Trixie Smith was born in Atlanta, Georgia and is reported to have studied at Selma University in Alabama. Sometime around 1915 she moved north to New York to work in show business. At first she worked in minstrel shows and on the TOBA vaudeville circuit. It was in vaudeville where she became a featured vocalist. In 1922 Smith made her first recordings for the Black Swan label and later that year she won a blues singing contest in New York sponsored by the White dance team of Vernon and Irene Castle, beating out Lucille Hegamin and some other lesser known singers with her song “Trixie’s Blues“. Smith is best remembered today for the excellent Jazz bands that accompanied her on her records.
The records were often released under the name of Trixie Smith and her Down Home Syncopators, which was usually either Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra or the White group The Original Memphis Five. Trixie recorded a fine session for Decca in 1938 that featured Sidney Bechet and an additional song in 1939, but her recording career had for all practical purposes ended by 1926 when she recorded with Jimmy Bythe and his Ragamuffins. As her career as a Blues singer waned, Smith returned to her theatrical roots and worked in musical revues, Broadway shows and appeared the four films. She died in 1943.
| Title | Director | Year |
| The Black King | Bud Pollard | 1932 |
| Drums O’ Voodoo | Arthur Hoerl | 1934 |
| Swing! | Oscar Micheaux | 1938 |
| God’s Step Children | Oscar Micheaux | 1938 |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Ada Jane’s Blues (Jay Guy Suddoth) |
9-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12232-B |
| Black Bottom Hop (Paul Carter) |
12-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12336 |
| Choo Choo Blues (1) (Jay Guy Suddoth) |
12-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12245 |
| Choo Choo Blues (2) (Jay Guy Suddoth) |
12-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12245 Silvertone 3565 |
| Desperate Blues (Alex Rogers / James P. Johnson) |
1-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 2039-A |
| Don’t Shake It No More (Thomas A. Dorsey) |
6-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12211-B |
| Everybody’s Doing The Charleston Now With Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra (Benton) |
12-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12330-A |
| Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don’t Love Nobody But Me) (Jack Palmer / Spencer Williams) |
1-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12249 |
| Freight Train Blues (Thomas A. Dorsey / Everett Murphy ) |
5-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12211-A |
| Freight Train Blues (Williams) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7489 A |
| Give Me That Slow Drag (Tom Delaney) |
9-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14127-A Paramount 12164-A |
| He May Be Your Man (But He Comes To See Me Sometimes) (Lemuel Fowler) |
4-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14114-A |
| He May Be Your Man (But He Comes To See Me Sometimes) (Perry Bradford / Lemuel Fowler) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7528 |
| He Likes It Slow (W. Benton Overstreet) |
12-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12336 |
| How Come You Do Me like You Do? (Austin / Bergere) |
1-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12249 |
| I Don’t Know And I Don’t Care Blues (1) (George Brooks) |
5-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12208 |
| I Don’t Know And I Don’t Care Blues (2) (George Brooks) |
5-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12208 |
| I’m Gonna Get You (Porter Grainger / Bob Ricketts) |
1-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14138-B |
| I’m Through With You (As I Can Be) (Billy Higgins) |
10-1922 | New York, New York | 14132-B Black Swan 14132-B |
| Jack, I’m Mellow (Gerry / House) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7528 |
| Log Cabin Blues (Tom Delaney) |
3-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14142-A |
| Long Lost, Weary Blues | 3-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 2044-B |
| Love Me Like You Used To Do With Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra (Paul Carter) |
12-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12330-B |
| Mining Camp Blues (1) (Trixie Smith) |
2-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12256-A |
| Mining Camp Blues (2) (Trixie Smith) |
2-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12256-A |
| My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll) (J. Berni Barbour) |
9-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14127-B Paramount 12164-B |
| My Unusual Man (Porter Grainger) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7489 B |
| My Daddy Rocks Me (1) (J. Berni Barbour) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca |
| My Daddy Rocks Me – No. 2 (J. Berni Barbour) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7617 A |
| No Good Man | 6-14-1939 | New York, New York | Decca 7617 B |
| Pensacola Blues (Spencer Williams) |
4-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14114-B |
| Praying Blues (Jay Guy Suddoth) |
9-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12232-A |
| Railroad Blues (1) (Trixie Smith) |
3-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12262-A |
| Railroad Blues (2) (Trixie Smith) |
3-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12262-A |
| Ride Jockey Ride (Arthur Schell Jr.) |
12-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12245 |
| Sorrowful Blues (Trixie Smith / Johns) |
5-1924 | New York, New York | Paramount 12208 |
| Take It Daddy It’s All Yours (Perry Bradford) |
10-1922 | New York, New York | Paramount 12165-A Black Swan 14132-A |
| The World’s Gone Jazz Crazy And So Am I (1) (William Henry Huff / Jimmy Blythe) |
3-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12262-B |
| The World’s Gone Jazz Crazy And So Am I (2) (William Henry Huff / Jimmy Blythe) |
3-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12262-B |
| Tired Of Waiting Blues (Porter Grainger / Bob Ricketts) |
3-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14149-A |
| Triflin’ Blues (Porter Grainger / Bob Ricketts) |
3-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14149-B |
| Trixie’s Blues (Trixie Smith) |
1-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 2039-B |
| Trixie’s Blues (Trixie Smith) |
5-26-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 7469 |
| 2 A.M. Blues (J.C. Johnson / Roland Irving) |
1-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14138-A |
| Voodoo Blues (Hegamin) |
3-1923 | New York, New York | Black Swan 14142-B |
| You Missed A Good Women When You Picked All Over Me (Williams) |
3-1922 | New York, New York | Black Swan 2044-A |
| You’ve Got To Beat Me To Keep Me (Porter Grainger) |
2-1925 | New York, New York | Paramount 12256-B |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Henry “Red” Allen | Cornet |
| Louis Armstrong | Cornet |
| Sidney Bechet | Clarinet |
| Barney Bigard | Clarinet |
| Edgar Campbell | Clarinet |
| Sidney Catlett | Drums |
| Buster Bailey | Clarinet, Alto Saxophone |
| Teddy Bunn | Guitar |
| Edgar Campbell | Clarinet |
| Elmer Chambers | Banjo |
| Charlie Dixon | Banjo |
| Ralph Esudero | Tuba |
| Richard Fullbright | Bass |
| Frank Signorelli | Piano |
| Charlie Green | Trombone |
| Flethcher Henderson | Piano |
| James P. Johnson | Piano |
| Jimmy Lytell | Clarinet |
| Miff Mole | Trombone |
| Phil Napoleon | Clarinet |
| Ted Nixon | Trombone |
| Sam Price | Piano |
| Don Redman | Clarinet |
| Jack Roth | Drums |
| Howard Scott | Cornet |
| Charlie Shavers | Trumpet |
| Joe Smith | Trumpet |
| Russell Smith | Trumpet |
| O’Neil Spencer | Drums |
| Walter Watkins | Tenor Saxophone |
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.
