SwingDJs

I thought some of you might really enjoy this.
I have it formatted in a grid. If anyone is interested enough I will e-mail it to you in Word.

Edit: Highlighted numbers have added commentary from my Dad below (3rd post)

Jazz Musician Pseudonyms
compiled by Jack Woker

rev. February 10, 2004

Contributors: Chuck Nessa, Dave Royko, Francois Ziegler, Martin Milgrim, John Hood, Tim Brockett, Anthony Agostinelli, Linda Shank, Ed Barr, John Pickworth, Peter Friedman, Michael Fitzgerald, Doug Norwood, Luca Conti, David Toman, Henry Schmidt, Dennis Whitling, Ed Berger, M. Heckman, Steve Schwartz, Jonathan Kutler, Danny D’Imperio, Tim Hume, Phil Stein, Lenny Mazel, Bob Roberts, Paul Costuros, Larry Israel, Bill Gallagher, Don Frese, Thomas Matta, Michael Weil, Wellington Choy, Phil Grenadier, Don Ingle, Big Joe, Paul Wells, Ken Dryden, Carlos Schvartzman, Mark Ladenson, Chris Sheridan

And thanks to many others who made contributions I already had.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pseudonym
Real Name
Album

Shoeless Henry Aaron
Harry Allen
Bob Wilber "Budafora Blowup", Arbors 1996

Gabriel Armstrong
Jon Faddis
Al Grey "Live At The Floating Jazz Festival", Chiaroscuro, 1990

Bill Bailey
Count Basie
Joe Newman & the Boys in the Band, Storyville, 1954

Barbecue Joe
Wingy Manone
Champion, 1930

Kunst Bauer [1]
Art Farmer
Teo Macero "What's New?", Columbia, 1955

Buzzy Bavarian
Al Gafa
Kai Winding, "Dirty Dog", Verve, 1966

Johnny Beecher
Plas Johnson
"Sax Fifth Avenue", Charter, 1962

Sam Beethoven
Jimmy Raney
Cohn-Perkins-Kamuca "The Brothers", RCA, 1955

Blue Bells
Louie Bellson
Sam Most, Debut, 1953

Ferris Bender
Jackie McLean
Art Blakey "Night in Tunisia", Vik, 1957

Ralph & Bert Berg
Reinhold Svensson & Charles Norman
Metronome, 1950

John Berks [2]
Dizzy Gillespie
Slim Gaillard, Bel-Tone, 1945

Dju Berry
Stan Getz
Jimmy Gourley "No More", Musica, 1981

John Birks [2]
Dizzy Gillespie
Jazz At The Philharmonic, Disc, 1946

Blockbuster
Cannonball Adderley
Jon Hendricks "A Good Git Together", Pacific Jazz, 1959

B. Bopstein
Dizzy Gillespie
Tony Scott, Gotham, 1946

Jud Brotherly
Cannonball Adderley
"Ray Brown With The All-Star Big Band", Verve, 1962

Pat Brotherly
Nat Adderley
"Ray Brown With The All-Star Big Band", Verve, 1962

Boots Brown
Shorty Rogers
"Rock That Beat", Groove, 1952-53
RCA Victor singles, 1958

Tiger Brown
Maynard Ferguson
Ben Webster, Mercury, 1951
"Jazz Studio 4", Decca, 1955

John Burk [2]
Dizzy Gillespie
Wilbert Baranco, Black & White, 1946

Joe Callaghan
André Ekyan
Ducretet-Thomson, c. 1954

Lord Calvert
Nat King Cole
The Keynoters, Keynote, 1946

Steve Canyon
Stan Kenton


Billy Carton
Benny Carter
Varsity Seven, Varsity, 1939

Unidentified Cat
Gato Barbieri
Carla Bley, Watt

Pete Cera
Pete Jolly
Jon Eardley "Quartet", Prestige, 1955
Shorty Rogers "The Swinging Mr. Rogers", Atlantic, 1955

Charlie Chan [3]
Charlie Parker
"Jazz At Massey Hall", Debut, 1953;
Miles Davis "Collector's Items", Prestige, 1953

Friendly Chap
Buddy Guy
Junior Wells "Hoodoo Man Blues, Delmark

Prince Charming
Count Basie
Kansas City Seven, Keynote, 1944

Cootie Chesterfield
Pete Candoli
Peggy Lee "Black Coffee", Decca, 1953

Joe Chevrolet
Joe Dodge
Paul Desmond "Quartet Featuring Don Elliott", Fantasy, 1956

