Hotsy Totsy Gang 1930/ Various - Hotsy Totsy Gang 1930

This album is yet another strong release by Retrieval Records, a label specializing in historic recordings. For this collection, the label has put together music by Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang, recorded in 1929 and 1930. Irving Mills was a jazz publisher who also went by the name of Joe Primrose, and, together with his brother Jack, was also owner of Mills Music. When the brothers sold Mills Music, the company had grown into the biggest independent music publisher worldwide. But Mills was not only a publisher, he was also a singer, lyricist, song writer, and band manager for the likes of Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He sang, but was no musician, and yet Irving decided to put together his own band for studio recordings. Among Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang were Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Manny Klein, and several other fine musicians. The recordings of the Hotsy Totsy Gang that were made between 1929 and 1930 boast some of the best white jazz musicians of their time, often with spectacular results. Sometimes Mills sang on those recordings, other times he merely arranged recording dates and selected musicians.