I am currently reading Reid Badger’s biography of James Reese Europe, A Life in Ragtime, and popped over to YouTube to see if someone uploaded a recording of his band. According to Badger, Europe and his orchestra were the first black musicians to sign a major recording contract in 1913. They recorded three sessions (though the last was never released by Victor Records), and the “Castle House Rag”, which Europe wrote specifically for the Castles, was recorded and released in February of 1914.
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PhD student, public historian, and author of historical fiction that complicates the past by night! Follow me on Twitter @edwardian_era