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"Darktown Strutters' Ball" is a popularsong by Shelton Brooks, published in 1917. The song has been recorded many times and is considered a popular and jazz standard. There are many variations of the title, including "At the Darktown Strutters' Ball", "The Darktown Strutters' Ball", and just "Strutters' Ball".
Soon after its 1917 publication, "Darktown Strutters' Ball" was included by Sophie Tucker in her Vaudeville routine.[1] The song was recorded on May 9 that year by the Six Brown Brothers.[2][3] The best-known recording, by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which was recorded on May 30, 1917, and released by Columbia Records as catalog number A-2297,[1] was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.
The song is very obviously a stylistic generic copy of the 1914 British hit by Nat D. Ayer entitled "At The Foxtrot Ball, That's All"
More than three million copies of the sheet music were sold.[4]
Recorded versions
American Republic Band (recorded December 1917, released by Pathe Records as catalog number 20282, with the flip side "Homeward Bound"[5])
Ray Anthony in Australia on Capitol CP-139, flip side "Deep Night" and in the US as the flip side to the single "Count Every Star".[6]
Allen Broome & His Dixieland All-Stars released a version on his debut solo album BucketMouth in June, 2013.
Boswell Sisters recorded a version (complete with a rumba section!) on May 23, 1934, in New York but was only issued in Australia on Columbia DO-1255.
Joe Brown on Decca F 11207, 1960, flip side "Swagger"; this was Brown's first single to chart.
Lou Monte recorded "Darktown Strutter's Ball (Italian Syle)" in 1954. The RCA release was a major hit, reaching No. 12 on retail sales. He parodies the lyrics, including "I'll be down to get you in a pushcart honey", and asks "Are you from Lyndhurst?", the city of his birth.
Ruby Newman and his Orchestra (recorded January 21, 1939, released by Decca Records as catalog number 23621, with the flip side "I'm Just Wild about Harry"[20])
Original Dixieland Jazz Band (recorded May 30, 1917, released by Columbia Records as catalog number A-2297, with the flip side "Indiana One Step"[6]). The ODJB recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.File:Darktown.jpgColumbia 78, A2297, Original Dixieland Jass Band, 1917.
Orlando's Orchestra (recorded January 1920, released by Silvertone Records as catalog number 5007B, with the flip side "Missouri Waltz".[21] This version was also released, with the name of the orchestra given as the Federal Band, by Federal Records under the same catalog number, with the same flip side[22])
Preacher Rollo and the Five Saints (Recorded April 18, 1951 in Miami,[23] released by MGM Records as catalog number 30448B, with the flip side "Original Dixieland One-Step"[24])
Chick Webb recorded a version on January 15, 1934, in New York but was only issued in England on Columbia CB-754.
The Ted Mulry Gang released a rock 'n' roll version of the song catalog number Albert AP11004, produced by Ted Albert in Australia, in February 1976, reaching no. 3 on the Kent Music Report.[29]
The Beatles performed "Darktown Strutters' Ball" in their early Liverpool and Hamburg performances, though no recording has ever surfaced.
In a 1975 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show ("Edie Gets Married"; Season 6, Episode 1) as the answer to a "knock-knock" joke: Knock-knock / Who's there? / Anna Maria Alberghetti / Anna Maria Alberghetti Who? / (sung) "Anna Maria Alberghetti in a taxi, Honey..." (similar to the first line of the song).
