Rosa Henderson (November 24, 1896 – April 6, 1968) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer, and vaudeville entertainer.
Born Rosa Deschamps in Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky, she is remembered as one of the greats of the 1920s and 1930s classic blues era. Her career as an entertainer began in 1913 when she joined her uncle's circus troupe.
She married Douglas "Slim" Henderson in 1918 and began travelling with his Mason-Henderson show. Her career as a musical comedian started during the early 1920s, after she moved to New York where she performed on Broadway and eventually in London.
Her nine year recording career began in 1923. During that time she recorded upwards of one hundred songs using numerous pseudonyms such as Sally Ritz, Flora Dale, Sarah Johnson, Josephine Thomas, Gladys White and Mamie Harris. She was accompanied by such bands as The Virginians, Fletcher Henderson's Jazz Five, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, Fletcher Henderson's Club Alabam Orchestra, the Choo Choo Jazzers, the Kansas City Five, the Three Jolly Miners, the Kansas City Four, the Three Hot Eskimos, and the Four Black Diamonds.
She sang the chorus on Fletcher Henderson's May 28, 1924, Vocalion recording of "Do That Thing", probably the earliest example of a female singing with a big band.
Although she began to show a marked decline in her recordings after 1926, she continued performing up until 1932 when she took a job in a New York department store.
She continued to perform benefit concerts up until the 1960s. Henderson died in Roosevelt Island, New York. She is no relation to Fletcher, Horace or Edmonia Henderson
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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!
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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!
Please email me at Info@Bmansbluesreport.com
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Me and My Tapeworm - Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver (July 25, 1897 – April 4, 1960) was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues.
On October 23, 1923, he recorded in New York City with the blues singer Sara Martin "Longing for Daddy Blues" / "I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind" and two weeks later as a soloist "Guitar Blues" / "Guitar Rag". Both recordings were released on Okeh Records. These recordings are the very first country-blues recordings and the first known recorded songs using the slide guitar style. "Guitar Rag" (played on a Guitjo) became a blues classic and was covered in the 1930s by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys as "Steel Guitar Rag" and became a country music standard too.
Weaver recorded until 1927, sometimes accompanied by Sara Martin, about 50 additional songs. On some recordings from 1927 he was accompanied by Walter Beasley and the singer Helen Humes. Weaver often used the bottleneck-style method, playing his guitar with a knife. His recordings were quite successful but in 1927 he retired and went back to Louisville until his death in 1960. Though many country blues artists had a revival from the 1950s on, Weaver died almost forgotten.
In 1992 his complete works were released on two CDs, the same year his (up to then anonymous) grave got a headstone by engagement of the Louisville-based Kentuckiana Blues Society (KBS). Furthermore the KBS has annually honored since 1989 persons who rendered outstanding services to the blues with their Sylvester Weaver Award.
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Sylvester Weaver
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Crazy Blues - Cliff Carlisle & Bill Carlisle
Cliff Carlisle (May 6, 1903 – April 5, 1983) was an American country and blues singer. Carlisle was a yodeler and was a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music.
Carlisle was born in Taylorsville, Kentucky and began performing locally with cousin Lillian Truax at age 16. Truax's marriage put an end to the group, and Carlisle began playing with Wilber Ball, a guitarist and tenor harmonizer. The two toured frequently around the U.S. playing vaudeville and circus venues in the 1920s.
Carlisle and Ball first played at Louisville, Kentucky radio station WHAS-AM in 1930, which made them local stars, and later that year they recorded for Gennett Records and Champion Records. In 1931, they recorded with Jimmie Rodgers. Toward the end of 1931, Carlisle signed with ARC and was offered performance slots on several radio stations, including WBT-AM in Charlotte, North Carolina, WLS-AM in Chicago and WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cliff's brother Bill became his guitarist after Ball left in 1934. During the 1930s Carlisle, who recorded a large amount of material despite a hiatus from 1934 to 1936, frequently released songs with sexual connotations including barnyard metaphors (which became something of a hallmark).
