Perry Bradford - Perry Bradford & the Blues Singers in Chronological Order 1923-1927 (1927)

"Lucy Long" by Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools


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


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Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - The Chronological Classics: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra 1924-1927 (1927)

"I'm Gonna Hang Around My Sugar" by The Washingtonians


Charles Mingus's formative influence as a jazz musician and composer was Duke Ellington.  Duke Ellington's first recordings were collected and released by The Chronological Classics series as The Chronological Classics: Duke Ellington 1924-1927.

Here is the discography surrounding Duke Ellington's debut recordings:

The Chronological Classics: Duke Ellington 1924-1927

Black and Tan Fantasy


"Soliloquy" by The Washingtonians


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Bing Crosby - The Chronological Bing Crosby, Volume 1 1926-1927 (1927)

"I'm Coming Virginia" by Bing Crosby (with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra)


Although they worked with a number of musicians, singers, and radio voices, the Boswell Sisters were particularly fond of their radio work (though never so much as a collaboration) with Bing Crosby.  Bing Crosby got started professionally in the singing business in 1926.  He and Al Rinker made up a singing duo and had the good luck of Mildred Bailey (Rinker's sister) introducing them to Paul Whiteman, the leader of the most popular "jazz" band in the United States.  They were hired as "vocal accompaniment".  Not long after, a third singer was added to the orchestra, Harry Barris (also a songwriter), to form Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys of whom Bing would gradually and naturally lead as primary soloist.  As they grew in popularity, the Rhythm Boys gained special arrangements and numbers that highlighted only them.  They developed a routine that involved a mixture of harmony, call-and-response, stop-and-go delivery, showmanship, and humor.  In his first year of recording, Bing was never credited as a solo artist (though he had a couple small solos) and recorded under the likes of Don Clark and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, and Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys.

Here is the discgoraphy surrounding Bing Crosby's first recordings:

The Chronological Bing Crosby, Volume 1 1926-1927

"Sweet Li'l / Ain't She Sweet" by Bing Crosby (with Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys)


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