The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks

Carleton A. Coon, Sr., and Hoe L. Sanders formed the Coon-Sanders Orchestra in 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri. Three years later, under the name "Nighthawks," the band began broadcasting experimental, highly-popular midnight radio programs over Kansas City's WDAF. Their music was played all over the world, and the band remained one of America's top bands until Coon's death in 1932.

Here is the complete history of the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, the band whose saucy, and bustling music and carefree and extravagant musicians symbolized the era between World War I and the Great Depression.