Chicago Flash
Gene Krupa


I Ching
Freddie Redd
Howard McGhee "The Connection", Felsted, 1960

Ronnie Clark
Herbie Hancock
Roy Ayers “Virgo Vibes”, Atlantic, 1968

Clarence Clump
Benny Carter
Capitol, 1948

Sven Coolson
Stan Getz
Jimmy Raney "Plays", Prestige, 1953

Little Miss Cott
Shirley Scott
Stanley Turrentine "Dearly Beloved", Blue Note, 1961

G. Reat Dane
Kai Winding
Tony Scott “Septet”, RCA Victor, 1955

E. Dankworth
Wynton Marsalis
Marcus Roberts "Deep In The Shed", RCA
Eric Reed "It's Alright To Swing"

Guy Denis
Guy Lafitte
Trummy Young, Ducretet-Thomson, 1955

Guy Denys
Guy Lafitte
Jean-Pierre Sasson, Ducretet-Thomson, 1954

John Doe
Howard Lucraft
Howard Lucraft "Showcase For Modern Jazz", Decca, 1957

“Big Jeb” Dooley
Pee Wee Erwin
“The Dixie Rebels”, Command, 1961

J. Dough
Johnny Guarnieri
Louis Armstrong, RCA Victor, 1946

Lonesome Dragon
Bob Moses
Gary Burton "A Genuine Tong Funeral", RCA, 1967

Dan Drew
Elliot Lawrence
"Rock That Beat", Groove, 1952-53

Blind Willie Dunn
Eddie Lang
w/ Lonnie Johnson, 1928-29

Jules Dupont
André Persiany
Guy Lafitte, Club Français du Disque, 1954

John Durante
Buck Clayton
Benny Goodman “Plays Selections Featured in the BG Story”, Capitol, 1955)

Sir Edward
Harold Vick
"The Power of Feeling", Encounter

Darlene Edwards [4]
Jo Stafford
"The Piano Artistry Of Jonathan Edwards", Columbia

Jonathan Edwards [4]
Paul Weston


Ly N. Ell
Lionel Hampton
Eddie Condon, Commodore, 1938

Swede Enlovely
Charlie Shavers
George Williams "Rhythm Was His Business", RCA

Keats Ennam
Shelly Manne


Maggsi Evonce
Howard McGhee
Leo Parker, Savoy, 1947

Gib Fender
Howard Roberts
June Christy "The Cool School", Capitol, 1959

Homer Fields
Ray Bryant
Clark Terry “Tread Ye Lightly”, Cameo, 1963
Charlie Shavers, Jazz Vault, 1962

"Baron" Fingus
Charles Mingus
George Wallington Trio, Prestige, 1952

Chicago Flash
Gene Krupa
JATP, Asch, 1944
Town Hall Concert, Disc, 1945

Art Flickreiter
Andre Previn
Dave Pell "The Big Small Bands", Capitol, 1959

Phil Forest
Phil Woods
Nat Pierce "Jazz Romp", Keynote, 1955

Billy Franklin
Don Goldie
"Golden Horn", Design

"Wild Bill" Funaro
Wild Bill Davison
George Wettling "Jazz Trios", Kapp, 1956

Phil Funk
Phil Woods


Ernst Von Funkenstein
Ernie Freeman
Jimmy Witherspoon "Baby Baby Baby", Prestige, 1963

Gabriel
Dizzy Gillespie
Tempo Jazz Men, Dial, 1946

Irving Garner
Paul Smith
"The Best Of Irving Garner", Verve, 1956
Buddy DeFranco "Plays Artie Shaw", Verve, 1957

Sir Jonathan Gasser
Johnny Smith
"Jazz Studio 1", Decca, 1953

Hen Gates
Jimmy Forman
Al Steele, Hi-Lite, 1947
James Moody, Blue Note, 1948

Hen Gates
Dizzy Gillespie
Charlie Parker, Savoy, 1945

Jimmy Gloomy
James Moody
Tubby Hayes "Tubby's Back In Town", Smash, 1962

Doc Goldberg [5]
Milt Hinton
George Williams "We Could Make Such Beautiful Music", RCA

Izzie Goldberg
Dizzy Gillespie
Be Bop Boys, Savoy, 1946

Izzy Goldberg
Dizzy Gillespie
Joe Marsala, Black & White, 1945

Goliath
Lou Bennett
Jack Sels, Delahay, 1961

DaWilli Gonga
George Duke
Cal Tjader "Amazonas", Fantasy; Joe Henderson "Black Miracle", Milestone, 1975; Tom Waits "Blue Valentine", 1978; others.

