Birmingham Blues & Jazz: Audio Collection
Title
Birmingham Blues & Jazz: Audio Collection
Description
Rescued blues and jazz audio -- including live recordings and home tapes -- by Birmingham, Alabama, musicians, 1950s - 1980s.
Highlights include previously unreleased recordings of blues harmonica player and singer Dave Miles, last survivor of the original Birmingham Jug Band, recorded in the 1960s by Patrick Cather; album outtakes by boogie-woogie and blues pianist Robert McCoy, also recorded by Cather; and a night in a Eutaw, Alabama, juke joint, preserved on tape by saxophonist Frank Adams.
For additional blues recordings, please see also our Gip's Place collection, featuring live audio from the celebrated Bessemer, Alabama, juke joint.
For more on Birmingham jazz, be sure to explore our extensive photo collection devoted to this subject; our collection of Birmingham jazz newspaper ads; and the Frank "Doc" Adams oral history collection. For a fuller history of the city's unique jazz legacy, see Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America by SMRC director Burgin Mathews.
Rights
Recordings, images, text, and all other materials in this collection are made available here for educational and research purposes only.
No content may be reproduced without 1) written permission from the Southern Music Research Center and 2) appropriate citation.
Please contact burgin@southernmusicresearch.org for all usage requests. Reproduction of some materials may be restricted or available at a small processing charge.
Exception: Written permission is not required for posting SMRC materials to social media, but all posts should cite the Southern Music Research Center and, when possible, link to the original URL.
No content may be reproduced without 1) written permission from the Southern Music Research Center and 2) appropriate citation.
Please contact burgin@southernmusicresearch.org for all usage requests. Reproduction of some materials may be restricted or available at a small processing charge.
Exception: Written permission is not required for posting SMRC materials to social media, but all posts should cite the Southern Music Research Center and, when possible, link to the original URL.
Collection Items
Benny Smith and his Houserockers, Radio Broadcast, 1960s
In these audio excerpts, Benny Smith and his Houserockers, a rock and roll / blues band, performs live on the Midnight Mover Groover Show, hosted by "Little Walter" (Walter Anglin) on Birmingham radio station WJLD. Other musicians, along with bassist…
Dave Miles (10 Tracks)
Blues harmonica player, singer, and guitarist Dave Miles, recorded by Patrick Cather in the 1960s. Miles was an original member of the Birmingham Jug Band, which recorded eight tunes for the Okeh record label in 1930 (a ninth recording, "Airplane…
Dee Clarke & Frank Adams, Eutaw, Alabama
Frank Adams performs with the Dee Clarke band at a Eutaw, Alabama, juke joint, 1970s.
“She doesn’t have to be Lena HorneShe can be from Eutaw, Alabama, and even country born.” -- Dee Clarke in Eutaw, 1970s
“What was it called? The Eutaw club,…
Dot Adams, "Stars Fell On Alabama"
“Stars Fell On Alabama”: Dot Adams with the Frank Adams band at the Woodland Club, 1960s. For fourteen years in the 1950s and ’60s, the Frank Adams band performed nearly every weekend at the Woodland Club, a “honkytonk” on the edge of Birmingham, in…
Frank Adams and Band, Undated Recording
This undated reel-to-reel recording from the Frank Adams collection includes Adams on clarinet and alto saxophone, drummer Herbie Bryant, bassist Ivory “Pops” Williams, and other unidentified performers. Performances include two upbeat instrumentals,…
The Jerry Grundy Trio, Featuring Laura Washington
In this radio broadcast, circa 1988-1989, singer Laura Washington appears with the Jerry Grundy Trio at Grundy's Music Room in Birmingham, Alabama.From 1979 to 1992, Grundy's Music Room -- owned and operated by Jerry and Bernadine "Bernie"…
Johnny Hayden's Organettes Presents Live from Club 401: Swing Soul Roll
This LP, recorded and sold in the 1960s at Birmingham’s Club 401, features live music by Johnny Hayden and the Organettes, with vocal performances by Roszetta Johnson, Eddie Sawyer, and Johnny Jackson. The club was located on Ishkooda Road in…
Laura Washington at Grundy's Music Room
Birmingham-born Laura Washington joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra as a teenager in 1946, scoring a hit that year for the band with her performance of Joe Liggins’ “I’ve Got a Right to Cry.” (The Hawkins/Washington cover reached #2 on the…
Robert McCoy (11 Tracks)
Blues and boogie-woogie pianist Robert McCoy, recorded by Patrick Cather, circa 1962-1963, Birmingham, Alabama.Cather produced, on his Vulcan / Vulkan Records label, two albums by McCoy -- Barrel House Blues and Jook Piano (1962) and Blues and Boogie…
Walter Miller at Joe (1989 Radio Broadcast)
1989 radio broadcast featuring pianist Walter Miller live at the Birmingham bar and bistro Joe (sometimes known as Joe Bar).As a trumpeter, Miller performed for many years in the bands of Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, and Sun Ra. Sun Ra in particular…
Birmingham Jazz Vocalists, Undated Recording
This undated reel-to-reel recording from the Frank Adams collection includes performances by the following vocalists:
Doris “Dot” Adams, “I’ll Be Around” Avery Richardson, “After the Party” Fletcher “Hootie” Myatt, “Poor Butterfly” (partial)…
Birmingham Blues & Jazz: Audio Collection
The "Birmingham Blues & Jazz" audio collection presents rare and rescued recordings by Birmingham, Alabama, musicians, 1950s - 1980s. Highlights include previously unreleased recordings of blues harmonica player and singer Dave Miles, last…
Collection Tree
- Birmingham Blues & Jazz: Audio Collection