Red Hot Bands

The Texas Blue Destroyers, who were only trumpet player Bubber Miley and organist Alvin Ray, pulled some kind of con job back in 1924, and managed to

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Loveless Love (W.C. Handy) 8-15-1934 Chicago, Illinois Decca 154 Polka Dot Rag (Sidney Bechet / James Toliver / Noble Sissle)

Records on the Regal label were released as Leonard Graham and his Jazz Band. On the Medallion label the name Willie Brown and his Sizzling

In addition to being a well regarded drummer, Arthur “Monk” Hazel (August 15, 1903 – March 5, 1968), occasionally took solos on brass instruments, notably

Sam Wooding and his Orchestra were a popular New York Jazz band in the early 1920s. They played at venues such as the The Nest,

Charles Pierce was an amateur saxophonist who was a professional butcher. It is said that despite his amateur status, he seemed to have a fair

Elmer Schoebel’s little band playing “Copenhagen” and his own “Prince of Wails“, was a studio group that recalled something of the Friar’s Society Orchestra of seven

Miff Mole and his Molers was basically a pseudonym for Red Nichols Five Pennies. They used this name when recording for the Okeh Company. Red Nichols and Miff Mole were

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Jazz Me Blues (Tom Delaney) 4-28-1928 Chicago, Illinois UHCA 61 Artist Instrument Eddie Condon Banjo George “Rod” Cless Alto

Sophie Tucker who billed herself as “The Last Of The Red Hot Mammas” was one of the most popular singers of the Teens and 1920s.

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Alabama Stomp (a) (from Earl Carroll’s “Vanities”) (Creamer / Johnson) 10-13-1926 New York, New York Edison Alabama Stomp (b) (from Earl

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company 29th And Dearborn (Richard M. Jones) 3-10-1926 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 1010 Sweet Mumtaz (Luis Russell) 3-10-1926 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion

Many of these records appeared as Barney Bigard and his Orchestra Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Barney Goin’ Easy (Barney Bigard / Duke Ellington) 6-8-1939 New

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine (Jerome Kern) 1-5-1945 New York, New York Black & White 14 A

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Bojangles (Kern / Field) 2-5-1945 New York, New York Mercury 21023 Borobudor (Barney Bigard) 2-5-1945 New York, New York

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Moonglow (Hudson / De Lange / Mills) 1946 New York, New York Signature 28116-B Steps Steps Down (Barney Bigard)

Ben Selvin‘s Novelty Orchestra had a massive hit in 1919 with their version of Dardanella. It is reported to have sold around a million copies.

This ensemble was among the first groups to record jazz. It made tests for Columbia in early 1918, and its first records to be issued–on

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Blue Ridge (Lampl / Davidson / Moret) 4-2-1928 Chicago, Illinois Brunswick 3922 Nobody But My Baby Is Getting My

In July of 1930 Louis Armstrong moved to California and “fronted” the Les Hite’s Orchestra. It was renamed Louis Armstrong’s Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra, after a club on

The Luis Russell Orchestra started in Chicago and then moved to New York. They were one of the most innovative bands of their day, but never had

Ollie Powers is an obsure figure in the shadows of early Jazz history in Chicago, though, as will be seen from the personnel given below,

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Blues for Rampart Street 4-12-1961 New York, New York Riverside RLP 374 Cherry Pickin Blues (Ida Cox) 4-12-1961 New

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Down The Road Bound Blues (Robert Warfield) 3-1924 Chicago, Illinois Paramount 12094-B Mean Lovin’ Man Blues (Majorie Lamkin) 3-1924

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Aching Blues (Misery Blues) 1-1925 Chicago, Illinois Silvertone 3563 Blue Kentucky Blues (Gene Burdette) 1-1925 Chicago, Illinois Paramount 12258

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Black Crepe Blues (Jesse Crump) 4-1925 Chicago, Illinois Paramount 12291 Blues Ain’t Nothin’ Else But! (Ida Cox / J. Mayo

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Come Right In (Ida Cox) 8-1923 Chicago, Illinois Paramount 12022 Graveyard Dream Blues (Jimmy Cox / Ida Cox) 10-1923

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company I Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Break My Heart 12-20-1940 New York, New York Okeh unissued I Can’t Quit That

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Death Letter Blues (Ida Cox / Jessie Crump) 10-31-1939 New York, New York Vocalion 05336 Deep Sea Blues 10-31-1939 New

This was a single record made under this confusing name, for the primary entries see: Dorsey Brothers Orchestra Jimmy Dorsey (1904-1957) Tommy Dorsey (1905-1956) Title

Blind Willie Dunn was a pseudonym that guitarist Eddie Lang’s records were released under when he teamed up with Lonnie Johnson on the Okeh label. Although the November on

Blind Willie Dunn was a pseudonym that guitarist Eddie Lang usually used when he teamed up with Lonnie Johnson. Even the songwriter’s credit on these records was listed

Wingy Manone was a New Orleans trumpet player and vocalist who lost his right arm in a streetcar accident when he was ten years old.