George Goodwin
Coleridge Goode
Ray Nance, Esquire, 1948

Blue Grant
Grant Green
Don Patterson "Tune Up", Prestige, 1971

Roy Green
Ray Brown
Joyce Collins "Girl Here Plays Mean Piano", Jazzland, 1960

Rod Gregory
Dick Hyman
"Holiday For Lovers", Waldorf, c. 1955

Earl Grey
Lou Levy
Shorty Rogers "Martians Come Back", Atlantic, 1955

Zane Grudge
Don Lamond
Guss Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA, 1956

Deorge Guke
George Duke
John Klemmer "Touch", ABC, 1975

Aye Guy
Nat King Cole
"Lester Young Trio", Mercury, 1946

Ruth Haag [4]

Betty Grable
Harry James, Columbia, 1945

Sir Osbert Haberdasher
Jimmy Raney
Al Cohn, "Mr. Music", RCA, 1954

Half-Valve [7]
Rex Stewart
Brick Fleagle’s Rhythmakers, HRS, 1947

J. Harjes
Johnny Hodges
Earl Hines, Apollo, 1944

Carleton Harkins
Coleman Hawkins
Varsity Seven, Varsity, 1939

Bunny Harris
Jimmy Raney
Dick Collins "King Richard...", RCA, 1954

Bernie Hart
Milt Bernhart
Jerry Fielding "Swingin' In Hi Fi", Decca, 1956

Harvey
Johnny Hodges
Billy Taylor, Keynote, 1944

Bert Herbert
Herb Geller
"Jazz Studio 4", Decca, 1955

Junior Hifitz
Milt Hinton
Gus Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA 1956

Honeyboy Homer
Ray Bryant
Gotham, 1955

Gus Hoo
Billy Butterfield
"New York Land Dixie", RCA, 1956

Ike Horowitz
Al Cohn
Urbie Green "East Coast Jazz", Bethlehem, 1955

Shoeless Joe Jackson
Mel Powell
JATP, Disc, 1946

Shoeless John Jackson
Benny Goodman
Mel Powell, Commodore, 1942

John Jackson
Benny Goodman
Teddy Wilson, Brunswick, 1936

L. Jackson
Géo Daly
Michel de Villers, Decca, 1954

Sonny Jackson
King Curtis
Sue, 1961

Jo Jaguar
Martial Solal
Vogue EPs, 1956

T-Bone Jefferson
Chris Barber
Cecil Scott, Columbia, 1959

Jinx Jingles
Teddy Charles
Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams, Warwick, 1961

Phil Johnson
George Shearing
Night Blooming Jazzmen, Mainstream, 1973

Spider Johnson
Cannonball Adderley
Riverside single, 1962

Little Jazz
Roy Eldridge
Little Jazz Ensemble, Keynote

Jug
Gene Ammons
Bennie Green "Soul Stirrin'", Blue Note, 1958

Stix Kahn
Teddy Charles
"Mundell Lowe Quintet", RCA Victor, 1954

Joe Kalamazoo
Hubert Rostaing
Pretoria

Ken Kenney
Red Norvo
"Jazz Studio 4", Decca, 1955

Chuck Kidde
Charlie Shavers
Coleman Hawkins "Hawk in Hi Fi, RCA Victor, 1956

John Kildare
Dizzy Gillespie
Albinia Jones, National, 1945

Oliver King
Thad Jones
Charles Mingus/John LaPorta "Jazzical Moods", Period, 1954

Willie "The Rock" Knox
Dick Hyman
"Ragtime Piano", Waldorf, c. 1955

Kokomo
Jimmy Wisner
"Asia Minor", Felsted

Felix Krull
Horace Parlan
Booker Ervin "That's It", Candid, 1961

Buckshot La Funque
Cannonball Adderley
"Here Comes Louis Smith", Blue Note, 1958

Eddie Laguna
Nat King Cole
Herbie Haymer, Sunset, 1945

Bob Landy
Bob Dylan
"The Blues Project", Elektra

George Lane
Eric Dolphy
John Coltrane "Ole", Atlantic, 1961

Vera Lane
Helen Ward
Teddy Wilson, Brunswick, 1936

Claude Laurence
André Hodeir
Swing, 1942

Kansas Lawrence
Carmell Jones
Vi Redd "Bird Call", United Artists, 1962

Bengt Laxeau
Bengt Hallberg
Monica Zetterlund "Swedish Sensation", Columbia, 1958

L. Lee
Benny Carter
Lionel Hampton, Victor, 1939

Bud Legge
Bud Shank
June Christy "The Intimate June Christy", Capitol, 1963

Often LePow
Seldon Powell
George Williams "We Could Make Such Beautiful Music", RCA

Paul Leslie
Les Paul
Red Callendar, Sunset, 1945

Hey Lewis
Louis Hayes
Pepper Adams & Donald Byrd "Motor City Scene", Bethlehem

Jelly Roll Lipschitz
Leonard Feather
Leo Watson, Signature, 1946

Little Brother
Nat Adderley
King Curtis "The New Scene Of King Curtis", New Jazz, 1960

