Photograph of “Wee Hour Serenaders” of Terre Haute, Indiana

Description:	Publicity photograph of the African American 1920’s jazz and swing band, the “Wee Hour Serenaders” of Terre Haute, Indiana. The band played across Indiana and much of the Wabash Valley under the direction of Paul W. Stuart, center. Pictured left to right are the band’s mascot (small boy), Mosely Smith (trumpet), Karl Bradshaw (drums), Demetrius “Dee” Ewing (tenor sax), William Miller (trumpet), Leo Montgomery, Harold Pollard (tenor sax), Belford “Sinky” Hendricks (piano), Leonard Manuel (banjo), Frank Vanderson (base fiddle and tuba). Center, Paul Stuart, (band leader and tenor sax). The band was comprised of close childhood friends who performed in the jazz clubs and ballrooms of the Mid-West, but who all had jobs on the side to support their families. Demetrius Ewing reported that good pay for the group at that time was $7.00 per musician per “gig.” When the band leader, Stuart, who was employed by the Terre Haute Fire Department, was told by new management there to choose between his civil service career and his musical career, he opted for the job with the more secure future, and the band was forced to dissolve, in 1930.
Origin:	Circa1925
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/lcg/id/51
Collection:	Lost Creek Grove
Subjects:	Jazz musicians African American Social Life

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