Jazz Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Chant In The Night (Sidney Bechet) 11-16-1938 New York,
This Clarence Williams produced session is Sidney Bechet‘s first record. It was released under the name of Rosetta Crawford accompanied by King Bechet Trio. Bechet plays some very soulful clarinet and
The New Orleans Feetwarmers 1932 sides are the epitome of Hot Jazz. Sidney Bechet‘s soprano sax playing is nothing short of amazing on the song Shag. Ernest Meyers’s
In 1917 Tommy Ladnier moved north to Chicago from New Orleans, and found work in a touring band. In 1921 he moved to St. Louis
In 1913 there was a famous vaudeville stuttering comedian and dancer called Joe Frisco. His act Frisco and McDermott was playing in New Orleans and
This band was organized by drummer Johnny Stein after Stein’s Dixie Jass Band broke up and became the Original Dixieland Jass Band. It is interesting to note that
In 1915, New Orleans band leader Johnny Stein formed this band to take North to Chicago for a gig at the Booster Club at the
Like most early White New Orleans Jazz musicians, trombonist Tom Brown was a veteran of Papa Jack Laine’s Reliance Brass Band. Around 1910 he organized his own
Bessie Brown, like so many other female classic Blues singers of the 1920s. had a background in vaudeville and musical theatre. Throughout the 1920s she
Perry Bradford was a singer, songwriter, pianist and vaudeville and minstrel performer who forever changed the sound of American popular music by convincing Okeh Records
These are Benny Goodman‘s first records under his own name. Benny was eighteen at the time. The January of 1928 session was released as Benny Goodman’s
Born into a large, poverty stricken family, Benny began playing the clarinet at an early age. He was associated with the Austin High School Gang,
Ben Pollack was one of the more successful White band leaders of the late 1920s. His orchestras featured many future Jazz stars such as Glenn
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.
Ben Pollack was on sessions during 1928-29 released under the names of the Hotsy Totsy Gang, Jimmy McHugh’s Bostonians, Ben’s Bad Boys, and the Louisville
(Excerpt from Ben Pollack: Profile in Jazz, by Scott Yanow) Unfortunately Ben Pollack was still thinking of himself as a singer (he had a weak
Returning to Chicago with the nucleus of the group, Ben Pollack soon had success playing at hotels. He landed a recording contract with the Victor
1928 was notable for two major events in Ben Pollack’s life. In March he moved his band to New York where they had a base
Also see: In 1920 Mamie Smith’s Crazy Blues paved the way for Black Music Title Artist Recording Date Company Memphis Blues (W.C. Handy) Victor Military
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who billed themselves “The Creators of Jazz”, have long been been dismissed as the White guys who copied African-American music,
Trombonist Jack Carey was the older brother of Thomas “Pappa Mutt” Carey, the leader of the Crescent City Orchestra, and the author of perhaps the most
Frankie Dusen Jr. became the trombonist in Buddy Bolden‘s band in 1906 and took over the group after Bolden went insane in 1907. He re-named the group the Eagle Band after
Buddy Bolden is generally considered to be the first bandleader to play the improvised music which later became know as Jazz. He was the first
The Eagle Band was a very important band in the history of Jazz. When Buddy Bolden went insane in 1907, Frankie Dusen took over Buddy Bolden’s Band and renamed it the
Hardcore might be the best way to describe the Blues singing of Lucille Bogan. While many of the Classic Blues singers of the 1920s tackled
Irving Mills was born in New York City, in the Jewish ghetto on the East Side in 1894 to Jewish parents. His mother and father
Gertrude Pridgett was born into a showbiz family that performed in minstrel shows. She first appeared onstage in 1900, singing and dancing in minstrel and
Multi-instrumentalist Peter Bocage was one of the great trumpeters in New Orleans history and ironically did not consider himself a jazz player, rather a ragtime
In 1915 Jimmy Blythe moved from his native Kentucky to Chicago. He was an accomplished musician and composer and found a great deal of work
Banjoist and guitarist Jack Bland is best remembered as the banjoist for the Mound City Blue Blowers which he co-founded with Red McKenzie in St. Louis. By 1924 the
Blues singer Esther Bigeou was a cousin of drummer Paul Barbarin which made her part of one of the most musical families in New Orleans in
Red McKenzie (1899-1948) and Eddie Condon: Profiles in Jazz Title Recording Date Recording Location Company China Boy (Dick Winfree / Phil Boutelje) 12-8-1927 Chicago, Illinois Okeh
Bubber Miley was the master of the plunger mute. His growling, drunken wah-wah sounding trumpet playing was largely responsible for Duke Ellington ‘s early success and
When the Hollywood Club on West 49th Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway in New York reopened in the spring of 1925 it did so
In September of 1923 Elmer Snowden‘s Washington Black Sox Orchestra landed a six month gig at the Hollywood Club in Manhattan. After about three months
Percussionist and xylophonist Jimmy Bertrand moved to Chicago in 1913 and played in the State Theatre Orchestra before joining Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra from 1918 to
The word child prodigy doesn’t even begin to describe Vic Berton who was playing drums in a Milwaukee pit orchestra at the age of seven.
