Home > J. Russell Robinson

Robinson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He started publishing ragtime compositions in his teens; his early hits included Sapho Rag and Eccentric. With his drummer brother (name?) he toured the US South in the early 1910s, including an extended stay in New Orleans. He was known for his heavily blues and jazz influenced playing style; advertisements billed him (in the somewhat racist language of the time) as "The White Boy with the Colored Fingers".

In 1919 Robinson joined the Original Dixieland Jazz BandOriginal Dixieland Jass Band (after mid-1917 spelling changed to Jazz was a New Orleans band which, in 1917, was the first ever to make a jazz recording. It was also the first jazz band to achieve widespread prominence. The Original Dixieland Jass Band ar. He then went to work with W.C. Handy's publishing company, supplying new arrangements and lyrics for popular editions of tunes like " Memphis Blues" and "Ole Miss" in the 1920sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Events and trends Technology John Logie Baird invents the first working t. He also played piano with verious popular and blues singers in phonographThe phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s. Usage of these terms is somewhat different in British English and American English; see usage note below. In more modern usage, this devic recording sessions, accompanying singers such as Annette Hanshaw , Lucille HegaminLucille Nelson Hegemin ( November 29, 1894 1 March, 1970) was a United States singer and entertainer, and a pioneering African American blues recording artist. Hegemin was born a Lucille Nelson in Macon, Georgia. By the age of 15 she was touring the US So, Marion Harris , and Lizzie MilesLizzie Miles was the stage name taken by Elizabeth Mary Landreaux ( 1895 1963), an African American singer. Miles was born in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, in a dark skinned Francophone Creole of Color family. She traveled widely with. On some of his acompanyments to African AmericanAfrican Americans also known as Afro- Americans or black Americans comprise an ethnic group in the United States of America whose dominant ancestry is from Sub-Saharan West Africa. Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ance singers the acompanyment was listed on the record lables as being by Spencer Williams (with Williams permission).

His popular compositions include Palesteena and Margie.

Robinson died in Palmdale, California.