A decent pianist who rarely soloed, Charlie Johnson is of greatest significance for leading his Paradise Ten, an orchestra that had five excellent recording sessions during 1925-1929, and played at Smalls' Paradise during 1925-1935. Among the sidemen who appear on Johnson's records are trumpeters Jabbo Smith, Thomas Morris, Leonard Davis, and... [+] Read More

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One of the early jazz legends, Frank Teschemacher was an exciting if erratic clarinetist and altoist who was an important participant in the Chicago jazz scene of the 1920s. A member of the fabled "Austin High School Gang" of young Chicago jazz musicians, Teschemacher started recording in 1927 (with the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans), although... [+] Read More

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Irving Mills did a great deal to help jazz, making himself a great deal of money in the process. He is most famous for his work as manager for Duke Ellington during 1926-1939, helping Ellington gain his job at the Cotton Club, in addition to securing numerous recording sessions and important engagements. He also wrote the lyrics to some of... [+] Read More

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One of the very first giants of jazz, Jelly Roll Morton did himself a lot of harm posthumously by exaggerating his worth, claiming to have invented jazz in 1902. Morton's accomplishments as an early innovator are so vast that he did not really need to stretch the truth.

Morton was jazz's first great composer, writing such songs as... [+] Read More

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Considering how many fine recording sessions he was on in Chicago in the 1920s (particularly with Johnny Dodds), it is surprising how little is known about the mysterious Jimmy Blythe. He was raised in Kentucky, moved to Chicago in 1918, and studied with pianist Clarence Jones. Blythe recorded dozens of piano rolls in the early '20s. He began... [+] Read More

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Joe "King" Oliver was one of the great New Orleans legends, an early giant whose legacy is only partly on records. In 1923, he led one of the classic New Orleans jazz bands, the last significant group to emphasize collective improvisation over solos, but ironically his second cornetist (Louis Armstrong) would soon permanently change jazz. And... [+] Read More

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Overrated in Europe in the early '30s when his records (but not those of his black contemporaries) were widely available and then later underrated and often unfairly called a Bix imitator, Red Nichols was actually one of the finest cornetists to emerge from the '20s. An expert improviser whose emotional depth did not reach as deep as Bix or... [+] Read More

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One of the most popular singers of the late-'20s/early-'30s period, Ruth Etting was not really a jazz singer (unlike her contemporary, Annette Hanshaw) but a superior middle-of-the-road pop singer who was often accompanied by top jazz musicians. She recorded over 200 songs between 1926-1937, appeared on-stage, was in 35 film shorts and three... [+] Read More

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This early American jazz bandleader's choice of career objectives is the principal reason he is not the household word among jazz fans like some other bandleaders of his generation. There are many critics who feel that things would have been very different for Sam Wooding had he not become one of the first wave of American expatriate jazz... [+] Read More

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W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," brought the music of rural Southern blacks into the mainstream by copyrighting old songs and writing new songs, spurring the blues into the mainstream of popular music during the 1910s and '20s. He was also a highly trained veteran of the music world who led all manner of groups: string quartets, brass... [+] Read More

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