Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven - Okeh 8496 (1927)

From wikipedia…

Pete Briggs (born 1904, date of death unknown) was an American jazz bass and tuba player.

Briggs was born in Charleston, South Carolina and was related to bandleader Arthur Briggs. He first played professionally in the early 1920s with the Jim Jam Jazzers, and soon after played with the Lucky Boy Minstrels. In 1926 he moved to Chicago, playing with Carroll Dickerson, Jimmie Noone, and Louis Armstrong, with whom he recorded copiously. Briggs appears on many of the Hot Seven recordings made with Armstrong and his band.

In 1929, Briggs went to New York City, playing there with Armstrong and Dickerson. He joined the Edgar Hayes Orchestra and the Vernon Andrade Orchestra in the 1930s. In the 1940s he played with Herman Autrey in Philadelphia. However, by the latter half of the decade, Briggs had given up music and become a farmer. His date of death is unknown.

Louis Armstrong c, v / John Thomas tb / Johnny Dodds cl / Lil Armstrong p / Johnny St. Cyr bj, g / Pete Briggs bb / Baby Dodds d.

Recorded in Chicago on May 11 & 13, 1927.


Clarence Williams' Jazz Kings - Columbia 14348 (1928)

From wikipedia…

Edward Emerson Cuffee (June 7, 1902 in Norfolk, Virginia – January 3, 1959 in New York City) was an American jazz trombonist.

Cuffee moved to New York in the 1920s, where he recorded with Clarence Williams (1927–29) and played with Bingie Madison. He played in McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1929–34) and in Fletcher Henderson's band (1935–38), then with Leon Abbey (1940 and subsequently), Count Basie (1941), Chris Columbus (1944), and Bunk Johnson (1947). Cuffee quit playing professionally after the late 1940s.

Ed Allen (December 15, 1897, Nashville, Tennessee – January 28, 1974, New York City) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist.

Allen's family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, when he was seven; he began playing piano at age ten and settled on cornet soon after. He worked as a truck driver in his teens and played in military bands. By the mid-1910s he was playing professionally in local nightclubs and bars. He moved to Seattle to take a gig with Ralph Stevenson, then returned to St. Louis to play on the Streckfus line of riverboats that ran between New Orleans and St. Louis on the Mississippi River. Early in the 1920s he played in the band of Charlie Creath, but by 1922 he had his own ensemble, the Whispering Gold Band, aboard the S.S. Capitol.

In 1924 Allen made his way to Chicago and played with Earl Hines until 1925. Allen then played from 1925 to 1927 in a revue called Ed Daily's Black and White Show, as a member of Joe Jordan's group, the Sharps & Flats. In the second half of the decade Allen recorded extensively with Clarence Williams in the group later known as the LeRoy Tibbs Orchestra. This ensemble also accompanied Bessie Smith on some recordings. Around this time Allen also recorded in several bands of King Oliver's.

Allen played in various dance bands through the 1930s and 1940s, then played with Benton Heath in New York City from the mid-1940s up until 1963. His last appearance on record was in England with Chris Barber in the 1950s. After 1963 Allen's failing health resulted in his retirement from music.

Clarence Williams p, a, v, dir / Ed Allen, King Oliver c / Ed Cuffee tb / Albert Socarras? cl, as / Arville Harris cl, as, ts / Leroy Harris bj / Cyrus St. Clair bb.

Recorded in New York on August 1, 1928.


Weaver & Beasley - Okeh 8530 (1927)

From wikipedia

Sylvester Weaver (July 25, 1897 – April 4, 1960) was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues.

On October 23, 1923, he recorded in New York City with the blues singer Sara Martin "Longing for Daddy Blues" / "I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind" and two weeks later as a soloist "Guitar Blues" / "Guitar Rag". Both recordings were released on Okeh Records. These recordings are the very first country-blues recordings and the first known recorded songs using the slide guitar style. "Guitar Rag" (played on a Guitjo) became a blues classic and was covered in the 1930s by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys as "Steel Guitar Rag" and became a country music standard too.

Weaver recorded until 1927, sometimes accompanied by Sara Martin, about 50 additional songs. On some recordings from 1927 he was accompanied by Walter Beasley and the singer Helen Humes. Weaver often used the bottleneck-style method, playing his guitar with a knife. His recordings were quite successful but in 1927 he retired and went back to Louisville until his death in 1960. Though many country blues artists had a revival from the 1950s on, Weaver died almost forgotten.

In 1992 his complete works were released on two CDs, the same year his (up to then anonymous) grave got a headstone by engagement of the Louisville-based Kentuckiana Blues Society (KBS). Furthermore the KBS has annually honored since 1989 persons who rendered outstanding services to the blues with their Sylvester Weaver Award.

Sylvester Weaver, Walter Beasley g.

Recorded in New York on November 27, 1927.



Jay McShann - Decca 8595 (1941)

From wikipedia

Walter Brown (August 1917 – June 1956) was a blues shouter who sang with Jay McShann's band in the 1940s and co-wrote their biggest hit, "Confessin' The Blues."

Born in Dallas, Texas, he joined McShann's orchestra, which also included saxophonist Charlie Parker, in 1941. Brown sang on some of the band's most successful recordings, including "Confessin' The Blues" and "Hootie Blues", before leaving to be replaced by Jimmy Witherspoon.

Brown's subsequent solo singing career was unsuccessful, although he recorded for the King, Signature and Mercury labels, and he briefly reunited with McShann for recording sessions in 1949.

Brown died in June 1956 in Lawton, Oklahoma, due to drug addiction.

Jay McShann p / Leonard Enois g / Gene Ramey sb / Gus Johnson d / Walter Brown v.

Recorded in Chicago on November 18, 1941.


Joe Venuti & His Blue Four - Decca (1935)

Joe Venuti vn / Arthur Rollini cl, ts / Adrian Rollini bsx, vib / Fulton McGrath p / Frank Victor g / Victor Engle d.

Recorded in New York on March 20, 1935.


Count Basie & His Orchestra - Decca 1728 (1938)

Count Basie p, dir / Buck Clayton, Ed Lewis, Harry Edison t / Eddie Durham tb, g / Benny Morton, Dan Minor tb / Earl Warren as / Jack Washington as, bar / Herschel Evans cl, ts / Lester Young cl, ts / Freddy Green g/ Walter Page sb / Joe Jones d / Jimmy Rushing v.

Recorded in New York on February 16, 1938.