1923 in music

Events

• Explosion of recordings of African American musicians; Bessie Smith, Ida Cox[?], Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, many others make their first recordings.

Top Hit Songs

• "Yes, We Have No Bananas" by Frank Silver[?] & Irving Cohn[?]
• "Last Night, On the Back Porch" by Lew Brown & Carl Schraubstander[?]
• "Mexicali Rose" by Helen Stone[?]
• "Barney Google" by Billy Rose[?], Billy De Beck[?], & Con Conrad[?].
• "Indiana Moon" by Benny Davis[?] & Isham Jones[?]
• "Dizzy Fingers" by Zez Confrey[?]
• "Charleston" by James P. Johnson & Cecil Mack[?]
• "Annabelle" by Ray Henderson & Lew Brown
• "I Love Life" by Mana-Zucca[?] & Irwin Cassel[?]
• "No, No, Nora" by Gus Kahn[?], Ted Fiorito[?] & Ernie Erdman[?]
• "When it's Night Time in Italy it's Wednesday Over Here" by James Kendis[?] & Lew Brown

Hit Recordings

• "Everything is K.O. in K.Y." by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
• "Swinging Down The Lane" by Isham Jones[?] & His Orchestra
• "Down Hearted Blues" by Bessie Smith
• "Waitin' For The Evenin' Mail" by Al Bernard[?]
• "Cut Yourself A Piece of Cake (and Make Yourself at Home) by Billy Jones[?]
• "I Love Me (I'm Wild About Myself)" by Billy Murray[?]
• "No No Nora/I've Got the Yes We Have No Bananas Blues" by Eddie Cantor

Births

• January 5 - Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records
• March 2 - Doc Watson
• April 25 - Albert King[?]
• July 31 - Amhet Ertegun[?], record executive
• September 17 - Hank Williams
• October 16 - Bert Kaempfert[?]

Deaths