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
Richard Myknee Jones (13 June 1892 – 8 December 1945) was from a musical family in New Orleans and played a variety of instruments before
Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon (March 3, 1896 or 1897 – May 15, 1953) was a vaudeville singer, comedian and female impersonator. His nickname of “Half
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company As Long As I Have You (Harbach / Lewis / Simon) 6-21-1926 New York, New York Okeh 40675-B How
What’s The Use Of Lovin’? was released under the name of Anna Oliver and Young’s Creole Jazz Band. All of the other recordings were released under
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Golden Lily Blues Vocal Chorus by Kid Punch (Francois Moseley / Punch Miller) 11-2-1930 Chicago, Illinois Melotone M 12009
New Orleans native Jimmie Noone led this band at the Apex Club on the second floor of 330 East 35th Street in Chicago’s Southside from 1928
Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) is considered one of the best clarinetists of the Twenties. His style differs from the other
Paramount 12747 was released under the name of the Clarence Jones and his Orchestra and Okeh 8404 was released under the name of Clarence Jones
This record was released on the Harmograph label as Ethel Mayes accompanied by Clarence Wright at the piano with the Harmograph Trio. Also see: Clarence Jones
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in April 1906, Alex Hill (April 22, 1906 – February 1937), the eldest son of an African Episcopalian minister and
Helen Savage’s only other recordings were with Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra Title Recording Date Recording Location Company For Just A Little Love From You 8-21-1929
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Congo Love Song 9-23-1929 Chicago, Illinois Brunswick BR7115 Easy Rider 9-23-1929 Chicago, Illinois Brunswick BR7127 Storybook Ball 9-23-1929 Chicago,
Omer Simeon (July 21, 1902 – September 17, 1959) and his family moved from New Orleans to Chicago in 1914 and like so many other great
Earl Hines has been called the first modern jazz pianist. His style differed from other pianists of the Twenties in his use of what were
Zutty Singleton (May 14, 1898 – July 14, 1975) was one of the most influential drummers of early Jazz. He popularized the use of brushes
Unlike most early Jazz musicians who called themselves Doc or Professor, Charles L. Cooke (September 3, 1891 – December 25, 1958), really had a doctorate
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company All By Yourself In The Moonlight 12-13-1928 London, England Parlophone R-252 Kismit K-705 Bandana Days From “Shuffle Along” Featuring Sidney
Not to be confused with Johnny Dunn’s Jazz Hounds, Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds, or the several other similarly named groups. Louis Metcalf is the cornet
Charles Creath was one of the principal leaders in St. Louis from 1928 onwards. A Missouri man himself, and able to play saxophone and accordian as
Charlie Creath (December 30, 1890 – October 23, 1951 ) was, like Fate Marable and Peck Kelly, was a regional band leader. Never traveling to the
Harry Cooper’s group also recorded as Sara Martin accompanied by Harry’s Happy Four. Cooper would go on to play in the Cotten Club Orchestra, The Washingtonians, Billy
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Alabamy Bound (Buddy De Sylva / Lew Brown / Ray Henderson) 11-23-1925 New York, New York Okeh 8262-A 73780-B
Find a short description of this band at Allmusic.com Title Recording Date Recording Location Company African Jungle (Spencer Williams) 4-15-1929 New York, New York Okeh
Andy Preer’s Cotton Club Orchestra was billed that way to promote Preer’s regular place of work. Actually, the group was the Missourians, who later teamed