Carlisle toured with his son, "Sonny Boy Tommy," to occasional consternation from authorities in areas where this contravened local child labor laws. He continued to perform on WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee for several years in the 1940s, but by the 1950s had retired from music.
In the 1960s, The Rooftop Singers covered his tune "Tom Cat Blues"; in its wake, Carlisle and Ball did a few reunion shows together and recorded for Rem Records. On April 2, 1983, Carlisle died at the age of 79 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Bill Wyman, former bassist for The Rolling Stones, has said that he was always an admirer of Carlisle's musical style.
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Labels:
Bill Carlisle,
Cliff Carlisle,
Kentucky
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Blues with the Saw - Bobby Jones
Bobby Jones (October 30, 1928, Louisville, Kentucky - March 6, 1980, Munich) was an American jazz saxophonist.
Jones played drums as a child and started on clarinet at age 8; his father encouraged him to explore jazz. He studied with Simeon Bellison, Joe Allard, Charlie Parker, and George Russell. He played with Ray McKinley from 1949 into the mid-1950s, and then with Hal McIntyre before rejoining McKinley later in the decade.
During a stint in the Army he met Nat and Cannonball Adderley as well as Junior Mance; after his discharge he played country music and rock & roll as a studio musician, and did time with Boots Randolph and Glenn Miller (1950) before returning again with McKinley from 1959 to 1963. He played briefly with Woody Herman and Jack Teagarden in 1963, and after Teagarden's death he retired to Lousiville and started a local jazz council there in addition to teaching at Kentucky State College. In 1969 he moved to New York City and played with Charles Mingus from 1970 to 1972, touring Europe and Japan with him. He also recorded sessions under his own name in 1972 and 1974.
Late in his life he moved to Germany, where he ceased performing due to emphysema. He died there in 1980.
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Labels:
Bobby Jones,
Kentucky
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday Blues - Shirley Griffith & J.T. Adams
JT Adams Born February 17, 1911 in Morganfield, KY
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Labels:
J.T. Adams,
Kentucky,
Shirley Griffith
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Drayman Blues - Clifford Gibson
Clifford "Grandpappy" Gibson (April 17, 1901 — December 21, 1963) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is best known for the tracks, "Bad Luck Dice" and "Hard Headed Blues".
Born in Louisiville, Kentucky, United States, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri in the 1920s and lived there for the rest of his life. He played in St. Louis clubs, and in 1929 began recording for the QRS and Victor labels. He is regarded as one of the earliest urban blues performers, with no pronounced rural influences. His guitar playing style resembled that of Lonnie Johnson, with an emphasis on vibrato and improvisation. Among the many themes touched on in his songs, "Don't Put That Thing on Me" is notable for its references to hoodoo, an African American form of folk magic.
Gibson accompanied Jimmie Rodgers on a Victor single, "Let Me Be Your Side Track", in 1931, then spent parts of the next three decades playing in the streets around St. Louis. Gibson resurfaced on recordings in 1960 on the Bobbin label, and worked another three years in St. Louis' Gaslight Square, before his death from pulmonary edema in 1963.
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Labels:
Clifford Gibson,
Kentucky
Friday, December 21, 2012
Chris Leigh & the Broken Hearts Set to Launch New CD, "Broken Hearted Friends," on Feb. 12
Chris Leigh & the Broken Hearts Set to Launch New
CD,
Broken Hearted Friends, February 12 on
Blue River Records
LOUISVILLE, KY – Country/Americana singer Chris Leigh
announces a February 12 release date for his new CD, Broken Hearted
Friends, on Blue River Records. The new CD, produced by Jim “Moose”
Brown and recorded at his Moose Lodge Studios in Nashville, showcases Chris
Leigh’s exciting mix of honky-tonk country, rockabilly and roots-driven music
backed by a host of Music City A-list pickers, including Brown on
guitar/keyboards/bass/backing vocals, Troy Lancaster on guitar, Kevin “Swine”
Grantt on bass, Scotty Sanders on pedal steel/dobro, Tommy Harden on drums and
Curtis Wright on backing vocals. “Moose” Brown is also a Grammy-winning
songwriter (“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”) and multiple ACM keyboard award
nominee. The album was mixed by 10 Time Grammy-winner Benny
Faccone.
