The Broadway Bell-Hops

Through the 1920s, quite a variety of jazz and hot dance rings made documents for multiple labeling using aliases showing the name of New York’s world-renowned theatre district and its own main pull: Broadway. As soon as 1921, Thomas Edison’s Gemstone Discs presented something known as the Broadway Dance Orchestra, and in 1922-1923 Ben Selvin’s organizations documented for Vocalion as the Broadway Syncopators. Inside a marvel of duplicity, the California Ramblers and Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra had been each billed as both Broadway Melody Manufacturers as well as the Broadway Music Experts. THE INITIAL Memphis Five became the Broadway Seven when documenting for Gray Gull, which company’s regular studio room band was occasionally defined as the Broadway Merry Manufacturers. Whenever documenting for Columbia’s budget-line subsidiary Tranquility, Sam Lanin’s dance music group was magically changed into an entity referred to as the Broadway Bell-Hops, while on Cameo these were billed as the Broadway Broadcasters. Classic Music Productions offers reissued 22 from the Bell-Hops’ 80 known recordings on Compact disc. Many of these feature period pop vocals by people like Billy Jones, Arthur Areas, and Irving Kaufman. Few music artists recorded with an increase of pseudonymous rings than cornetist and trumpeter Crimson Nichols, Lanin’s choice for the Bell-Hops if they initial convened in the documenting studio on Feb 10, 1926. Also present had been trombonist Miff Mole and tuba tamer Joe Tarto. Aside from one session in-may of 1926, Nichols was first-chair trumpeter using the Bell-Hops through June of 1927. When Lanin following led an organization for Harmony 90 days later, the music group was essentially recognizable as the Frankie Trumbauer device, filled with cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, pianist Frank Signorelli, and violinist Joe Venuti. The rest of the entries in the Broadway Bell-Hops discography included players whose identities haven’t been fully confirmed. A thorough anthology of the numerous “Broadway” rings has however to materialize. If so when such a series is ever set up, it’ll need to include types of Duke Ellington’s orchestra masquerading as the Broadway Revelers, Teddy Hill’s as the Broadway Tempo Kings, Ben Pollack’s as the Broadway Bandits, and Mezz Mezzrow’s as the Broadway Swingstars.