Red Hot Jazz Archive

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

Memphis Blues First Blues Record

The First Blues Records

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

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Original Dixieland Jazz Band

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band

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,

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First Recording of Tiger Rag by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band

Jack Carey (1889-1934)

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

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Frank Duson

Frankie Dusen (1880-1940)

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

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The Eagle Band 1916

The Eagle Band

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

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Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey (1886-1939)

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

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Superior Orchestra 1910

Peter Bocage (1887-1967)

Multi-instrumentalist Peter Bocage (31 July 1887 – 3 December 1967) was one of the great trumpeters in New Orleans history and ironically did not consider

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Jimmy Blythe (1901-1931)

In 1915 Jimmy Blythe (May 20, 1901 – June 14, 1931) moved from his native Kentucky to Chicago. He was an accomplished musician and composer

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Jack Bland The Jazz Record

Jack Bland (1899-1968)

Banjoist and guitarist Jack Bland (May 8, 1899 – August 1968) is best remembered as the banjoist for the Mound City Blue Blowers which he co-founded

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Esther Bigeou (1923)

Esther Bigeou (1895-1936)

Blues singer Esther Bigeou  (c.1892 – November 15, 1936) was a cousin of drummer Paul Barbarin which made her part of one of the most musical

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Red McKenzie Bunny Berigan

McKenzie and Condon’s Chicagoans

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

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Bubber Miley

Bubber Miley (1903-1932)

Bubber Miley (April 3, 1903 – May 20, 1932) was the master of the plunger mute. His growling, drunken wah-wah sounding trumpet playing was largely

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The Washingtonians

The Washingtonians

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

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Jimmy Bertrand

Jimmy Bertrand (1900-1960)

Percussionist and xylophonist Jimmy Bertrand (24 February 1900 – August 1960) moved to Chicago in 1913 and played in the State Theatre Orchestra before joining

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Vic Berton

Vic Berton (1898-1951)

The word child prodigy doesn’t even begin to describe Vic Berton (May 7, 1896 – December 26, 1951) who was playing drums in a Milwaukee

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Paul_Whiteman-L29-1934

Paul Whiteman (1890-1967)

Paul Whiteman‘s Orchestra was the most popular band of the 1920s. They are also the most controversial to Jazz historians because Whiteman (March 28, 1890

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Brox Sisters

The Brox Sisters

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,

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