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 the Real Audio files will immediately download when you click them. Don’t be frightened. 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
The Gulf Coast Seven were a series of recording sessions organized by Perry Bradford. “Daylight Savin’ Blues” features several members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Title
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Hold ‘Er Deacon (June Clark / Willie “The Lion” Smith) 10-1923 New York, New York Pathe 36364 Perfect 14545 Keep
Willie “The Lion” Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973) was one of the fathers of the stride piano style. During the 1920s he
Beulah “Sippie” Thomas (November 1, 1898 – November 1, 1986) grew up in Houston, Texas where she sang and played the piano in her father’s
Eddie Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was one of the gang of young white Chicago jazz musicians in the 1920s. He started
The 1928 version of this band featured the same personnel as Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven records. Their recordings are generally considered to be among Louis Armstrong’s
The Coon Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra was formed in 1919 and was at its peak between 1926 and 1932. The Orchestra was assembled by Carleton Coon
Isham Jones (January 31, 1894 – October 19, 1956) led one of the finest dance bands of the 1920s and wrote many hits, notably “It
The Kit-Cat was a nightclub in the Haymarket, in London’s West End. The band was sponsored by Jack Hylton and led by Al Starita, who
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company A Melody From The Sky (Featured In The Paramount film “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine”) Vocal refrain by
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Ja Da Orchestra selected by Hugues Panassie (Bob Carleton) 11-28-1938 New York, New York Bluebird B-10086-B Really The Blues
Although he was a decent clarinetist and saxophonist, Mezz Mezzrow (November 9, 1899 – August 5, 1972) is remembered today primarily for his autobiography “Really
Erskine Tate (January 14, 1895-December 17, 1978, the original RHJ Archive had the dates wrong) was a violinist and leader of a band that played
Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra is one of the early examples of what would come to be called Big Band music. The band was retained by the
Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven were the companion sessions of the Hot Five sides. The personnel is the same as the first Hot Five records except that
Harry Reser (January 17, 1896 – September 27, 1965) was perhaps the greatest banjoist of the 1920s if not the greatest banjoist of all time.
Thanks to Geoffery J. Orr and Uncle Dave Lewis for their help with the recordings on this page. Also See: Lopez and Hamilton’s Kings of
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Arkansas Blues (Spencer Williams) 12-7-1921 New York, New York Regal 9164 Emerson 10496 Aunt Hagar’s Children Blues (W.C. Handy)
Vernon and Irene Castle were dancers who made a name for themselves in Europe performing Ragtime dances like the Texas Tommy, the Turkey Trot and
Wilbur Sweatman‘s (February 7, 1882 – March 9, 1961) musical career reads like the history of African-Americans in popular music. He got his professional start
Pianist and bandleader, Bennie Moten (November 13, 1894 – April 2, 1935) helped to establish what is called the Kansas City Jazz style. In 1922
Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra was the most successful Jazz band of the Midwest. The band toured all over the country and had a top
The Blue Devils were an early Kansas City Jazz band, several members of this band would go on to and play in Bennie Moten’s Kansas City
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Black Maria with vocal refrain by George Bias (Fred Rose) 7-3-1930 New York, New Yorks Victor V-38146-B Chinnin’ And
