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 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
Harry Yerkes directed this group which featured New Orleans musicians Alcide “Yellow” Nuņez and Tom Brown. The same group of muicians also recorded as Yerke’s Jazarimba Orchestra Thanks to
Yerkes’ Jazarimba Orchestra was an eight piece band that featured George Hamilton Green and his brother Joe Green on marimba and Rudy Wiedoeft on saxophone.
During the l920’s, Ray Miller was a well-known, highly respected bandleader whose orchestra made many recordings for various companies; it was featured on-the-air for most
Ray Miller was the drummer of a sextet that included the legendary New Orleans trombonist Tom Brown from 1920 to 1923; they were known as his Black
Ray Miller’s Black and White Melody Boys were organized in April of 1922. They were quite active in the New York Jazz scene between 1917
Other releases using the Kentucky Serenaders name were a psuedonym for Lanin’s Southern Serenaders.Thanks to Owen Miller for the recordings on this page. Title Recording Date
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Riding Now? (Johnny Bayersdorffer / Tom Brown) 3-17-1924 New Orleans, Louisiana Okeh 40133 The
Josèphine Baker recorded these songs with the exiled version of the German vocal group the Comedian Harmonists. The three Jewish members (Erich Collin, Roman Cycowski and
These songs are from Josèphine Baker’s second film “ZouZou”. The film was directed by Marc Allégret in 1934. It was her first talkie and Jean Gabin was
“J’ai Deux Amours” became Josèphine Baker signature song. The Casino de Paris is located at 16, rue de Clichy in Paris.< Title Recording Date Recording Location Company In
Lèon Jacobs and most of his band were from Liegè, Belguim. Jacobs was Baker’s musical director and his bands accompanied Josèphine Baker until the late 1930s. Folies Bergères is
McKenzie’s Candy Kids was a pseudonym for the Mound City Blue Blowers. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Best Black (Red McKenzie) 1925 New York, New York
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Cryin’ Mood Vocal refrain by William Cooley (Andy Razaf / Chick Webb) 4-8-1937 New York, New York Bluebird B-6932-B
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Coal Yard Shuffle (1) (Joe Steele) 6-4-1929 New York, New York Victor V-38066-B Coal Yard Shuffle (2) (Joe Steele) 6-4-1929 New
The Seminole Syncopators were a Jazz band that was lead by pianist Graham W. Jackson and based in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1920s. Graham W.
Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None O’ This Jelly-Roll Quintet selected by Hughes Panassié (Spencer Williams / Clarence Williams) 12-19-1938 New
Dewy Jackson’s Peacock Orchestra is one of the few bands on record which actually played on the riverboats which carried Jazz up the Mississippi from
The Syncopatin’ Seven was a later version of The Syncopatin’ Five. They got their start playing dance music in hotels in Florida. Most of the band
The Syncopating Five got their start playing dance music in hotels in Florida. Most of the band members were from Ohio and Indiana and they
