This promotional short for Irving Mills' short-lived Master and Variety labels not only gives us a glimpse of Ellington and his band in the actual Master/Variety studios (as opposed to a soundstage set), but is one of the very few film accounts of how records were recorded, pl...

Red McKenzie Here's how Red Mckenzie tells of the birth of The Mound City Blue Blowers. In 1923, Red "was back in his home town, St. Louis, the 'Mound City' from which the Blue Blowers got their name. "I was a bellhop in the Claridge Red said, ". . . and across the street w...