Red Loring
Red Nichols
Julia Lee, Capitol, 1947

Francis Lowe
Ben Webster
Mildred Bailey, Vocalion, 1936

Richard Lowman
Dick Hyman
Barbara Lea, Prestige, 1956

Jack Mack
Jack McVea
Slim Gaillard, Bel-Tone, 1945

Maurice [8]
Fats Waller
Eddie Condon, Commodore, 1940

Buddy Maynard
Maynard Ferguson
Jerry Fielding "Swingin' In Hi Fi", Decca, 1956

Henry McDode
Hampton Hawes
Jimmy Witherspoon "Singin' The Blues", World Pacific, 1958

Susan Melton
Peggy Lee
Mel Torme "California Suite", Capitol, 1949

Moe and Joe
J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding
Tony Aless "Long Island Suite", Roost, 1956

Lex Mond
Billy Byers
Tony Scott, RCA Victor, 1956

Wilmer Mosby
Don Patterson
Sonny Stitt “Deuces Wild”, Atlantic, 1966

El Muchacho
Mahlon Clark
Ray Linn’s Hollywood Swing Stars, Atomic, 1946

Rock Murphy
Barney Kessel
Verve 45's

Shorty Nadine
Nat King Cole
Jazz At The Philharmonic, Disc, 1944

Virgil Nameless
Johnny Dankworth
Cleo Laine, MGM, 1957

Virgil Nameless
Tommy Whittle
Cleo Laine, Nixa, 1955

Nature Boy
Nat "King" Cole
Stan Getz "Groovin' High", Crown, 1947

Lord Nelson
Sonny Stitt
Sensation, 1948

Geo Noby
George Daly
Trummy Young, Ducretet-Thomson, 1955

Jimmy O'Heigho
Jimmy Cleveland
George Williams "Rhythm Was His Business", RCA, 1956;
Manny Albam/Ernie Wilkins "Drum Suite", RCA, 1956

Derek Olphy
Allan Chase
John McNeil “Fortuity”, Steeplechase, 2001

Hammond Olson
Reinhold Svensson
Metronome, 1952

Olson Brothers
Reinhold Svensson & Charles Norman
Esquire?, 1950

A. N. Other
Allen Eager


Knuckles O'Toole
Dick Hyman
Waldorf and other labels, 1950s

Pete Pesci [9]
Bobby Hackett
Eddie Condon, "Bixieland", Columbia, 1955

Hunt Peters
J.J. Johnson
Elvin Jones "And Then Again", Atlantic, 1965

Ronnie Peters
Cannonball Adderley
Milt Jackson "Plenty Plenty Soul", Atlantic, 1957

Fefe Phophum
Hal McKusick
Gus Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA 1956

Mac Pierce
Hugh McCracken
King Curtis "Trouble In Mind", Tru-Sound, 1961

Reggie Pitts
Ray Ellington
Ray Nance, Esquire, 1948

Buddy Poor
Buddy Rich
Harry James "Wild About Harry", Capitol, 1957

Al Portch
Laurindo Almeida
Pete Rugolo "Percussion At Work", Mercury, 1957

Al Portch
James Stagliano
Max Roach “Boston Percussion Ensemble”, Mercury, 1958

Cue Porter [10]
Johnny Hodges
Billy Strayhorn "Cue For Saxophone", Felsted, 1958
Booty Wood, English Columbia, 1960

Brother Powell
David Bee
Jazz Club, 1965

Al Price
Bill Berry


Bubber Prince
Sammy Price
Albinia Jones, National, 1945

The Prince
Shorty Rogers
"Jazz Studio 4", Decca, 1955

Amanda B. Reckondwith
Ruth Underwood
George Duke

Manhattan Red
Urbie Green
Jimmy McPartland, Design, 1960

Low Reed
Michel de Villers
Guy Lafitte, Pathé, 1954
Jean-Pierre Sasson, Columbia, 1955
Guy Lafitte, Columbia, 1956

Ragtime Reinhold
Reinhold Svensson
Metronome, 1953 & 1955

Bill Richard
Dick Katz
Ray Nance, Esquire, 1948

Dirty Rivers
Muddy Waters
Otis Spann "The Blues Never Die", Prestige, 1964

James Rivers [11]
Jimmy Giuffre
John Lewis “Wonderful World Of Jazz”, Atlantic, 1960

Lawrence Rix
Lauderic Caton
Ray Nance, Esquire, 1948

Little Rock
Pharoah Sanders
Leon Thomas "Spirits Known and Unknown", Flying Dutchman, 1969

