# Jazz Man Records

Jazz Man Records was an American record company and independent record label devoted to traditional New Orleans-style jazz. David Stuart (né David Ashford Stuart; 1910–1984) founded the label in 1941 and sold it to his ex-wife, Marili Morden and her new husband, Nesuhi Ertegun. The label and its namesake – Jazz Man Record Shop, in Hollywood – were in the vanguard of an international revival of traditional jazz in the 1940s.

## History

Jazz Man Records was founded in 1941 by David Stuart, owner of the Jazz Man Record Shop in Hollywood, California. The label was an offshoot of the shop, established in 1939 as the only shop on the West Coast that specialized in used 78s for jazz collectors. Stuart was a purist who felt that traditional New Orleans jazz was the real jazz. He preserved and promoted the traditional jazz music that had fallen out of favor in the late 1920s, and regarded the swing music that had eclipsed it with contempt.$^{:iii}$
Stuart modeled Jazz Man Records after Commodore Records, whose issues were released by a comparable record shop operating in Manhattan from 1938. He adopted its style of printing the names and instrumentation of the personnel on the label. The label also bore the address of the Jazz Man Record Shop, the exclusive sales outlet. Lester Koenig and Stuart produced the first recordings by Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band December 19–20, 1941.$^{:75–76}$ A second recording session with the Watters band was produced in March 1942.$^{:82–84}$
In June 1942, Stuart produced a historic recording session in New Orleans with Bunk Johnson, putting together a group he called Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band.$^{:303}$
In December 1942, Jazz Man Records issued four unreleased sides by Jelly Roll Morton, recorded in 1938, in partnership with Nesuhi Ertegun.$^{:114}$ Ertegun had acquired the solo piano recordings, made in Washington, D.C., while Morton was being interviewed by Alan Lomax, from a private collection in 1941.$^{:107}$
Ertegun purchased Jazz Man Records from David Stuart in late 1946. In January 1947, Jazz Man record labels were redesigned and a dark green color, matching that of Crescent Records. Ertegun retired the Crescent label.$^{:156}$
On January 15, 1952, Jazz Man Records sold its masters to Lester Koenig's Good Time Jazz Records for $5,500.$^{:308}$ Recordings were produced on the Jazz Man label through 1954. The last was an album by Joe Venuti and Tony Romano (Jazz Man LP LJ-336), recorded in October 1954 and released the following month.$^{:206–207,311}$

