Charles Creath
Charles Cyril Creath (December 30, 1890, Ironton, Missouri – October 23, 1951, Chicago, Illinois), known as Charlie Creath, was an American jazz trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader. Creath played in traveling circuses and in theater bands in the decade of the 1900s, and moved back to St. Louis, Missouri around 1919. There he led bands playing on the Streckfus company's riverboats traveling on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and St. Louis. His ensembles were so popular that he had several bands under his own name at one time in the 1920s. A young Gene Sedric, later a mainstay of Fats Waller's combo and orchestra, played with Creath on riverboats in the 1920s, and perhaps early 1930s. He co-led a group on the SS Capitol in 1927 with Fate Marable. Late in the 1920s he suffered from an extended illness, and primarily played saxophone and accordion instead of trumpet afterwards. He and Marable played together again from 1935 to 1938, and toward the end of the decade Creath opened a nightclub in Chicago. He worked in an airplane manufacturing plant during World War II and retired in 1945. His last years were plagued with illness. Aside from his brother-in-law, Zutty Singleton, members of Creath's bands included Ed Allen, Pops Foster, Jerome Don Pasquall, Leonard Davis, and Lonnie Johnson. He recorded as a leader for Okeh Records between 1924 and 1927 billed as Chas. Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs, which were some of hottest and most collectable jazz items recorded for OKeh's race 8000 series. |
Birth and Death Data: Born Missouri (state of the United States of America) , Died October 23, 1951 (Chicago (city and county seat of Cook County, and largest city in State of Illinois, United States of America) )
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1924 - 1927
Roles Represented in DAHR: leader, composer
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
| Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OKeh | 8781 | 10-in. | November 1924 | Pleasure mad | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
| OKeh | 8782 | 10-in. | November 1924 | Market Street blues | Floyd Campbell ; Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | composer | |
| OKeh | 9018 | 10-in. | March 1925 | I woke up cold in hand | Floyd Campbell ; Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | composer, leader | |
| OKeh | 9019 | 10-in. | March 1925 | King Porter stomp | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
| OKeh | 9020 | 10-in. | March 1925 | Every man that wears bell-bottom britches ain't no monkey man | Floyd Campbell ; Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
| OKeh | 9021 | 10-in. | March 1925 | My daddy rocks me (With one steady roll) | Floyd Campbell ; Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
| OKeh | 9426 | 10-in. | November 1925 | Market Street stomp | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | composer, leader | |
| OKeh | 9427 | 10-in. | November 1925 | Won't, don't blues | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs ; Lonnie Johnson | Jazz/dance band, with violin and male vocal solo | composer, leader | |
| OKeh | 9428 | 10-in. | November 1925 | Way down in Lover's Lane | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
| OKeh | 9429 | 10-in. | November 1925 | Grandpa's spell | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
| OKeh | W80823 | 10-in. | 5/2/1927 | Butter finger blues | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | composer, leader | |
| OKeh | W80824 | 10-in. | 5/2/1927 | Crazy quilt | Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs | Jazz/dance band | leader |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Creath, Charles," accessed December 24, 2025, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105550.
Creath, Charles. (2025). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105550.
"Creath, Charles." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2025. Web. 24 December 2025.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Creath, Charles, 1890-1951 - https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87131583
Wikidata: Charlie Creath - https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q210173
VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/3983405
MusicBrainz: Charlie Creath - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/ae7ddcf8-b47f-4cf4-8baa-148a91d8f678
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