Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and, along with Duke Ellington, is considered one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history. Henderson's influence was vast. He helped bridge the gap between the Dixieland and the swing eras. He was often known as "Smack" Henderson.
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 recordings. In 1959, a biopic was made of his life and career, The Five Pennies, starring Danny Kaye.
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
Nordskog Records was a jazz record company and label founded by Andrae Nordskog in 1921 in Santa Monica, California.
Ben Pollack was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to employ musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland, and Harry James. This ability earned him the nickname the "Father of Swing".
The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Ambassador Hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921. Later renovations by architect Paul Williams were made to the hotel in the late 1940s. It was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a premier Los Angeles night spot for decades; host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon.
Lady, Play Your Mandolin! is the first Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Rudolf Ising of Harman and Ising. The short was released in August 1931, and stars Foxy, a character who appeared in three 1931 shorts.
Theodore Salvatore Fiorito, known professionally as Ted Fio Rito, was an American composer, orchestra leader, and keyboardist, on both the piano and the Hammond organ, who was popular on national radio broadcasts in the 1920s and 1930s. His name is sometimes given as Ted Fiorito or Ted FioRito.
Russell Morgan was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for co-composing the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" with Larry Stock and James Cavanaugh, and was the first to record it in 1944.
The Rhythm Boys were an American male singing trio consisting of Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker. Crosby and Rinker began performing together in 1925 and were recruited by Paul Whiteman in late 1926. Pianist/singer/songwriter Barris joined the team in 1927. They made a number of recordings with the Whiteman Orchestra and released singles in their own right with Barris on piano. They appeared with the Whiteman orchestra in the film King of Jazz, in which they sang "Mississippi Mud", "So the Bluebirds and the Blackbirds Got Together", "A Bench in the Park", and "Happy Feet". They are best remembered for launching Crosby's solo career, one that would make him the greatest song charting act in history and one of the most influential entertainers of the twentieth century.
Henry Halstead was an American bandleader. His orchestra began in early 1922 and over the next twenty years had regular engagements at hotels in New York and California.
Harry Barris was an American popular singer and songwriter. He was one of the earliest singers to use "scat singing" in recordings. Barris, one of Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, along with Bing Crosby and Al Rinker, scatted on several songs, including "Mississippi Mud," which Barris wrote in 1927.
Gus Arnheim was an American pianist and an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being "I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He also had a few small acting roles.
Roy Fox was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era.
Timeless Records is a jazz record label based in the Netherlands.
"Harlem Chapel Chimes" is a 1935 jazz instrumental composed by Glenn Miller. The song was released as an A-side 78 single by the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.
Ray Miller (1896–1974) was an American bandleader who was popular during the 1920s. In 1924 his orchestra performed at the White House with Al Jolson, the first jazz band to do so.
Charles LaVere Johnson, better known as Charlie LaVere was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, bandleader, and composer. He is best known for his extensive work with arranger Gordon Jenkins, including the 1948 million seller “Maybe You’ll Be There”, his own dixie jazz group LaVere's Chicago Loopers, and his later work for Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue, for which he composed the music and led the band performances from 1955 to 1959, and which would go on to become the longest running stage show in the history of show business, running for over 31 years and over 39,000 performances.
The Cocoanut Grove was a nightclub inside the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It featured lavish exotic décor and was open between 1921 and 1989. The club continued as a filming location until the hotel was demolished in 2006. The Cocoanut Grove was "probably the most beloved public room of all time" society columnist Christy Fox wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
