Chocolate Dandies - Vocalion 1646 (1931)

Here we, arguably, have the first recordings by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.

Many claim this one was the first but still others say that they were not recorded by the same outfit.

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Crawford Wethington cl, as, bar / Ted McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p, a / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb / Willie Lynch d / Dick Robertson v.

Recorded in New York on January 30, 1931.

Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Bluebird 5688 (1934)

Lucky Millinder dir / Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson, Eddie Mallory t / George Washington, J.C. Higginbotham tb / Crawford Washington as, bar / Gene Mikell cl, as / Joe Garland cl, ts, bar / Edgar Hayes / Benny James bj, g / Hayes Alvis bb, sb / O'Neil Spencer d.

Recorded in Chicago on February 20, 1934.

Mills' Blue Rhythm Band - Victor 22763 (1931)

Wardell Jones t, v / Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Charlie Himes cl, as / Ted McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb / Willie Lynch d / Chick Bullock, George Morton v / Benny Carter a.

Recorded in New York on June 26, 1931.

Earl Harlan & His Orchestra - Perfect 15789 (1932-33)

Two different bands...one name.

Don Redman as, a, dir / Shirley Clay, Langston Curl, Sidney De Paris t / Claude Jones, Fred Robinson, Benny Morton tb / Edward Inge, Rupert Cole cl, as / Robert Carroll ts / Don Kirkpatrick p / Talcott Reeves bj, g / Bob Ysaguire bb, sb / Manzie Johnson d, vib.

Recorded in New York on April 26, 1933.

(Mills' Blue Rhythm Band) Baron Lee dir / Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / George Washington, Henry Hicks tb / Crawford Washington as, bar / Gene Mikell cl, as / Joe Garland cl, ts, bar / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj, g / Hayes Alvis bb, sb / O'Neil Spencer d.

Recorded in New York on September 23, 1932.

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra / Mills' Blue Rhythm Band - Victor 22800 (1931)

Duke Ellington p, a, dir / Arthur Whetsel. Freddy Jenkins, Cootie Williams t / Joe Nanton tb / Juan Tizol vtb / Johnny Hodges cl, ss, as / Harry Carney cl, as, bar / Barney Bigard cl, ts / Fred Guy bj / Wellman Braud sb / Sonny Greer d.

Recorded in Camden, NJ on June 17, 1931.

Bob Stephens dir / Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Charlie Holmes cl, as / Ted McCord, Castor McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb / Willie Lynch d / George Morton v.

Recorded in New York on June 18, 1931.

King Carter & His Royal Orchestra - Columbia 2439 (1931)

Here is my second acquisition of a King Carter & His Royal Orchestra 78. Mills Blue Rhythm Band released three records (all in 1931) under this pseudonym. (Here's the first one I found)

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Charlie Himes cl, as / Ted McCord, Castor McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb, bb / Willie Lynch d / Dick Robertson (as Dick Rogers) v.

Recorded in New York on March 23, 1931.

Baron Lee & His Blue Rhythm Band - Melotone 12515 (1932)

From wikipedia…

Wardell "Preacher" Jones (b. ca. 1905) was an American jazz trumpeter.

Jones played early in his career in New York City in the ballroom bands of Bill Brown and Benny Carter before joining Bingie Madison's ensemble. Jones joined the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, playing with the group from 1930 to 1936 and recording with them several times. In addition to trumpet, he occasionally played trombone with the group and did arranging work. Later in the 1930s he played with Fats Waller and Hot Lips Page, but appears to have left music after 1940.

Baron Lee dir / Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / George Washington, Henry Hicks tb / Crawford Washington as, bar / Gene Mikell cl, as / Joe Garland cl, ts, bar, a / Edgar Hayes p, a / Benny James bj, g / Hayes Alvis bb, sb / O'Neil Spencer d / Benny Carter a.

Recorded in New York on September 23, 1932.

King Carter & His Royal Orchestra - Columbia 2638 (1931)

Here we have a couple of sides early on by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band...they used many pseudonyms...here's their first release from five months earlier.

Reading about the lineup for this disc, the vocal on I Can't Get Along Without You is George Morton. Apparently nothing is known about him. Even surviving members of the band couldn't recall him during interviews.

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Charlie Himes cl, as / Ted McCord, Castor McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb, bb on Low Down / Willie Lynch d / George Morton v.

Recorded in New York on June 25, 1931.

Mills Music Masters - Melotone 12091 (1931)

Just who are the Mills Music Masters?

My first step was looking them up in Rust's Jazz discography only to find "See Mills Blue Rhythm Band." So I flipped over a few pages to find that there was no listing at all for these sides under that band. I flipped a few more pages to Irving Mills and found the recordings listed...but only the instrumentation was noted...no names.

My next step was to hit the web. I found an excerpt from Google Books, The Dorsey Brothers: That's It! by Robert Stockdale, which listed this group as a Brunswick Studio Band.

I found no mention of these recordings under The Dorsey Brothers in Jazz & Ragtime or American Dance Band discographies.

Lastly, I pulled the first edition of Mills Blue Rhythm Band on Chronological Classics (#660) from the shelf to see that the first two numbers on the cd were the ones I was searching for.

Does anyone know for a fact which band this is? I definitely don't have the discerning ears that other record collectors have.

Bob Effros tp / Tom Dorsey tp, tb / Jimmy Dorsey cl, as, bar / unknown as, ts / Joe Venuti vn / p / g / Hank Stern or Joe Tarto bb / d / Charlie Lawman v.

Recorded in New York on January 21, 1931.

OR

Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Ed Anderson t / Harry White, Henry Hicks tb / Crawford Wethington cl, as, bar / Ted McCord cl, ts / Edgar Hayes p, a / Benny James bj / Hayes Alvis sb / Willie Lynch d / Charlie Lawman v.

Recorded in New York on January 21, 1931.

Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Okeh 6119 (Columbia 3087 - 1935)

Lucky Millinder v, dir / Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill t / Henry 'Red' Allen t / George Washington, J.C. Higginbotham tb / Gene Mikell, Crawford Washington cl, as / Joe Garland cl, ts, bar / Edgar Hayes p / Lawrence Lucie g / Elmer James sb / O'Neil Spencer d.

Recorded in New York on July 2nd & 9th, 1935.