Entry for Paul Whiteman. Entry for Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra Title Recording Date Recording Location Company A Bench in the Park (1) (Milton Ager / Jack
Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra was the most popular band of the 1920s and represented the apex of jazz to the general public. Over the
Paul Whiteman‘s Orchestra was the most popular band of the 1920s. They are also the most controversial to Jazz historians because Whiteman billed himself as
The Brox Sisters were a close harmony vocal group of three sisters. They where born in Kentucky and Tennesse but grew up in Edmonton, Alberta,
This page by Dennis Pereyra: On October 23, 1928, a deal was made with Carl Laemmle and Nat Goldstone of Universal Studios for Paul Whiteman to
Elmer Snowden contributed greatly to jazz in its earlier days as both a player and a bandleader, and is responsible for launching the careers of
William McKinney, showman-drummer, formed his Cotton Pickers in Springfield, Ohio in 1922, but it was not until the summer of 1928 that they commenced their
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company About Rip Van Winkle 1-17-1940 New York, New York Bluebird B-10615 After Sundown 11-14-1933 New York, New York Melotone
Don Redman is one of the first great jazz arrangers and was a pivotal figure in the development of Swing and the Big Band style
Eddie Lang was the first Jazz guitar virtuoso. A boyhood friend of Joe Venuti, Lang took violin lessons for 11 years but switched to guitar
Red Nichols and his Five Pennies were one of the most popular bands of the New York Jazz scene of the 1920s. They recorded under a
By 1917 Earl Fuller led a society dance band at the popular Rector’s Restaurant in New York City called Earl Fuller’s Rector Novelty Orchestra. Their
For a band biography see entries for Earl Fuller’s Famous Jazz Band & Earl Fuller’s Rector Novelty Orchestra. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Ain’t We
Ted Lewis and his Band was one of the best selling Jazz bands of the 1920s and Lewis was Columbia Records best selling artist. Lewis got his start
By 1917 Earl Fuller led a society dance band at the popular Rector’s Restaurant in New York City called Earl Fuller’s Rector Novelty Orchestra. Their
Clarinetist Ted Lewis was born in Circleville, Ohio in 1890 and was playing leading bands in Ohio as early as 1910. Ted formed a musical
The Original Indiana Five were not from Indiana. Their name was an apparent attempt to sound like other bands of the day that had names
Red was the leader of the Mound City Blue Blowers, in which he played comb, kazoo, and sang. Later, he went on to play with the Paul
Here’s how Red Mckenzie tells of the birth of The Mound City Blue Blowers. In 1923, Red was back in his home town, St. Louis, the ‘Mound
Symphony in Black, A Rhapsody of Black Life is Duke Ellington‘s second movie. It was directed by Fred Waller for Adolph Zukor at Paramount Pictures and
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra is perhaps the greatest of all Jazz bands. The group stayed together for over fifty years and recorded and wrote some
Duke Ellington‘s stay at the Cotton Club has become one of the enduring legends of Jazz. Movies, songs and books have celebrated the orchestra’s residency at
and then 