John Alston

John or Johnny Alston is credited as co-writer (together with Skeets Tolbert) of "Hit That Jive, Jack" and "Big Fat Butterfly". Both songs were recorded by Skeets Tolbert And His Gentlemen Of Swing, establishing a clear link to Skeets Tolbert, but so far it has not been possible to make a similar connection to any particular individual called John or Johnny Alston. An article in Storyville magazine citing Tolbert states that "Austin" (i.e. Harold Austin (5)) was the was the co-author of Hit That Jive Jack. But the U.S. Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1941 shows "Johnny (i.e. John) Alston", with Campbell A. Tolbert as the claimant. For the West Coast tenor saxophonist, band leader and writer, please use Johnny Alston. For the East Coast tenor scat singer, tenor saxophonist and member of Floyd Ray’s orchestra please use Johnny Alston (3).