Jolly Roger
Shorty Rogers
Teddy Charles "New Directions", Prestige, 1953

Slim Romero
Fats Navarro
Illinois Jacquet, Aladdin, 1947

Swing Roo
Cozy Cole
Teddy Wilson, Brunswick, 1937

Frankie Ross
Frank Rosolino
Gene Krupa "Lemon Drop", Columbia, 1949

Martial Royal
Martial Solal
Jean-Pierre Sasson, Ducretet-Thomson, 1954

Art Salt
Art Pepper
Shorty Rogers "Cool & Crazy", RCA Victor, 1954
Shelly Manne & His Men, Contemporary, 1953

Steve Sax
Steve Lacy
Joe Lee Wilson "Secrets From the Sun", Sun, c. 1976

Joe Schmaltz
Charlie Shavers
Herbie Haymer, Sunset, 1945

Joe Scott
Wynton Kelly
Sonny Criss "At The Crossroads", Peacock, 1959

Sonny Scott
Hubert Rostaing
Odeon EPs, 1962

Little Miss Sharecropper
Lavern Baker
National, c. 1950

Manny Shell
Shelly Manne
"Wild One" soundtrack, Decca, 1954

Roger Short
Shorty Rogers
"Wild One" soundtrack, Decca, 1954

C.C. Siegel
J.J. Johnson
Charlie Parker 10th Memorial Concert", Limelight, 1965

Big Skol
Sonny Boy Williamson
Roland Kirk "Kirk in Copenhagen", Mercury, 1963

Al Smith
Teddy Wilson
Timme Rosenkrantz, Jazz Star, 1945

Brother Soul
Milt Jackson
Quincy Jones "This Is How I Feel About Jazz", ABC, 1956

George Spelvin [12]
Bud Shank
June Christy "June’s Got Rhythm", Capitol, 1958

Joe Splink
Clifford Scott
Richard Groove Holmes "Somethin' Special", Pacific Jazz;
Carmell Jones "Business Meeting" Pacific Jazz

Kant Standhim
Stan Kenton


Ken Stanton
Stan Kenton


Cinderella G. Stump [13]
Jo Stafford
Red Ingle, Capitol, 1947

Mad Milt Summerblouse
Boomie Richman
Gus Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA 1956

Theoshis Tannis
Roland Kirk
Eddie Baccus "Feel Real", Smash, 1962

Erskine Tearblotter
Lou McGarity
Gus Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA 1956

A Tenorman
Ben Webster
Carmen McRae "Birds Of A Feather", Decca, 1958

Ed Theodore
Prob. Teddy Edwards
Mel Tormé "I Dig The Duke, I Dig The Count", Verve, 1960-61

Chuck Thomas
Woody Herman
Woody Herman, Capitol, 1949

Zeke Tolin (anagram of Lee Konitz)
Lee Konitz
"Gil Evans +10", Prestige, 1957

Blue Train
John Coltrane
Cecil Taylor "Stereo Drive", United Artists, 1958

Bernard Trapps
Buddy Rich
George Freeman "Man & Woman ", Groove Merchant, 1974

Fanfan la Tulipe
André Persiany
Trummy Young, Ducretet-Thomson, 1955

Flip Turner
Flip Phillips
Jazz At The Philharmonic, Mercury, 1947

Shad Turner
Joe Joe Johnson
Boots Brown & His Blockbusters, Groove, 1952

Stan Turner
Stanley Turrentine
Shirley Scott, “Hip Soul”, Prestige, 1961

Whelan Tyme
Hal Schaefer
“8 To The Bar”, United Artists, 1958

Peter Urban
Art Farmer
Teddy Charles "Tentet", Atlantic, 1956

James Van Dyke
Jimmy Cleveland
Gigi Gryce, "Orchestra/Quartet", Signal, 1955

Luke "The Wailer"
Danny Bank
George Handy "Handyland, U.S.A.", 1954

Wally Wales
Bobby Hackett
George Wein, "George Wein Sings", Atlantic, 1955

Herb Walsh
Herb Geller
"Best From The West", Blue Note, 1954-55

Billy Ward
Buster Bailey
Oriole, 1925

Roderick Ward [14]
Branford Marsalis
Kenny Kirkland, GRP, 1991

Jim Whatsmyname
Jimmy Cleveland
Lucky Thompson's ABC Paramount Lps, 1956

Papa Snow White
Hot Lips Page
Mezzrow-Bechet Septet, King Jazz, 1945

The Wizzard
Raymond Cheng
Frank Lowe, "Black Beings", ESP

Eddie Wood
Eddie Heywood
Rex Stewart, Capitol, 1945

Lion Wrong
Leo Wright
Lalo Schifrin, 1960s

Baldy Wynn
Moe Wechsler
Gus Hoo "New York Land Dixie", RCA 1956

Drummer X
Chico Hamilton
John Pisano/Billy Bean "Makin' It, Decca, 1958

Trumpeter X
Harry Edison
Manny Albam "Jazz Greats...", Coral, 1957

Ennam Yllehs
Shelly Manne
Dave Pell, "The Big Small Bands" Capitol, 1959

Ashby de la Zooch
Irving Ashby
Charles Mingus, Four Star, 1946

Jack Zoot
Zoot Sims
Ernie Wilkins, RCA, 1955



Correction: I heard from Red Ingle’s son, who informed me that Tedder (correct spelling) was a real person.

