Editing Roy Eldridge (section)

==== New York and Chicago ====
Eldridge moved to New York in November 1930, playing in various bands in the early 1930s, including a number of [[Harlem]] dance bands with [[Cecil Scott]], [[Elmer Snowden]], [[Charlie Johnson (bandleader)|Charlie Johnson]], and [[Teddy Hill]].<ref name=Robinson691>Robinson, p. 691.</ref> It was during this time that Eldridge received his nickname, 'Little Jazz', from Ellington saxophonist [[Otto Hardwick]], who was amused by the incongruity between Eldridge's raucous playing and his short stature.<ref name=Wilson>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/28/obituaries/roy-eldridge-78-jazz-trumpeter-known-for-intense-style-is-dead.html |title=Roy Eldridge, 78, Jazz Trumpeter Known for Intense Style, Is Dead |first=John S. |last=Wilson |author-link=John S. Wilson (music critic) |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 28, 1989}}</ref> At this time, Eldridge was also making records and radio broadcasts under his own name. He laid down his first recorded solos with Teddy Hill in 1935, which gained almost immediate popularity.<ref name=Robinson691 /> For a brief time, he also led his own band at the reputed Famous Door nightclub.<ref name=Robinson691 /> Eldridge recorded a number of small group sides with singer [[Billie Holiday]] in July 1935, including "[[What a Little Moonlight Can Do]]" and "[[Miss Brown to You]]", employing a [[Dixieland]]-influenced improvisation style.<ref>Oliphant, pp. 343–44.</ref> In October 1935, Eldridge joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, playing lead trumpet and occasionally singing.<ref name=Robinson691 /> Until he left the group in early September 1936, Eldridge was Henderson's featured soloist, his talent highlighted by such numbers as "Christopher Columbus" and "Blue Lou."<ref>Oliphant, pp. 51–52.</ref> His rhythmic power to swing a band was a dynamic trademark of the jazz of the time. It has been said that "from the mid-Thirties onwards, he had superseded [[Louis Armstrong]] as the exemplar of modern 'hot' trumpet playing".<ref>Lyttelton, p. 414.</ref>

In the fall of 1936, Eldridge moved to Chicago to form an octet with older brother Joe Eldridge playing saxophone and [[arranging]]. The ensemble boasted nightly broadcasts and made recordings that featured his extended solos, including "[[After You've Gone (song)|After You've Gone]]" and "Wabash Stomp."<ref name=Robinson691 /> Eldridge, fed up with the racism he had encountered in the music industry, quit playing in 1938 to study radio engineering.<ref name="Balliett, p. 151"/> He was back to playing in 1939, when he formed a ten-piece band that gained a residency at New York's Arcadia Ballroom.<ref name=Robinson691 />