Rhythmakers, sometime known as The Rhythmakers or the Chicago Rhythm Kings in later re-issues of their music, was a jazz recording group which recorded music in four sessions in New York City in 1932.
[1] Rhythmakers was organized by American music publisher and jazz impresario Irving Mills; initially as a means of featuring and promoting the singer Billy Banks.
Banks was the featured singer in nine songs recorded during the first two sessions with trumpeter Red Allen, clarinet and saxophone player Pee Wee Russell, banjoist Eddie Condon, pianist Joe Sullivan, double bassist Al Morgan, and guitarist Jack Bland.
The third session saw a changeover of performers, with Fats Waller replacing Sullivan on piano, Pops Foster replacing Morgan on double bass, and Jimmy Lord taking over the clarinet but not saxophone parts from Russell.
For the fourth and final session, Waller was replaced on piano by Frank Froeba, vocalist Chick Bullock succeeded Banks as the group's singer, and Tommy Dorsey was brought in as a trombonist.