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
Late in 1932 Fats Waller hired Phil Ponce as manager. Ponce promptly negotiated a contract with WLW, a powerful Cincinnati radio station which was heard throughout the Midwest.
Thanks to Owen Miller for his help with this page. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company A Tisket, A Tasket (Feldman / Fitzgerald / Alexander)
There may have been confusion within the original Red Hot Jazz Archive about this group. It seems likely these sides were actually labeled Fats Waller,
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Ain’t Nothing To It 7-1-1941 Hollywood, California RI-Disc Chant Of The Groove 7-1-1941 Hollywood, California Bluebird Come And Get
You don’t hear a lot of records that feature hot pipe organ, but that is exactly what you get on these songs courtesy of Thomas
As a boy, James P. Johnson studied Classical music and Ragtime. He started playing professionally in a sporting house, and then progressed to rent parties,
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Carolina Shout (James P. Johnson) 10-1921 New York, New York Arto 9096 Artist Instrument James P. Johnson Piano Unknown
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Can I Get It Now? (Perry Bradford) 6-18-1928 New York, New York Columbia 14247-D Skiddle-De-Scow (Perry Bradford) 6-18-1928 New
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Fare Thee Honey Blues (Perry Bradford) 3-5-1929 New York, New York Columbia 14417-D Put Your Mind Right On It
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company After Tonight New York, New York Vocalion 4768 Chicago Blues (Biese / Altiere / Williams) 6-18-1928 New York, New
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Dear Old Southland (Henry Creamer / J. Turner Layton) 12-5-1921 New York, New York Okeh 4504-A Bandana Days
Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was a member of an abolitionist family. He was the great-great-grandson
Bunk Johnson (December 27, 1879 or 1889 – July 7, 1949) confused Jazz historians for years by lying about almost everything, but nevertheless he was
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Days Is Lonesome (Texas Alexander) 4-9-1934 San Antonio, Texas Okeh 8835 Frost Texas Tornado Blues (Texas Alexander) 4-9-1934 San
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Blues In My Mind 4-9-1934 San Antonio, Texas Vocalion 02743 Mistreatin’ Woman (Texas Alexander) 4-9-1934 San Antonio, Texas Vocalion
The Charleston Chasers recording sessions were often a pseudonym for Red Nichols Five Pennies, but the name was used by Columbia for various other outfits including
The Triangle Harmony Boys were an African-American band from Montgomery, Alabama. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Canned Heat Blues (Bridges / McMath) 7-7-1927 Birmingham,
Prior to his stint with the great Jean Goldkette band, slide trombonist Speigle Willcox was with the Al Deisseroth Orchestra in 1920, and then with
Ted Weems was a popular mid-western bandleader who started his band in 1923 while attending the University of Pennsylvania. Around 1925 he moved his band
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Dolly Mine (Luis Russell / Paul Barbarin) 11-17-1926 Chicago, Illinois Okeh 8454-A Plantations Joys (Luis Russell) 11-17-1926 Chicago, Illinois Okeh 8424
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company It’s Tight Like That (Thomas A. Dorsey / Hudson Whittaker) 1-15-1929 New York, New York Okeh 8656 Parlophone R
Lou And His Gingersnaps was a pseudonym for the Luis Rusell Orchestra. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Broadway Rhythm (Joffe) 9-13-1929 New York, New
Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra was one of the most popular bands in Jazz history and one of the driving forces of Swing style that
Luis Russell (August 5, 1902 – December 11, 1963) was a native of Panama, but after winning $3000 in a lottery in 1919, he moved