Karen Teddler
Jo Stafford
Red Ingle & The Natural Seven, Capitol, 1951

hey moderator! whyncha put some HTML formatting in that post up thar?

OK, this is funny; my Dad added some info to the above list based on his personal experience. This is typical of Dear Old Dad, as he is a story teller if nothing else (and he really is many other things as well...):

(1) Kunst Bauer is an exact German translation of Art Farmer's name; he was under contract to Prestige, but assured me it was OK if his name was not used. The album, "What's New," didn't sell much but was an extraordinary success for the two completely unknown composers of its contents, Teo Macero and Bob Prince. I asked them each to create and conduct a suite of about 20 minutes - the length of an LP side at that time. Although both were completely unknown, Teo's side caught the attention of Leonard Bernstein, who commissioned him to write a concerto for jazz sextet and symphony orchestra, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic. Bob's side caught the ear of Jerome Robbins, who commissioned him add two new movements to three of the compositions for a ballet which Robbins called NY Export: Op. Jazz, that was a long-running smash on Broadway, followed by two world tours, with Bob conducting.

A kind of pseudonymic reverse happened on Teo's session. For the personnel credits, I simply told my secretary to take the information on the W-4 slips (which musicians filled out on each date, from which the AFM Form B was prepared and a copy sent to the accounting department for payments). When the album appeared, I was startled to find that one musician, Lanny DiJay, had signed his real name as it appeared on his Social Security card, which is why his album credit read "Orlando DiGirolamo." That was the last time I failed to proof-read liner copy myself.

(2) Note the three variations on John Birks Gillespie (Dizzy's full name).
.
(3) Charlie Chan: Remember your music teacher at the Solebury School? She was Mrs. Chan Parker (Bird's common-law wife).
(this refers to me -Greg- I had no idea at the time, but CP's wife was my music theory teacher in high school... she was awesome!)

(4) Jonathan Edwards is a convoluted story that goes back to my college days. Around 1957, at a sales and promotion meeting at Columbia spread over 2 or 3 days, Paul Weston sat down at the piano after dinner, demonstrating how he and his wife Jo Stafford had been entertaining at parties with a spoof - Jo as Darlene Edwards, a housewife who had "sacrificed a singing career for marriage," accompanied by her husband - both of them incredibly inept. Jo, a great singer with dead-on pitch and time, mastered the difficult feat of singing sharp at all times (flat is easier), while Paul dropped and added bars, created dreadful harmonies and missed notes magnificently - always out of time with Jo. So we persuaded Paul to prepare an LP (first of a series of perhaps 4 or 5, which are still available on CD).

"Mr. Edwards" did not have a first name, so I proposed "Jonathan," and here's why. Kapp Records had successfully launched a pop pianist named Roger Williams, to rival our entry in the field, Liberace. Roger Williams was also the name of a Revolutionary era New England preacher, who with his followers founded the state of Rhode Island. Jonathan Edwards was another clerical leader (in Connecticut) of the time, and my residential college at Yale was named after him. And so the careers of Darlene and Jonathan Edwards was launched.

Speaking of Paul and Liberace, here's how we signed Liberace. Paul was in charge of A&R on the coast, and one day he called me to say he was going to sign a pianist who used only his surname, but before he sent any tapes to New York, Paul wanted me to know why he was sold on the guy.

An artist manager whose name I can't remember at the moment (he handled folk groups including a very successful singing group we had just signed called the Hi-Lo's) had asked Paul to tune in on a small Los Angeles TV station at 12 noon to catch another client he thought Paul should sign up. Paul naturally wondered why a guy playing piano for 15 minutes on a one-lung TV station in the middle of the day should interest Columbia Records.

"At the start of every broadcast," Paul was told, "he lights a candlebra on the piano top, talks to the listeners between songs, tells them how happy he is that they tuned in, asks them to tune in again tomorrow and blows them a kiss" "So?" asked Paul. "Well, since he started broadcasting a few weeks ago, the bank that sponsors him says they've had about a thousand little old tennis-shoe ladies come in to transfer their savings accounts from other banks."

(5) When he needed a nom-de-disque, Milt Hinton remembered the real Doc Goldberg who played bass with the Hudson-Delange Orchestra, a very good swing band of the middle thirties. Doc was good enough to be invited to round out the Metronome Magazine All-Stars session of 1941.

(6) Ruth Haag was the maiden name of Mrs. Harry James, and her one recording establishes that Betty Grable should have sung more often in her films.