Broken Hearted Friends contains 10 all-original
songs penned by Chris Leigh that feature his soulful vocals performed in a style
influenced by blue-collar, hard-core country. It’s a sound that’s filled with
rockin’ honky-tonk anthems and powerful ballads that tug at the heartstrings.
The title track is destined to become a live sing-along favorite, as Chris and
his rowdy friends blast out the chorus, “Here I am again, with my broken hearted
friends,” in the tale of a poor soul whose girl’s “got something against
football,” among other negative attributes. Chris Leigh is a bona fide barroom
poet and prophet who clearly wears his broken heart on his sleeve in many of
these songs.
The rest of the tracks on Broken Hearted Friends
are chockfull of dazzling country music imagery, whether Chris is
telling the story of a wild odyssey in “Ramblin’ Man,” offering up the powerful
ballad, “If You Make It to Heaven,” laying down a cool rockabilly groove in
“Heartache and Misery,” crafting a Western Swing dancehall two-step in “Who’s
That,” spinning the crying-in-your beer lament, “Money” (another future live fan
favorite), or closing the album with an homage to Willie Nelson, “Whiskey
River.”
Chris Leigh’s life story reads like a classic country song.
One of 10 kids raised by very devout religious parents in a small red brick home
in Kentucky, he hitched to California while still in his teens to try to make it
in the music business; but after several years of trying he returned home to
Kentucky. After additional years of trying, he abandoned his musical aspirations
for a while, got a job as a salesman, married and raised a family. After his
marriage ended in heartbreak, he picked his guitar back up in 2010 and started
writing and singing again. All of those life experiences gave Chris the fuel for
the songs that would become Broken Hearted Friends.
Chris Leigh is touring in support of the new CD backed by his
aptly named road band, “The Broken Hearts,” which includes some of Kentuckiana’s
finest and most respected country and rock musicians. For more information,
visit www.chrisleighmusic.com.
Labels:
Chris Leigh,
Kentucky
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Basie Boogie - Andy KIRK & His Band
Andrew Dewey Kirk (May 28, 1898 – December 11, 1992) was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era.
Kirk grew up in Denver, CO, where he was tutored under the wing of Wilberforce Whiteman, Paul Whiteman’s father. He started his musical career playing with George Morrison's band, but then went on to join Terrence Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy. In 1929 he was elected leader after Holder departed. Renaming the band to Clouds of Joy, Andy Kirk also relocated the band from Dallas, Texas, to Kansas City, Kansas. Although officially titled as the Clouds of Joy, the band has also been known to be called the Twelve Clouds of Joy due to the number of musicians in the band. They set up in the Pla-Mor Ballroom on the junction of 32nd and Main in Kansas City and made their first recording for Brunswick Records that same year. Mary Lou Williams came in as pianist at the last moment, but she impressed Brunswick's Dave Kapp, so she became a regular member of the band. The pianist she replaced, Marion Jackson, did not take well to this[citation needed] but otherwise Kirk's band would be fairly stable with the incorporation of Williams.
Kirk moved the band to Kansas City, and since their first recordings in 1929-1930, they grew highly popular as they epitomized the Kansas City jazz sound. In mid-1936, he was signed to Decca and made scores of popular records until 1946. He presumably disbanded and reformed his band during that 6 year recording layoff.
In 1942, Kirk and His Clouds of Joy recorded "Take It and Git", which on October 24, 1942, became the first single to hit number one on the Harlem Hit Parade, the predecessor to the Billboard R&B chart. In 1943, with June Richmond on vocals, he had a number 4 hit with "Hey Lawdy Mama".
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
Yellow Dog Blues - Joe Darensbourg and His Dixie Flyers w/ Fate Marable
Fate Marable (2 December 1890 – 16 January 1947) was a jazz pianist and bandleader.
Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and learned piano from his mother. At age 17, he began playing on the steam boats plying the Mississippi River. He soon became bandleader for boats on the Streckfus Line, which ran several paddlewheelers which held dances and excursions along the river from New Orleans, Louisiana to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Marable appreciated the new "jazz" sound being played by the New Orleans musicians, and the bulk of his band members were recruited from that city.
Members of Marable's bands were expected to be able to play a wide variety of music, from hot numbers to light classics, both play by head and from sheet music, and above all to keep the dancers happy. Marable was a strict bandleader, demanding musical proficiency and rigid discipline from all his bandmembers, yet allowing them to develop their individual strong points. For instance, Louis Armstrong's gift for improvisation was recognised as such by Marable, and he allowed him to improvise his breaks rather than play them note for note. Marable's band served as an early musical education for many other players who would later become prominent in jazz, including Red Allen, Baby Dodds, Johnny Dodds, Pops Foster, Narvin Kimball, Al Morgan and Zutty Singleton.
In addition to piano and bandleading, Marable played the boats' steam calliope, a contraption that could be heard for miles up and down the river and poured down so much water from condensing steam that Marable performed wearing a raincoat and hood.
Fate Marable died of pneumonia in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 56 years old. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Paducah, Ky.
A young George Russell, later notable for formulating the Lydian Concept, grew up listening to Marable's music.
Fate was a relative of the drummer Larance Marable
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Saturday, November 24, 2012
He May Be Your Dog But He's Wearing My Collar - Rosa Henderson
Rosa Henderson (November 24, 1896 – April 6, 1968) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer, and vaudeville entertainer.
Born Rosa Deschamps in Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky, she is remembered as one of the greats of the 1920s and 1930s classic blues era. Her career as an entertainer began in 1913 when she joined her uncle's circus troupe.
She married Douglas "Slim" Henderson in 1918 and began travelling with his Mason-Henderson show. Her career as a musical comedian started during the early 1920s, after she moved to New York where she performed on Broadway and eventually in London.
Her nine year recording career began in 1923. During that time she recorded upwards of one hundred songs using numerous pseudonyms such as Sally Ritz, Flora Dale, Sarah Johnson, Josephine Thomas, Gladys White and Mamie Harris.[1] She was accompanied by such bands as The Virginians, Fletcher Henderson's Jazz Five, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, Fletcher Henderson's Club Alabam Orchestra, the Choo Choo Jazzers, the Kansas City Five, the Three Jolly Miners, the Kansas City Four, the Three Hot Eskimos, and the Four Black Diamonds.
She sang the chorus on Fletcher Henderson's May 28, 1924, Vocalion recording of "Do That Thing", probably the earliest example of a female singing with a big band.
Although she began to show a marked decline in her recordings after 1926, she continued performing up until 1932 when she took a job in a New York department store.
She continued to perform benefit concerts up until the 1960s. Henderson died in Roosevelt Island, New York. She is no relation to Fletcher, Horace or Edmonia Henderson
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Rosa Henderson
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Tough Times - John Brim
John Brim (April 10, 1922 – October 1, 2003) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. He wrote and recorded the original "Ice Cream Man" that Van Halen covered on their first album and David Lee Roth also covered on Diamond Dave. "Ice Cream Man" was also covered by Martin Sexton on his 2001 double album, Live Wide Open.
Brim picked up his early guitar licks from the gramophone records of Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy, before venturing first to Indianapolis in 1941 and Chicago four years later. He met his wife Grace in 1947; fortuitously, she was a capable drummer and harmonica player who played on several of Brim's records. She was also the vocalist on a 1950 single for the Detroit-based Fortune Records, that signaled the beginning of Brim's discography.
