• Track Listing

Founded in Kansas City in 1918 by drummer Carleton Coon and pianist Joe Sanders as The Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, they found fame via broadcasts of their 'live' performances from the city's Muelebach Hotel on radio WDAF, which could be heard across the USA, becoming the Night Hawk Orchestra because they played the late-night spot through to 1a.m.. After making an early recording for Columbia in 1921, they recorded for Victor through the 1920s and into the 1930s, becoming hugely popular as they very much set the tone for the Roaring Twenties with their hot jazz-influenced novelty dance music for which the post-war decade became famous. Sadly their career was curtailed when Carleton Coon died suddenly in 1932 from an infection at th age of 38. This great-value 69-track 3-CD set comprises most of their career recordings, including some of the early renditions of compositions which went on to become jazz and Great American Songbook standards like "Deep Henderson", "After You've Gone" and " Darktown Strutters Ball". It naturally includes all their ten career hits including "Some Little Bird", "Night Hawk Blues", "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby" and "Flamin' Mamie". It's a comprehensive showcase for their distinctive and innovative style, and a highly evocative insight into a fascinating strand of the music during a significant musical decade.