Music
Todd Rhodes
1899–1965 · pianist, arranger, bandleader
Pianist of McKinney's Cotton Pickers who stayed in Detroit and led one of its top R&B bands, whose "Blues for the Red Boy" became Alan Freed's radio theme.
- Born
Hopkinsville, Kentucky- Died
Inkster, Michigan
aged 65- Birth name
- Todd Washington Rhodes
- Detroit years
- 1920s–1965
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rhodes trained at music schools in Springfield, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, and after graduating in 1921 joined drummer William McKinney's band, which became McKinney's Cotton Pickers. The group moved its base to Detroit in the late 1920s under manager Jean Goldkette and became one of the country's leading Black big bands, and Rhodes played beside Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and Fats Waller on its records. He left the band in 1934 and made Detroit his home. In 1943 he formed a small group that grew into the Todd Rhodes Orchestra by 1946, and in 1947 it began recording for Bernard Besman's Sensation label. "Blues for the Red Boy" reached No. 4 on the R&B chart in 1948 and was adopted as the theme of Alan Freed's Moondog radio show; "Pot Likker" reached No. 3 in 1949. With King Records from 1951, his band featured singers Connie Allen and then LaVern Baker. Diabetes ended his career, and he died in Inkster in 1965.
Highlights
- Pianist with McKinney's Cotton Pickers from the early 1920s to 1934
- Led the Todd Rhodes Orchestra in Detroit from 1946
- "Blues for the Red Boy" (No. 4 R&B, 1948), Alan Freed's Moondog theme
- "Pot Likker" reached No. 3 on the R&B chart in 1949
- LaVern Baker sang with his band in the early 1950s
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1927–1934
Graystone Ballroom
Demolished · 1922–1972
Jean Goldkette's Woodward Avenue ballroom, where McKinney's Cotton Pickers were a house band when Rhodes was their pianist; closed in 1972 and demolished in 1980.