Brim recorded for Random Records, J.O.B. Records, Parrot Records (the socially aware "Tough Times"), and Checker Records ("Rattlesnake," his answer to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" was pulled from the shelves by Chess for fear of a plagiarism lawsuit). All of his 1950s recordings for the Chess brothers were later included on the compilation LP/CD "Whose Muddy Shoes" (which also included the few recordings Elmore James made for Chess and Checker; because they share this LP/CD, it has sometimes been assumed that they performed or recorded together, but this is not the case.) On some tracks Little Walter played the harmonica, whilst Jimmy Reed, Snooky Pryor, or James Dalton were also featured blowing the harp. Cut in 1953, the suggestive "Ice Cream Man" had to wait until 1969 to enjoy a very belated release. Brim's last Chess single, "I Would Hate to See You Go," was waxed in 1956 with a combo consisting of Little Walter, guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr., bassist Willie Dixon, and drummer Fred Below.
In between touring, Brim operated dry-cleaning businesses and a record store. When the royalties from Van Halen’s recording of "Ice Cream Man" came through, they enabled him to open John Brim’s House of the Blues Broadway Nite Club in Chicago.
Brim continued to perform occasionally around Chicago, and was a regularly featured performer on the Chicago Blues Festival beginning in 1991, when he was backed by the local Chicago blues band The Ice Cream Men (drummer Steve Cushing, guitarists Dave Waldman and "Rockin'" Johnny Burgin, and harmonica player Scott Dirks; the band name was coincidental - they were not Brim's regular band, but had been using that name because the members had previously worked with Chicago bluesman Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, who worked as an ice cream man on Chicago's south side.)
He was tempted back into the recording studio again in 1989 to record four songs for the German Wolf label, and renewed interest in him finally led to his recording his first solo CD, Ice Cream Man, for Tone Cool Records in 1994. It received a W. C. Handy nomination as the best Traditional Blues Album of the Year.
Brim also appeared at the 1997 San Francisco Blues Festival.
He recorded again in 2000, 50 years after his recording debut, and continued to tour, playing in Belgium in 2001. One of his final appearances was at the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival.
Brim, who lived in Gary, Indiana remained active on the Chicago blues scene until his death, on 1 October 2003 at the age of 81. He is survived by seven daughters and two sons. One son predeceased him
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Stony Lonesome Graveyard - Leroy's Buddy (Bill Gaither)
Bill Gaither (April 21, 1910 or 1905 or 1908, Belmont, Kentucky — 1956 or more likely 1970) sometimes known as "Little Bill" Gaither or Leroy's Buddy, was an American blues guitarist and singer.
Gaither recorded hundred of songs for labels such as Decca, Arhoolie and Okeh. He was often partnered with the pianist George "Honey" Hill, and the duo patterned themselves after Leroy Carr and his guitarist, Scrapper Blackwell. One of Gaither's most famous blues songs was "Champ Joe Louis", recorded on June 23, 1938, the day after Louis won his rematch against Max Schmeling. Ethnomusicologists have cited Gaither among a group of important but understudied 20th century musicians. His blues lyrics have been appreciated as poetry. Gaither is buried in New Crown Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, where jazz musician Wes Montgomery is also interred.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Save The Roach For Me - Buck Washington
Buck Washington died January 31, 1955. He was an African-American dancer, recognized as one of Vaudevilles best known all around entertainers and innovators.
Ford Lee (Buck) Washington was from Louisville, Kentucky. In 1913 at the age of ten he joined Pianist John W. Sublett, later known as “Bubbles” who was one year older and an astonishing career began. Buck and Bubbles teamed up in Indianapolis, with Bubbles singing and dancing, and Buck accompanying on piano. After winning several amateur contests, they played professional engagements in Louisville, Kentucky (often in blackface), Detroit, Michigan, and New York City. Audiences were thrilled with Buck and Bubbles’s singing, dancing, and comedy routine, with Buck’s variations in tempo that forced Bubbles to quickly adapt.
By 1922, they performed at New York’s Palace Theatre, the nation’s top vaudeville venue. They broke color barriers by headlining the white vaudeville circuit across the U. S., and were featured in several Broadway revues in the 1920s and 1930s. Stage success resulted in roles in such movies as Varsity Show (1937) and A Song is Born (1948). Buck and Bubbles performed together until shortly before Buck Washington died in 1955.