(7) "Half-Valve" is an apt pseudonym that describes one of the techniques by which Rex Stewart, a great cornetist, created new sounds on his horn, to the extent that 70 years ago I saw him onstage with Duke Ellington, carrying on a very understandable telephone conversation with vocalist Ivie Anderson - "Hello, John, is that you?" "Yes," etc., ending with them having a spat, and then Ivie goes into Duke's song, "I'm Checkin' Out, Goombye."

(8) Maurice was the name of Fats Waller's son.

(9) Pete Pesci was the manager of Eddie Condon's first jazz club on West 3rd Street in the Village. Bobby Hackett, one of Condon's regulars, was under contract with capital as featured solist inn Jackie Gleason's enormously successful "mood" albums. Gleason agreed to let me use the pseudonym - and a Down Beat reviewer hailed my discovery of a great new trumpet player. On another Condon LP, I commented in the annotation that a Mr. Chivas was a great help in getting the results of the session, and another Down Beat reviewer (obviously not a connoisseur of Scotch whiskeys) wanted to know what instrument he had played.

(10) Cue Porter was the maiden name of Mrs. Johnny Hodges.

(11) There is a real James Rivers, who also plays saxophone (as does Jimmy Guiffre). He is a later-generation New Orleans musician.

(12) George Spelvin is a generic pseudonym established about 150 years ago in the American theater, to be used whenever an actor doubles in a second role.

(13) Cinderella G. Stump is a pre-Darlene Jo Stafford incarnation, spoofing a screechy country singer of dubious pitch and a mistress of the missing bar at the end of a phrase.

(14) Roderick Ward was (and may still be) Branford Marsalis's offstage right-hand man.

awesome! especially the rex stewart story.

Unbelievable list! Funny.

Psst... Greg, the note number for "Ruth Haag" is 4 but I think it's meant to be 6. And I think the artist and album names are missing for that entry.

(Thanks for the correction ...here's some more stuff from my Dad.)

Jon-Erik Kellso also corrected me on "Ruth Haag." As confirmed in Peter Levinson's splendid "Trumpet Blues - the Life of Harry James," Haag was not Betty Grable's last name - it was Harry James's middle name; his parents were long-time performers in the Mighty Haag Circus out of Texas. (For the record, Betty's maiden name was Elizabeth Ruth Conn.)

Several additions:

Dick Hyman was also Slugger Ryan, Willie the Rock Knox and Rip Chord on several piano, organ and society dance albums. The pianist Bent Fabric, who wrote and performed "Alley Cat," was actually Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, a Danish film composer who was also Atlantic Records' Scandinavian distributor. (Ahmet Ertegun, after months of stalling, finally released the record on Atco as a favor - and it was one of 1962's biggest hits.) Crazy Otto was Fritz Schulz-Reichel ("Schraeger Otto" in the original German). American pianist Johnny Maddox later used the name on two of his LPs. Art Zimmerman pointed out that Nat Cole was Sammy Schmaltz (either on Sunset or a Jazz at the Philharmonic LP). Frank Gray recalled Steve Allen's boogie woogie spoofs under the name of Buck Hammer. Alvino Rey was Ira Ironstrings and Lou Busch was Joe "Fingers" Carr, both on my watch at Warner Bros.

On the personal side, as "Dick Clark" I wrote the English lyric to "Der Treue Hussar" for Louis Armstrong, who sang it as "Six Foot Four;" as well as English lyrics for some Frankie Yankovic polkas and waltzes, including the Polish polka "Hu-La-La-La" (for which I sang my lyric as "Buddy Yankovic" on an unissued Take 2 - Take 1 was spoiled when I opened my mouth for the first word, and nothing came out). The next day Frank and his second accordionist learned the words and wisely re-recorded as a duet what became the hit version.

Earlier, in 1947, when I produced and annotated the first albums by John Cage and Alan Hovhaness for Moe Asch's Disc Records with the permission of Edward Wallerstein, president of Columbia Records, I signed my name in the Armenian alphabet. "No problem," said Mr. W., after I demonstrated what it would look like, "nobody will ever know." On a less prideful level, Bob Blumenthal, Branford Marsalis's manager, tells me that a friend of his, Kenny Freundlich, signed his annotation for a particularly poor Charlie Parker bootleg as "Don T. Bythis ("don't buy this"). On another level, John Hammond quietly substituted his name for mine on four 78-rpm reissue albums I produced for Columbia in 1940, changing my annotations slightly but the by-line quite significantly: "by John Hammond, World's Greatest Authority on Jazz". Bob also pointed out that Rod Ward is still Branford Marsalis's road manager, and added that Airto Moreira was identified as "Deepo Indebto" on - as best Bob could remember - a Charlie Byrd album.