## Select discography

The Jazz Man Records discography is available online from the Jazz Discography Project and is further detailed in Cary Ginell's 2010 book, Hot Jazz for Sale: Hollywood's Jazz Man Record Shop.$^{:301–311}$
| Number | Artist | Titles | Recording Date | Notes |
| Jazz Man 1 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Maple Leaf Rag" (Scott Joplin) "Black and White Rag" (George Botsford) | December 19–20, 1941 | |
| Jazz Man 2 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Irish Black Bottom" (Percy Venable) "Memphis Blues" (W. C. Handy) | December 19–20, 1941 | |
| Jazz Man 3 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Muskrat Ramble" (Kid Ory) "Smokey Mokes" (Abe Holzmann) | December 19–20, 1941 | |
| Jazz Man 4 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" (Kerry Mills) "Original Jelly Roll Blues" (Jelly Roll Morton) | December 19–20, 1941 | |
| Jazz Man 5 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Cake Walking Babies" (Clarence Williams) "Riverside Blues" (Richard M. Jones and Tommy Dorsey) | March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 6 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Come Back Sweet Papa" (Luis Russell and Paul Barbarin) "Tiger Rag" (Nick LaRocca) | March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 7 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Temptation Rag" (Harry Lodge) "Fidgety Feet" (Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields) | March 22, 1942 March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 8 | Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band | "Down by the River" (Traditional) "Panama" (William H. Tyers) | June 11, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 9 | Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band | "Weary Blues" (Artie Matthews) "Moose March" (Traditional) | June 11, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 10 | Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band | "Storyville Blues" (Maceo Pinkard) "Bunk's Blues" (Bunk Johnson) | June 11, 1942 | Recorded as "Those Draftin' Blues" Recorded as "Old Time Blues" |
| Jazz Man Ltd. Edition 1 | Bunk Johnson | Interview by Eugene Williams, parts one and two | June 12, 1942 | Fifty hand-numbered copies, most autographed by Johnson |
| Jazz Man Ltd. Edition 2 | Bunk Johnson Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band | Interview by Eugene Williams, part three "Yes, Lord, I'm Crippled" (Traditional) | June 12, 1942 June 11, 1942 | Fifty hand-numbered copies, most autographed by Johnson |
| Jazz Man 11 | Jelly Roll Morton | "Winin' Boy Blues" (Jelly Roll Morton) "Honky Tonk Music" (Jelly Roll Morton) | December 1938 | |
| Jazz Man 12 | Jelly Roll Morton | "Finger Buster" (Jelly Roll Morton) "Creepy Feeling" (Jelly Roll Morton) | December 1938 | |
| Jazz Man 13 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Daddy Do" (Fred Longshaw) "Milenberg Joys" (Jelly Roll Morton) | March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 14 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "London Blues" (Jelly Roll Morton) "Sunset Cafe Stomp" (Percy Venable) | March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 15 | Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band | "Terrible Blues" (Clarence Williams) "High Society" (Porter Steele) | March 29, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 16 | Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band | "Pallet on the Floor" (Traditional) "Ballin' the Jack" (Chris Smith and James Reese Europe) | June 11, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 17 | Bunk Johnson's Original Superior Band Wally Rose | "Yes, Lord, I'm Crippled" (Traditional) "Hot House Rag" (Paul Pratt) | June 11, 1942 March 22, 1942 | |
| Jazz Man 18 | Johnny Wittwer | "Aunt Hagar's Blues" (W. C. Handy) "Ragged but Right" (Traditional) | December 1945 | |
| Jazz Man 19 | Johnny Wittwer | "Ace in the Hole" (Traditional) "Two Kinds of People" (Traditional) | December 1945 | |
| Jazz Man 20 | Johnny Wittwer | "Ragtime Nightingale" (Joseph Lamb) "Bill Bailey" (Hughie Cannon) | December 1945 | |
| Jazz Man 21 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Creole Song" (Kid Ory) "South" (Bennie Moten and Thamon Hayes) | August 3, 1944 | Reissue of Crescent Records 1 All eight Crescent discs are re-released by Jazz Man Records 1946–1947 |
| Jazz Man 22 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Blues for Jimmie" (Kid Ory) "Get Out of Here" (Kid Ory and Bud Scott) | August 3, 1944 | Reissue of Crescent Records 2 |
| Jazz Man 23 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Maryland" (Traditional) "Oh Didn't He Ramble" (W. C. Handy) | September 8, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 3 |
| Jazz Man 24 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "1919" (Traditional) "Down Home Rag" (Wilbur Sweatman) | September 8, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 4 |
| Jazz Man 25 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Careless Love" (Traditional) "Do What Ory Say" (Kid Ory) | August 5, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 5 |
| Jazz Man 26 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Ory's Creole Trombone" (Kid Ory) "Original Dixieland One-Step" (Nick LaRocca) | November 3, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 6 |
| Jazz Man 27 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Panama" (Will H. Tyers) "Under the Bamboo Tree" (Bob Cole) | August 5, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 7 |
| Jazz Man 28 | Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band | "Weary Blues" (Artie Matthews) "Maple Leaf Rag" (Scott Joplin) | November 3, 1945 | Reissue of Crescent Records 8 |
| Jazz Man 29 | Pete Daily's Rhythm Kings | "Sobbin' Blues" (Art Kassel and Vic Berton) Jazz Man Strut (Rosy McHargue) | December 24, 1947 | |
| Jazz Man 30 | Pete Daily's Rhythm Kings | "Yelping Hound Blues" (Anton Lada and Alcide Nunez) "Clarinet Marmalade" (Larry Shields and Henry Ragas) | December 24, 1947 | |
| Jazz Man 31 | Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers | "Shake That Thing" (Charlie Jackson) "Kansas City Man Blues" (Clarence Williams and Clarence Johnson) | December 31, 1947 | |
| Jazz Man 32 | Turk Murphy's Bay City Stompers | "Yellow Dog Blues" (W. C. Handy) "Brother Lowdown" (Turk Murphy) | December 31, 1947 | |
| Jazz Man 33 | Darnell Howard's Frisco Footwarmers | "Some of These Days" (Shelton Brooks) "Dippermouth Blues" (King Oliver and Louis Armstrong) | April 29, 1950 | |
| Jazz Man 34 | Darnell Howard's Frisco Footwarmers | "Pretty Baby" (Tony Jackson) "St. Louis Blues" (W. C. Handy) | April 29, 1950 | Last session before its masters are sold to Good Time Jazz Records |