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
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Barrell House Stomp (Lester Melrose) 12-10-1928 Chicago, Illinois Victor V-38023-A 48712-1 Transatlantic Stomp (Junie C. Cobb) 12-10-1928 Chicago, Illinois
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Boot That Thing (Lester Melrose) 2-11-1928 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 1269 C-2941 Don’t Cry Honey (Junie Cobb / Alex Hill) 2-7-1928 Chicago,
Edgar A. Benson was a ‘cellist’ who became an impresario, managing many bands in Chicago from 1920 to 1930. The Number One orchestra was originally
Roy Bargy and Charley Straight worked at the Imperial Piano Roll Company when these recordings were made. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company O (Oh!) Medley
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Afternoon In Africa (Buster Bailey / Don Frye) 9-17-1937 New York, New York Vocalion v3846 Chained To A Dream (Buster
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Am I Blue from “Walk A Little Faster” (Harry Akst / Grant Clarke) 5-1940 New York, New York Varsity
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Call Of The Delta (Buster Bailey / Irving Mills) 12-28-1934 New York, New York Vocalion 2887-A Decca F-5492 16445-1 Call Of
On the 1925 sessions Hociel Thomas is accompanied by Louis Armstrong’s Jazz Four. Hociel’s aunt was Sippie Wallace whose maiden name was Beulah Thomas. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company
Hociel Thomas (July 10, 1904 – August 22, 1952) was the daughter of pioneering blues and boogie woogie pianist George W. Thomas Jr., and the
Katherine Henderson was born St. Louis, Missouri on June 23, 1909. She got her start in show business as a small child working in minstrel
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Do It, Baby (Clarence Williams / Andy Razaf) 11-1928 Long Island City, N. Y. C. Paramount 12840 QRS R. 7041-A
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Baltimore (matrix E-23235) (Healy / Kahal / McHugh) 4-27-1927 New York City, New York Brunswick 3664 Baltimore (matrix E-23236) (Healy /
Eva Taylor (January 22, 1895 — October 31, 1977) was a talented entertainer and Blues singer and was one of the first African-American singers to
Sara Martin (June 18, 1884 – May 24, 1955) began her career as a vaudeville singer around 1915 in Illinois. In 1922 she was signed
Sara Martin was on tour with W.C. Handy’s Orchestra when these recordings where made in 1923. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Come Home Papa Blues (Billy Smythe)
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Atlanta Blues (W.C.Handy / Dave Elman) 8-1-1923 New York, New York Okeh 8090 Beaucoupe De Jazz 8-7-1923 New York,
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Blue Devil Blues (Earl McDonald / Clifford Hayes) 9-16-1924 New York, New York Okeh 8188-A Blues Please Go Away
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company He’s Never Gonna Throw Me Down (Horace Brooks) 6-1-1924 New York, New York Okeh 8154-A Artist Instrument Ernest Elliot
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Late Last Night Blues 6-14-1926 New York, New York Okeh 8374 Some Sweet Day (Rose / Jackson /
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company A Green Gal Can’t Catch On (Sara Martin / Clarence Williams) 10-11-1923 New York, New York Okeh 8099-B Graveyard Dream Blues
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) is best remembered today for her role in the film Gone With The Wind. She won
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Boo Hoo Blues (Laura Bryant / LaMoore) 11-17-1926 Chicago, Illinois Okeh 8434-A I Wish I Had Somebody (Hattie McDaniel)
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Lonely Heart (Hattie McDaniel) 5-7-1927 Chicago, Illinois Okeh unissued Poor Boy Blues (Hattie McDaniel / Richard M. Jones) 5-10-1927 Chicago, Illinois
This early African-American Jazz record was released on the flip side of a Ted Lewis’ record “Somehow Fox-Trot“. George Morrison’s Jazz Orchestra was from Denver, Colorado. The