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Labels:
Buck Washington,
Kentucky
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Hey Girl - Lucky Carmichael
Born 12th October 1920, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, James Anthony 'Lucky' Carmichael released just three records during his career. According to the tome, The Blues Encyclopedia, that career didn't start until the early 1960's.
However, this is not the case. Lucky's musical career can be traced back to at least the mid 1950s. Even then references identify him as a professional band leader who toured with the travelling carnivals of the day, so we can be pretty confident that he was already a fairly seasoned musician by this time. Perhaps then, the authors meant that his recording career didn't start until he was this age, not his musical career.
Moving to Chicago in the late 50s or early 60s, and with introductions brokered by friend Bobby 'Blue' Bland, with whom Carmichael had played piano, he performed in local clubs, often with the Lefty Bates Band. One wonders then, if he did not occasionally work as a session musician with Lefty Bates or other musicians whom he came into contact with.
The tracks 'Hey girl' and 'Blues with a feeling' were originally recorded in Chicago in 1962 for the Pam record label. Carmichael's other two releases were for the Dillie label in 1960, and Shar in 1961.
On the face of it, it seems rather odd that Bob Krasnow, Loma's General Manager, would choose to pick up and re-release a 45 that had been issued two years previously. Was this simply down to the lack of resources given to Krasnow by the executives at Warner Bros?
If Warner Bros and Krasnow were serious about attempting to get a foothold in the popular music markets, releasing material that was not only old, but sounded 'old', was hardly a recipe for commercial success. On the other hand, perhaps Krasnow actually had his finger on the pulse of the music markets and sought to take advantage of the nascent Blues revival.
The following extract from Stephen Calt's excellent and insightful book I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues offers an interesting perspective of the musical times:
The almost simultaneous rediscoveries of [Skip] James and Son House in June of 1964 were to mark the beginning of the blues "revival" as a paper phenomenon. A feature article in 'Newsweek' bore photos of both singers, along with an effusive tribute to them: "...these two were the only great country blues singers still lost," it claimed. "No wonder the excitement last week when it was learned that both Son House and Skip James were found."
Henceforth, blues would take on an exalted rhetorical media life in which the music would appear to be important and beloved. One who followed references to blues in popular and specialist publications would gain a completely different picture of the music than one who followed the sales figures of blues records, which to this day do not amount to one percent of the music market. In the 1920s, when blues had been virtually ignored by white society, the music had actually been far more commercially significant, thanks to its enthusiastic patronage by blacks. The blues "revival" of the 1960s actually represented the placement of blues upon a white respirator.
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Labels:
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Thursday, September 6, 2012
Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Edith Wilson
Edith Wilson (September 2, 1896 – March 30, 1981) was an American blues singer and vaudeville performer.
Born Edith Goodall in Louisville, Kentucky, Wilson's first professional experience came in 1919 in Louisville's Park Theater. Lena Wilson and her brother, Danny, performed in Louisville; Edith married Danny and joined their act as a trio. Danny, a pianist who had trained at a conservatory in Charleston, South Carolina, encouraged Lena and Edith to sing not just blues but other song forms as well.Together the trio performed on the East Coast in 1920-21, and when they were in New York City Wilson was picked up by Columbia, who recorded her in 1921 with Johnny Dunn's Jazz Hounds. She signed with Columbia in 1921 recorded 17 tunes with Dunn in 1921-22. In 1924 she worked with Fletcher Henderson in New York, where she was slated to sing with Coleman Hawkins, but Hawkins refused to perform because he wanted additional compensation for the performance. She remained a popular Columbia artist through 1925.
Wilson recorded far less than other female blues stars of the 1920s like Bessie Smith (after she left Columbia in 1925, she recorded one record for Brunswick in 1929 and a handful of sides for Victor in 1930); she remained a nightclub and theater singer, working for years on the New York entertainment scene. She sang with Florence Mills in the Lew Leslie Plantation Review in Harlem, and made several trips to England, where she was well received. She sang with The Hot Chocolates revue, performing alongside Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, and made appearances with Bill Robinson, Duke Ellington, Alberta Hunter, Cab Calloway, and Noble Sissle.