Even my wife, Anahid Ajemian, recorded pseudonymously on some of my early mood music Columbia LPs as violinist Lionel McMorrow - a play on the first names of her pianist sister Maro and brother-in-law Lionel, inspired by posters all over San Francisco that fall which read, "Vote for McMorrow for City Council." (A Democrat, of course.)
================
I noticed that there were a lot of veiws on this thread, so I hope you all don't mind if I share some of my dad's typical story telling as well... it's just dorky familly stuff, so you might think it's boring, but it's sort of related to the topic. If you don't think it's appropriate, stop reading and/or bite me. .
Anyway, from a note to me and my sister; my sister wrote:


Mom recorded under a pseudonym? Why? Was the "mood music" beneath her?

Maro

(Maro is the name of my sister -and just so there's no confussion from the story above, named after my Mom's sister. My mom is a pretty famous violinist who was one of the first female graduates of Julliard, toured on behalf of the U.S. for the state department, blah blah)

(My Dad's response):

. . . Well, your guess as to why I once recorded Mom under a pseudonym is a good one, but there's more to the story. In part, I did feel that as a serious artist she should not be identified as having participated in what was a frankly opportunistic merchandising idea. But what she really did was a rescue me out of a last-minute minor predicament.

In the earliest days of 12-inch LP, the president of Columbia Records, Jim Conkling, suggested that we release a series of four albums consisting of varied examples of what could be called "Quiet Music," by different artists from the company's out-of-print backlog with a goal to using as many masters as possible which were royalty-free, so that the cost would be minimal, and of course no new recordings. We were out to try something new, but on the cheap. The sales angle was to promote the albums as mood music - pleasant non-distractive background music. The artists' names meant nothing; the music itself was the selling point. (Or one of them, as we shall see.)

There was considerable variety from track to track - pop standards, semi-classic warhorses, and so on. Among them I decided to use four sides that had been recorded in the early thirties by a CBS "house" violinist, accompanied by a pianist, of standard encore pieces like Fritz Kessler's "Alt Wien," one on each of four LPs. The engineering department told me that they were quite deteriorated, and technically sounded awful alongside the better-preserved recordings from the vault. I didn't want to break up the sequence of repertoire on all four sides, and we had already announced the series, so at dinner that night I asked Mom to come next morning and remake the selections, with Bill Masselos accompanying her. ("Uncle Billy" is a familly friend; a great guy and definitely someone who wouldn't worry about royalties and crap)

But I didn't want people to say, "Oh, look, he's pushing his wife onto the label," so I hit upon the Lionel McMorrow name as an amusing family joke. I even paid Uncle Billy as contractor, giving him double scale ($82.50) and paid Mom "sideman" scale ($41.25). Nobody ever questioned who McMorrow was - it was assumed that he was some forgotten 78-rpm one-timer, until - for some reason that I have forgotten - about ten years later the Accounting Department wanted information about "him" as contractor. I explained that the name was fictitious and the "he" was not even the contractor. I got a look like, "Well, we always knew that Avakian was a slightly insane" - and the matter was dropped. But I wish I could remember why it was suddenly considered necessary to ask, especially by Accounting - there was nothing involved like a residual payment (fortunately - I would not have used Mom if there was), and to this day I can't even imagine a sensible reason.

Now comes the funniest part. Jim said, "We have to sell the mood on the covers. Let's get photos of four different models in relaxed poses." (Most album covers were very simple in those days - usually about four different generic layouts with just print and line drawings, one color other than black - I'll show you some, because it's easier to show you examples than to describe them. We called them "tombstone covers," and you'll see why. Using a photo was rare - too expensive - but Jim said, "We'll spend the money on the covers - but not too much - only one color plate in the printing."

You will get a laugh out of what happened after we released them, but I would have to show you the albums (I saved one copy of each, just because they were historic curiosities) so you would appreciate the humor of it. A number of dealers complained that the models were too provocative, and refused to handle the series. But the laugh is that the covers are really quite innocuous, even though one of the girls was in a nightgown (but nothing like the famous wartime Rita Hayworth pin-up photo.)

However, the covers caused such a stir in the industry that our competitors hastened to beat us out on the display racks with would-be starlets in peek-a-boo necklines. Sales of the "Quiet Music" series were never more than so-so. The profit margin was quite nice, but using old recordings - only Mom's four sides were new - disappointed our customers, I'm sure. Nevertheless, your dear old dad got credited with starting yet another trend in the pop album business - this time quite undeservedly, because we never went beyond the first and misunderstood covers. From then on our "mood music" albums were by Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, Paul Weston, and even Doris Day and Frank Sinatra - with four-color covers.

And as you will also see, none of the "Quiet Music" models was nearly as pretty as Mom.

Love -

Dad