Black guitarist   " Little   Mike " McKendrick was one of four musical brothers, Reuben Michael ( guitar  and banjo), Richard Mich...

Charles Cyril "Charlie" Creath, born in  1890 in   Ironton, Missouri  was a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. He started out i...

I'm spotlighting a tune written by the  interracial writing team of Jack Yellen (lyrics) and Maceo Pinkard (music). Yellen wrote the wor...

This session are under the leadership of trumpeter Joe 'Wingy' Manone. Manone was a Sicilian from New Orleans, who acquired his nick...

Here's an interesting tune by a Bubber Miley-led group, with Frank Marvin providing the vocal. Ken Macomber is actually listed as the Di...

This is a pretty high-powered group of white musicians, along with Don Redman who is the composer, arranger and plays clarinet and alto sax....

Daisy Martin, like other early black female singers, was a veteran of vaudeville, tent shows and musical theatre. She was among the first wa...

Ben Bernie, sometimes called "The Old Maestro" was a violinist, bandleader and showman who became popular enough to show up in ear...

Mezz Mezzrow, author of the most unique autobiography in jazz, earns a prominent mention in the conversation about interracial sessions. In...

This Teddy Wilson-Billie Holiday session features white musicians Tom Mace on clarinet and Dave Barbour on guitar. Dave Barbour shows up on ...

Benny Goodman is given a lot of credit for being in the vanguard in hiring black musicians. It's complicated. Goodman was no crusader an...

Ben Pollack was a drummer and important early bandleader. Many of the great soloists of the late 1920's-Goodman, Teagarden, McPartland-p...

Red McKenzie and Eddie Condon were two of the great organizers of combinations for recording in the late 20-'s-early 30's. Often put...

Maggie Jones, billed as the "Texas Nightingale" was an earthy blues-vaudeville singer with a stentorian voice. She had a brief rec...