If you were a blues singer in the early twenties, you likely worked with Perry Bradford. He wrote songs, arranged music, and lead the band that backed you up on recordings (often playing piano). Besides the fact that Willie "The Lion" Smith often played in bands with Perry Bradford, the connection between them includes a dispute between the two about which one of them played the piano for Mamie Smith on her landmark "Crazy Blues" recording, a song Bradford also wrote.
The collection of Perry Bradford's contributions to Blues and Jazz is largely incomplete because his work was mostly in the background. A few compilations exist that feature Bradford bands, like his Jazz Phools or "His Gang," and an accompanying solo blues singer that was sometimes Perry Bradford himself (like in two of the songs embedded here). The compilation album featured for this slide whistle stop is Document Records's Perry Bradford & the Blues Singers in Chronological Order 1923-1927. Bradford would transition his career into managing and publishing until, due to a hard hit taken from the Depression, he fell out of the industry and slowly into obscurity.
Here is Perry Bradford's discography:
Perry Bradford & the Blues Singers in Chronological Order 1923-1927
A Panorama 1923-1927
"Hoola Boola Dance" by Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools
"Kansas City Blues" by Perry Bradford and His Gang
Pass the Headphones!!
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