Joseph H. “Jo” Trent (1892–1954) was an African American songwriter, singer, music publisher, and theatrical figure active in New York’s Harlem music scene during the 1920s. He was a member of the Rainbow Music Company, a Harlem music-publishing firm he operated with Porter Grainger and Robert Ricketts. The company received financial support from songwriter and publisher Irving Berlin and published popular songs during the height of the Harlem Renaissance.
Trent was also closely associated with Duke Ellington during Ellington’s early career. Ellington began working as Trent’s piano accompanist in the spring of 1924, and the two collaborated on the musical revue Chocolate Kiddies, which toured Europe in 1925. Trent also performed as a vocalist, including a November 1924 recording session with Ellington and members of his band.
Trent is particularly important to recording history because he is strongly believed to have been behind Blu-Disc Records, a short-lived New York label that issued only nine known releases in late 1924. He recorded for the label himself as Jo Trent and the D.C.’s, accompanied by Otto Hardwick, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, and Sonny Greer. Blu-Disc also released some of Ellington’s earliest recordings with The Washingtonians.
As a songwriter, Trent contributed lyrics to songs including “Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan),” later recorded by Bessie Smith in 1927.
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[…] long been uncertain, but research by Allan Sutton suggests that Blu-Disc was probably a venture of Joseph H. “Jo” Trent, a Harlem songwriter, singer, and publisher associated with the Rainbow Music Company. The […]