The Arcadian Serenaders were a group of White New Orleans musicians who played at the Arcadian Ballroom in St. Louis. The 1924 sessions are the

Originally from Mobile, Alabama, the Original Crescent City Jazzers later went by the name of the Arcadian Serenaders after moving to St. Louis in 1925. Trumpet player

Wingy Manone was the leader of the Cellar Boys. They played at a club in Chicago called My Cellar. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Barrel

If you listen to “Tar Paper Stomp ” you can hear that Glenn Miller’s famous hit record “In The Mood” is based upon this song. Title

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Downright Disgusted (Bud Freeman / Terry Shand / Wingy Manone) 9-4-1928 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 15728 Fare Thee Well (Peck Kelly /

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Cat’s Head (Wingy Manone / Hal Jordy) 4-11-1927 New Orleans, Louisanna Columbia 14282-D Ringside Stomp (Stan Miller) 4-11-1927 New Orleans,

Thanks to Robert English for his help with some of the recordings on this page.  Title Recording Date Recording Location Company All That I Had

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Charleston, South Carolina (Cecil Mack / James P. Johnson) 2-1924 New York, New York Paramount 12278 Day Break Blues (Original

“Harry Wills, The Champion” is an very interesting protest song about an African American boxer who was active in the 1910s and 1920s. The undefeated

Red Onion Jazz Babies sessions were organized by Clarence Williams and featured Lil Hardin-Armstrong who had come east to be near her husband Louis who had just joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra the

These Plantation Orchestra sides were made in London by the Pike Davies Orchestra which was an African-American jazz band that supported Florence Mills and Edith Wilson in

Wilbur C. Sweatman was one of the first African-Americans to record Jazz. His first Jazz recordings were made less than two months after The Original Dixieland Jazz

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Battleship Kate (Ada Rives / Wilbur Sweatman) 10-10-1924 New York, New York Edison 51438-L 9781-B It Makes No Difference Now

This is Wilbur Sweatman’s final recording session. Wilbur Sweatman’s continued to perform live up until the 1950s in the New York area. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Battleship

There is speculation that this was Duke Ellington’s debut recording with some assortment of the following suggested musicians: Eugene “Bud” Aiken (cnt), Leslie (Leonard ?)

The Southland Six was a pseudonym for The Original Memphis Five. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Blue Eyed Blues 5-1922 New York, New York

Jazzbo’s Carolina Serenaders was a pseudonym for The Original Memphis Five. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Achin’ Hearted Blues (Clarence Williams) 10-1922 New York,

Bailey’s Lucky Seven was a series of Gennett recording sessions organized by bandleader Sam Lanin. The musicians on the records were often the Original Memphis Five with

None of the musicians in Ladd’s Black Aces were Black even though Gennett records advertised them as such, going so far as to show a

It has been suggested that this band might be Jimmy Durante’s New Orleans Jazz Band. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Loose Feet (Williams) 12-1922 New York,

This band was organized by drummer Johnny Stein after Stein’s Dixie Jass Band broke up and became the Original Dixieland Jass Band. It is interesting to note that

This band was organized by drummer Johnny Stein after Stein’s Dixie Jass Band broke up and became the Original Dixieland Jass Band. It is interesting to note that

Although it will probably never be completely confirmed, the Whiteway Jazz Band is thought to be Jimmy Durante’s band which recorded under the names of the Original New

These are the first recordings made by W.C. Handy. He was forty-three years old at the time that these records were made in 1917. Handy

The cylinders listed below were reputably made for the Metropolitan Music Store in Minneapolis and were possibly issued by the store in limited quantities, but

This is a somewhat obscure, yet excellent record. Vaudeville performer Julia Davis’ vocals are quite good on these two songs and Johnny Dodds and R.Q. Dickerson

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company It Must Be The Blues (Tiny Parham) 1-1927 Chicago, Illinois Paramount 12409 Stomp Time Blues (Tiny Parham) 1-1927 Chicago,

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Down Home In Kentucky 12-6-1929 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 1472 You Got To Wet It 12-6-1929 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 1472

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Chocolate To The Bone (I’m So Glad I’m Brownskin) (Frankie Jaxon) 7-20-1937 Chicago, Illinois Decca 7360 A I Knocks

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Fan It (Frankie Jaxon) 2-1-1929 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 2553-A Fifteen Cents 7-29-1933 Chicago, Illinois Vocalion 2603-A Mama Don’t Allow

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company My Secret Flame Vocal Chorus by Hilda Rogers (Lil Armstrong / Avon Long) 3-17-1940 New York, New York Decca 7739

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Baby Daddy (Lil Armstrong / Williams) 4-4-1950 Chicago, Illinois Gotham G 241 A Baby Daddy (Lil Armstrong) 4-4-1950 Chicago, Illinois

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Everything’s Wrong, Ain’t Nothing Right Vocal Chorus by Lil Armstrong (Lil Armstrong / Evans) 9-8-1938 New York, New York Decca 2542

Lil’s Hot Shots was a pseudonym for Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five. This name was used when recording for Vocalion.   Title   Recording Date  

Sugar Johnnie’s New Orleans Creole Orchestra was a somewhat forgotten, yet important band that played at the De Luxe Cafe at 3503 South State Street

Ray Charles had a hit record with Lil Armstrong’s song “Just For A Thrill” in 1959. Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Bluer Than Blue Vocal

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company Confessin’ (Doc Dougherty / Ellis Reynolds) 1-9-1945 New York, New York Black & White 1210-A East Town Boogie (Lil

This is likely a photo of the Midnight Serenaders that recorded for Paramount in 1928. If so they were led in the studio by Bill

Bill Haid played banjo for the Coon Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra and led several small recording sessions in Chicago and New York for Paramount and Broadway

Clifford Hayes was born in Green County, Kentucky. He moved with his parents to Jeffersonville, Indiana, before 1910 and then relocated to Louisville. He played

Long before Guy Lombardo with his Royal Canadians became famous for playing “Auld Lang Syne” at New York’s Waldorf Astoria on New Year’s Eve they

Curtis Mosby was a drummer, promoter, bandleader and club owner in California in the 1920s through 1940s. He was leading his own band in Oakland,

The top White band in Buffalo, NY during the 20s was the Buffalodians aka the Yankee Six and the Yankee Ten Orchestra. Founded by ex-Earl