red hot jazz jazzbanner

The Washingtonians

In September of 1923 Elmer Snowden‘s Washington Black Sox Orchestra landed a six month gig at the Hollywood Club in Manhattan. After about three months the name of the group was shortened to the Washingtonians and because of a disagreement over money, banjoist Snowden was forced out of the band and Duke Ellington was elected as the new leader.

Ellington and the band continued to play at the club until January of 1925 when the place was closed for repairs. Trumpeter Bubber Miley was the main attraction in the group and gave it its unique sound, with his use of the plunger mute. The style which featured Miley’s growling, drunken, wah-wah trumpet playing was called the “jungle sound”.

The Washingtonians
The Washingtonians in 1925. left to right: Sonny Greer, Charlie Irvis, Elmer Snowden, Otto Harwick, seated, Bubber Miley, Duke Ellington.

Ellington’s early theme song East St. Louis Toodle-Oo is a good example of this style of playing. When the Hollywood Club reopened in the spring of 1925 it was renamed the Kentucky Club. The band then became known as Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra although they also continued to record as the Washingtonians up until 1929.

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company
Animal Crackers
(H. Link / S. Coslow / Rich)
7-21-1926 New York, New York Champion
15118
Black And Tan Fantasy
(Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley)
4-7-1927 New York, New York Brunswick
3526
Black Beauty (Fire Water)
(Duke Ellington)
3-21-1928 New York, New York Brunswick
Black Beauty (Fire Water) (2)
(Duke Ellington)
3-21-1928 New York, New York Brunswick
4009
Bugle Call Rag
(Jack Pettris / Elmer Schoebel / Billy Meyers)
1-9-1928 New York, New York Harmony
577-H
Diva
2577-G
Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home)
(Duke Ellington / R. Shafer / Dave Ringle)
11-1924 New York, New York Blu-Disc
1002
Doin’ The Voom Voom
(Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley)
9-10-1929 New York, New York Cameo
Down In Our Alley Blues
(
Duke Ellington / Otto Hardwick)
3-22-1927 New York, New York Columbia
1076-D
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
(
Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley)
3-22-1927 New York, New York Columbia
953-D
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
(Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley)
3-1928 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
(
Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley)
3-1928 New York, New York Cameo
Flaming Youth
(Duke Ellington)
9-10-1929 New York, New York Cameo
Georgia Grind
(Spencer Williams)
3-1926 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
104 A
Hot And Bothered
(Duke Ellington)
10-1928 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Cameo
Hop Head
(Duke Ellington / Otto Hardwick)
3-22-1927 New York, New York Columbia
953-D
If You Can’t Hold The Man You Love
(S. Fain / I. Kahal)
4-1-1926 New York, New York Gennett
I’m Gonna Hang Around My Sugar
(Spencer Williams / Jack Palmer)
9-7-1925 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
Jubilee Stomp
(Duke Ellington)
3-1928 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
Jubilee Stomp
(Duke Ellington)
3-1928 New York, New York Cameo
Jubilee Stomp
(Duke Ellington)
3-21-1928 New York, New York Brunswick
4044
Li’L Farina
(Mier / Smith)
7-21-1926 New York, New York Champion
15120
Move Over
(Duke Ellington)
10-1928 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Cameo
Parlor Social Stomp
(Duke Ellington)
3-1926 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
104 B
Rainy Nights (Rainy Days)
(Duke Ellington / Jo Trent / Lopez)
11-1924 New York, New York Blu-Disc
1002
Saturday Night Function
(Duke Ellington / Barney Bigard)
9-10-1929 New York, New York Cameo
Saratoga Swing
(Barney Bigard)
3-15-1929 New York, New York Cameo
Soliloquy
(Rube Bloom)
4-30-1927 New York, New York Brunswick
3526
Stack O’Lee Blues
(Ray Lopez / L. Colwell)
1-9-1928 New York, New York Harmony
601-H
Sweet Mama (Papa’s Gettin’ Mad) 1-9-1928 New York, New York Harmony
577-H
Diva
2577-G
Take It Easy
(Duke Ellington)
3-1928 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
Take It Easy
(Duke Ellington)
3-1928 New York, New York Cameo
Take It Easy
(Duke Ellington)
3-21-1928 New York, New York Brunswick
4009
The Mooche
(Duke Ellington / Irving Mills)
10-1928 New York, New York Pathé
The Mooche
(Duke Ellington / Irving Mills)
10-1928 New York, New York Cameo
Tishomingo Blues
(Spencer Williams)
6-25-1928 New York, New York Brunswick
Trombone Blues
(H. Williams / T. Nixon)
9-7-1925 New York, New York Pathé Actuelle
Perfect
Wanna Go Back Again Blues
(Lou Handman / Roy Turk)
4-1-1926 New York, New York Gennett
Who Said “It’s Tight Like That”? 3-15-1929 New York, New York Cameo
Yellow Dog Blues
(W.C. Handy)
6-25-1928 New York, New York Brunswick

Artist Instrument
Barney Bigard Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Wellman Braud Bass
Rube Bloom Arranger
Harry Cooper Trumpet
June Clark Trumpet
Pike Davis Trumpet
Bass Edwards Tuba
Duke Ellington Piano
Sonny Greer Drums
Fred Guy Banjo
Charlie Irvis Trombone
Otto Hardwick Clarinet, Soprano, Alto, and Baritone Saxophone
Johnny Hodges Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
Louis Metcalf Trumpet
Bubber Miley Cornet, Trumpet
Joe Nanton Trombone
Don Redman Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
Prince Robinson Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Roy Rutledge Trumpet
Billy Taylor Tuba
Arthur Whetsel Trumpet
Cootie Williams Trumpet, Vocals

A special thanks to Dave Dixon, for his help with this discography.

St Louis Cotton Club Band 1925

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.

The site supplying most of the MP3 files to the Red Hot Jazz Archive pages on Syncopatedtimes.com is down and many links no longer work. You may find the original Redhotjazz.com and download all of the original RealMedia .ra music files on the WayBackMachine at Archive.org. 

https://web.archive.org/www.redhotjazz.com