record player

Race Records in the 1920s:



 


The Original Dixieland Jazz Band was the first jazz band to record
"The Sound of New Orleans" in 1917.  Between 1917-1922, many recording
companies recorded white jazz bands.  It was not until 1922 that record
companies became convinced that African American musicians would be
popular with the consumer market. Mamie Smith encouraged the production of 
the first race records with her early blues recordings with Okeh Records.
The Okeh Record Corporation was one of the first record companies to
target the urban African American working-class. Mamie Smith became the
first African American vocalist  to record  with this company in February
of 1920.  After the initial introduction of African American music
(performed by African Americans), record companies such as Columbia,
Paramount, and Vocalian began to seek out popular African American bands
to record their works.
	Production of subsequent race records proved to be extremely
lucrative for record companies. These "Race Records" were created for
African Americans and recorded by African American jazz musicians. Major
recording areas were New York City, Camden (New Jersey), and Chicago. The
majority of the records made of the African American jazz bands in the
1920s, actually differed only marginally from the recordings made of the
white dance hall bands, such as Paul Whiteman's.
However, there are a handful of recordings that are considered the "gems"
the 1920s, including:


* Jelly Roll Morton and his Hot Red Peppers' recording from 1926-1928.
* Spike's Seven Pods of Pepper (Kid Ory) recordings of "Ory's Creole
  Trombone" and "Society Blues" from 1922.
* Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings from 1925-1928.
* King Oliver's early recordings (with the Dodds, Lil' Hardin, and Louis
  Armstrong) from 1923-24.
* Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong's 1928 recordings, including the pivotal
  duet, "Weather Bird."