Pianist Roy Bargy (July 31, 1894 – January 16, 1974) got his professional start accompanying films in silent movie houses in Toledo, Ohio
In 1919 he moved to Chicago and was hired by Charley Straight at the Imperial Piano Roll Company. Bargy’s job was to edit piano rolls and to write his own ragtime and novelty pieces for publication on piano roll.
Bargy made his first record with Charley Straight and Paul Biese in 1919 as the Imperial Three. In 1921 Bargy left Imperial and became the musical director of the Benson Orchestra of Chicago until 1922. He joined the Isham Jones and his Orchestra sometime after that.
He took over the piano chair in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1928 and eventually became second in command within the band. Bargy continued to work with Whiteman until 1940.
In 1940 Bargy was very active in radio as a conductor. He led bands for the studio orchestras of Lanny Ross, Xavier Cugat and Gerry Moore. In 1943 he was hired as Jimmy Durante’s musical director and stayed with Jimmy for the next twenty years.
| Imperial Three | Benson Orchestra of Chicago |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Jim-Jams (No. 7 from “Piano Syncopations”) (Roy Bargy) | 3-18-1924 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 19537-B |
| Justin-Tyme (No. 2 from “Piano Syncopations”) (Roy Bargy) | 3-18-1924 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 19537-A |
| K’nice and K’nifty (No. 6 from “Piano Syncopations”) (Roy Bargy in collaboration with Charley Straight) | 8-31-1922 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 18969-B |
| Pianoflage (No. 4 from “Piano Syncopations”) (Roy Bargy) | 8-31-1922 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 18969-A |
| Rufenreddy (Roy Bargy / Charley Straight) | 3-18-1924 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 19320-B |
| Sunshine Capers (Roy Bargy) | 3-18-1924 | Camden, New Jersey | Victor 19320-A |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Flapperette (Jesse Greer) | Chicago, Illinois | Ampico 68421-E | |
| In The Land Of Rice And Tea (Charley Straight / Paul Biese) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial 9999 |
| Jim Jams (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Justin-Tyme (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Knice and Knifty (Roy Bargy / Charley Straight) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Knice and Knifty (Roy Bargy / Charley Straight) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Melodee |
| Omeomy (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial 513980 |
| Pianoflage (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Rufenreddy (Roy Bargy / Charley Straight) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Rufenreddy (Roy Bargy / Charley Straight) | 1922 | Chicago, Illinois | Melodee |
| Slipova (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Sunshine Capers (Roy Bargy) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial |
| Venetian Moon (Magini / Goldberg) | 1920 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial 91000 |
| Wang Wang Blues (Gus Meuller / Bert Johnson / Henry Busse) | 1921 | Chicago, Illinois | Imperial 91284 |
| Title | Director | Year |
| King Of Jazz | John Murray Anderson | 1930 |
Redhotjazz.com was a pioneering website during the "Information wants to be Free" era of the 1990s. In that spirit we are recovering the lost data from the now defunct site and sharing it with you.
Most of the music in the archive is in the form of MP3s hosted on Archive.org or the French servers of Jazz-on-line.com where this music is all in the public domain.
Files unavailable from those sources we host ourselves. They were made from original 78 RPM records in the hands of private collectors in the 1990s who contributed to the original redhotjazz.com. They were hosted as .ra files originally and we have converted them into the more modern MP3 format. They are of inferior quality to what is available commercially and are intended for reference purposes only. In some cases a Real Audio (.ra) file from Archive.org will download. Don't be scared! Those files will play in many music programs, but not Windows Media Player.
