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Stompin' 'Em Down

Alex Hill

Johnny Wells

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This recording was produced in Chicago on March 30th 1929 with Alex Hill piano, accompanied
by Johnny Wells on drums. -To Flip The Record Over Click Here.

*"Stompin' 'em Down" was composed by Alex Hill.

After graduating from Shorter College in 1922, Alex Hill began playing in various territory bands including Terrence Holder's and graduated to leading his own ensemble from 1924 to 1926. He also played with Speed Webb and the following year spent time in California with "Mutt Carey's Jeffersonians" and "Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders".

Late in 1927 Hill relocated to Chicago and held a job as an arranger for the Melrose Music Publishing Company, while simultaneously arranging for the "Carroll Dickerson Orchestra". Over the next three years he worked consistently with three groups; Jimmy Wade in 1928, Jimmie Noone in 1929, and Sammy Stewart in 1930.

While on tour with Stewart, Alex moved to New York City. There he arranged for Paul Whiteman, Benny Carter, Claude Hopkins, Andy Kirk, Ina Ray Hutton, the "Mills Blue Rhythm Orchestra", and Duke Ellington. He also did charts for Fats Waller, Eddie Condon, and Willie Bryant. Additionally, he became staff arranger for the Mills Music Company. He and Fats Waller did a show together in New York called "Hello 1931", and also accompanied singer Adelaide Hall. In 1935 Hill put together his own group again, but while playing the Savoy Ballroom he disbanded the ensemble due to his illness from tuberculosis. Relinquishing his fame Alex Hill moved back home to Little Rock, Arkansas immediately and died there two years later at the young age of thirty.