Red Hot Musicians

Jean Goldkette  (March 18, 1893? – March 24, 1962) emigrated from France to the United States in 1911. [Brief synopsis of possible years of birth.]

Annette Hanshaw (October 18, 1901 – March 13, 1985) was a popular singer and radio star of the 1920s and early Thirties who had many

The older of the two Dorsey brothers Jimmy Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was a child prodigy who began his musical career

Cornet player Muggsy Spanier (November 9, 1901 – February 12, 1967) was a member of the famed Austin High Gang and fell for jazz the minute

Phil Napoleon (2 September 1901 – 1 October 1990) was a classically trained trumpet player, but he turned his back the concert hall and formed

Miff Mole (March 11, 1898 – April 29, 1961) started his musical career playing violin and accompanying silent pictures on the piano, but later he

George Lewis (July 13, 1900 – December 31, 1968) was one of the Jazz musicians who didn’t leave New Orleans in the 1920s. He stayed

Jelly Roll Morton had a hit with his 1923 version of Wolverine Blues. This stirred interest with the the Victor company who were just starting to get

Johnny Dodds (April 12, 1892 – August 8, 1940) was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920’s. Although both Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet had better technique,

Baby Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was one of first great drummers of Jazz and the brother of Johnny Dodds. Baby got

In 1910 Honore Dutrey (c. 1894 in New Orleans, Louisiana – July 21, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) started playing trombone in various bands in New Orleans, including Jimmie Noone’s outfit.

Bud Scott (January 11, 1890 – July 2, 1949) was a multi-instrumentalist who could play the banjo, six-string guitar and violin, and at one point

Fess Williams led bands in both Chicago and New York in the 1920s and early 1930s. He seemed to model himself after Ted Lewis wearing a top

Keyboard player and arranger Tiny Parham (February 25, 1900 – April 4, 1943) was born in Canada, but grew up in Kansas City. He got

Johnny St. Cyr (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966) played banjo and guitar, and was a true jazz pioneer. St. Cyr had his own

Beatrice C. “Bee” Palmer (11 September 1894 – 22 December 1967) was born in Chicago, the third of four children born to Charles and Anna

This band, whose entire output is included here, is surely one of the most remarkable in the history of Jazz and dance music, for it

Until recently, next to nothing was known about Thelma Terry (September 30, 1901 – May 30, 1966): she played string bass in Chicago in the

Edith Wilson (September 2, 1896 – March 31, 1981) was one of the stars of early African-American musical theatre. After working in vaudeville with her

One of the first important bassists of Jazz, Pops Foster (May 19, 1892 – October 29, 1969) was playing in bands around New Orleans as

Yes, Virginia, there was a Jabbo Smith! Jabbo had a short but exceedingly important recording career in the late 1920’s when he became the first

George Mitchell, (March 8, 1899– May 22, 1972) the gifted hard-driving cornet player on Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers recording sessions, deserves wider recognition and

Pianist Frank Melrose (November 26, 1907 – September 1, 1941) was the younger brother of music publishers and agents Walter and Lester Melrose, who ran

Richard Myknee Jones (13 June 1892 – 8 December 1945) was from a musical family in New Orleans and played a variety of instruments before