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
Thanks to Owen Miller for his help with this page Title Recording Date Recording Location Company All Muggled Up Vocal refrain by Frank Myers (Jack
Thanks to Owen Miller for his help with this page. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Black And Blue Bottom (Eddie Lang / Joe Venuti) 9-29-1926 New
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company A Blues Serenade (Frank Signorelli / Jimmy Lytell / Vincent Grande) 9-1926 New York, New York Pathe Actuelle 36523 Perfect
Pianist Frank Signorelli (May 24, 1901 – December 9, 1975) started the band the Original Memphis Five with Phil Napoleon in 1917. It was one of the most
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Bugle Call Rag (Jack Pettis / Billy Meyers / Elmer Schoebel) 5-22-1929 New York, New York Okeh 41410 Freeze
The following recordings were released under the names of Joe Venuti’s Blue Four, Blue Five or Blue Six depending on the number of musicians used on the
Joe Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was the first great violinist of Jazz. The music he made with Eddie Lang would later be
Bing Crosby and Al Rinker had been together in a Jazz band in Spokane, Washington while in college. The band was so popular that the
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Crying For The Carolines (Lewis / Warren / Young) 1-4-1930 New York, New York Okeh 41359 Have A Little
Arthur Schutt (November 21, 1902 – January 28, 1965) began his professional music career in 1915, accompanying silent movies on the piano. In 1918 he
The Ross De Luxe Syncopaters were a group out of Miami, Florida that once had Cootie Williams and Edmond Hall in the band. The group
These all-star recording sessions were released under a variety of different names that tagged the names of Jack Bland, Eddie Condon and Billy Banks in front of the
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company After You’ve Gone (Henry Creamer / J. Turner Layton) 7-15-1930 London, England Decca I’m Just Wild About Harry (Noble
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Angry (George Brunies / Jules Cassard / Abbie Brunies / Mecum) 9-13-1934 New York, New York Decca 183 A Beau-Koo
The Cafe Society was a nightclub operated by Barney Josephson who sold his New Jersey shoe store to enter the nightclub business and try out
Jimmy Yancey (February 20, 1894, 1895,or 1901 – September 17, 1951) was a native of Chicago and learned to play piano from his elder brother,
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Muttering Fritz 10-1-1918 Paris, France Disque Pathé The Darktown Strutter’s Ball (Shelton Brooks) 10-1-1918 Paris, France Disque Pathé 8270
Joe Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 10, 1938) is one of the most important figures in early Jazz. (The 1881 birthdate is taken from
For information about King Oliver and his other groups:Joe “King” Oliver (1885-1938)Joseph “King” Oliver: Profiles in JazzKing Oliver’s Creole Jazz BandKing Oliver’s Dixie SyncopatorsKing Oliver’s
In 1929 King Oliver signed a contract with Victor Talking Machine Company. These sessions turned out to be his last recordings as a band leader. Oliver had
After the breakup of King Oliver’s great Creole Jazz Band, Oliver rebounded with the Dixie Syncopators after a brief stint with the Dave Peyton Orchestra at the Plantation Cafe. The
Richard M. Jones’ Four Hot Hounds played at Abadie’s in New Orleans between 1909-1911. King Oliver sometimes replaced Sugar Johnny Smith on cornet. The band never recorded, but Jones, Oliver and
Edmonia Henderson (c. 1898 or 1900 – February 17, 1947) was an American classic female blues singer. She was active as a recording artist in the
This is thought to be the only recording of Jelly Roll Morton’s touring band. All of his other records represent groups of musicians assembled just for the
