Miff Mole and his Molers was basically a pseudonym for Red Nichols Five Pennies. They used this name when recording for the Okeh Company. Red Nichols and Miff Mole were one of the most prolific recording teams in the 1920s. Their cool, thoughtful style sometimes called the New York School or Chamber Jazz, left many Jazz critics and musicians cold, but in retrospect I think you can hear that they were on to something. In many ways they were exploring similar ideas as George Gershwin was, but in a more hip and swinging way. Their version of Imagination is a successful example of what they were trying to do. It might not be the hottest Jazz in the world, but it is very chic and urbane, a little time capsule of 1920's sophistication. Things got a little rougher when the Austin High Gang blew into town fresh from Chicago on the 1929 tracks, with Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble and Windy City Stomp. Four other Molers songs were released as Sophie Tucker accompanied by Miff Moles Molers.

It is interesting to note that the song Crazy Rhythm features the unusual instrument the mellophone. Dudley Fosdick was the mellophonist, and it was a sort of alto horn, pitched in Eb. The Molers 1928 recording of Crazy Rhythm is always a "fooler" for noticers who try to figure out if it's a valve trombone or something - the mellophone sounds kind of like a low cornet with bad head cold. Fosdick spent much of his post Red Nichols career with Guy Lombardo, and until the end of Lombardo Band under Guy's leadership, the second trumpet book required mellophone "double". - Mark Heter