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
In this 1927 session, Hoagy Carmichael recorded the first version of his famous song “Stardust“. The song went on from these humble beginnings to be one of
This is Hoagy Carmichael’s first band that he led while he attended the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. The band had two other recording sessions at
Al Gandee played with the Woverines when it was stationed for a three-month stint at Doyle’s Dance Studio in Cincinnati. He also participated on the
Formed in late 1923, the Wolverines, or Wolverine Orchestra, worked in clubs and dance halls in the Midwest for much of 1924, making occasional trips
Curtis Hitch led his band the Happy Harmonists from 1922 to 1927 in Indiana. While playing at Indiana University in Bloomington they met a young
Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) is remembered today as one of America’s great composers of popular songs. Several of his tunes,
Trumpeter Mutt Carey (September 17, 1891 – September 3, 1948) got his start like so many others with the marching bands in New Orleans sometime
Kid Ory relocated to California from New Orleans in 1919. Ory formed his Original Creole Jazz Band (they sometimes were billed as Kid Ory’s Brown-Skinned Babies) the
Here we have have Kid Ory’s Creole Orchestra backing up Blues singer Roberta Dudley, just one month before the band recorded their historic sides as Spike’s Seven Pods
Here we have have Kid Ory’s Creole Orchestra backing up Blues singer Ruth Lee, just one month before the band recorded their historic sides as Spike’s Seven Pods
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Cake Walking Babies (Clarence Williams / Chris Smith / Henry Troy) 11-18-1947 New York, New York Century 4017 Esquire 10-064
Kid Ory was the greatest trombone player in the early years of Jazz. He originally played banjo, but then switched to trombone. Perhaps his banjo
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company 1919 (Traditional) 9-8-1945 Los Angeles, California Crescent 4 (1013) Ballin’ The Jack (Chris Smith) 2-12-1945 Los Angeles, California Exner
Thanks to Wim van der Brugghen for his help with this page. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Memphis Rag 12-13-1927 New York, New York
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 (May 19, 1894 – April 23, 1955) was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1916 where he found work
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 (February 1890- July 6th, 1976?) appeared on a quite a few 1920s Chicago South Side Jazz and Blues records as
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 (June 15, 1900 – August 18, 1949) was from New Orleans and a childhood friend of Leon Roppolo and Abbie and George Brunies.
