"South" is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

composition by

Thamon Hayes Thamon Hayes (October 11, 1899 – August 1, 1978) was a Dixieland jazz trombonist and composer of the early Kansas City jazz scene, who along with Bennie Moten Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pia ...

and

Bennie Moten Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchest ...

.William Emmett Studwell and Mark Baldin: ''The Big Band Reader: Songs Favored by Swing Era Orchestras and Other Popular Ensembles''. Haworth Press, 2000. . p.222 It was introduced by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra in 1924 and recorded again in 1928, when it became a national hit. It was Moten's most popular composition.Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine: ''All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music''. Backbeat Books, 2002. . p. 917 Originally an instrumental piece, Ray Charles (a pseudonym for Charles Carpenter) later wrote lyrics for the tune.

Notes

1924 songs 1925 singles Jazz compositions {{1920s-jazz-composition-stub