Wilson also did extensive work as an actress, appearing on radio with Amos and Andy and on film in To Have and Have Not. Shortly after World War II Wilson became the face of Aunt Jemima pancake mix. She retired from active performance in 1963, becoming executive secretary for the Negro Actors Guild, but made a comeback in 1973 to play with Eubie Blake, Little Brother Montgomery, and Terry Waldo. Her last live show was given at the 1980 Newport Jazz Festival.
Wilson died in Chicago in March 1981
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Edith Wilson,
Kentucky
Friday, August 31, 2012
Your Mouth Got A Hole In It -Todd Rhodes
Todd Rhodes (August 31, 1900 – June 4, 1965) was an American pianist and arranger and was an early influence in jazz and later on in R&B.
He was born Todd Washington Rhodes, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Rhodes attended both the Springfield School of Music and the Erie Conservatory, studying as pianist and songwriter.
In the early 1920s he played with Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Fats Waller, Rex Stewart, Doc Cheatham, and Don Redman in McKinney's Cotton Pickers, a jazz group. Rhodes lived and played in Detroit in the 1930s. In the late 1940s he started his own group, Todd Rhodes and His Toddlers, and started doing more R&B arrangements. With his Toddlers, he recorded "Your Daddy's Doggin' Around" and "Your Mouth Got a Hole In It." Rhodes also worked with Hank Ballard, The Chocolate Dandies and Wynonie Harris. He featured African American female lead singers, such as Connie Allen, who recorded "Rocket 69" in 1951. After she left the band in early 1952, her position was taken by LaVern Baker.
Rhodes died in June 1965 in Detroit, at the age of 64
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He was born Todd Washington Rhodes, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Rhodes attended both the Springfield School of Music and the Erie Conservatory, studying as pianist and songwriter.
In the early 1920s he played with Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Fats Waller, Rex Stewart, Doc Cheatham, and Don Redman in McKinney's Cotton Pickers, a jazz group. Rhodes lived and played in Detroit in the 1930s. In the late 1940s he started his own group, Todd Rhodes and His Toddlers, and started doing more R&B arrangements. With his Toddlers, he recorded "Your Daddy's Doggin' Around" and "Your Mouth Got a Hole In It." Rhodes also worked with Hank Ballard, The Chocolate Dandies and Wynonie Harris. He featured African American female lead singers, such as Connie Allen, who recorded "Rocket 69" in 1951. After she left the band in early 1952, her position was taken by LaVern Baker.
Rhodes died in June 1965 in Detroit, at the age of 64
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Todd Rhodes
Monday, June 18, 2012
Death Sting Me Blues - Sara Martin with King Olivers Orchestra
Sara Martin (June 18, 1884 – May 24, 1955) was an American blues singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker". Martin made many recordings, including a few under the names Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts
Martin was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States and was singing on the African-American vaudeville circuit by 1915. She began a very successful recording career when she was signed by the Okeh label in 1922. Through the 1920s she toured and recorded with such performers as Fats Waller, Clarence Williams, King Oliver, and Sylvester Weaver. She was among the most-recorded of the classic blues singers.
She was possibly the first to record the famous blues song "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" with Waller on piano in 1922.
On stage she was noted for an especially dramatic performing style and for her lavish costumes, which she changed two or three times per show. In his book, Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers, Derrick Stewart-Baxter says of her:
...she was never a really great blues singer. The records she made varied considerably, on many she sounded stilted and very unrelaxed. ... Occasionally, she did hit a groove and when this happened, she could be quite pleasing, as on her very original "Brother Ben". ... The sides she did with King Oliver can be recommended, particularly "Death Sting Me Blues".
According to blues historian Daphne Duval Harrison, "Martin tended to use more swinging, danceable rhythms than some of her peers ... when she sang a traditional blues her voice and styling had richer, deeper qualities that matched the content in sensitivity and mood: "Mean Tight Mama" and "Death Sting Me" approach an apex of blues singing".
Martin's stage work in the late 1920s took her to New York, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, and to Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. She made one film appearance, in Hello Bill with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in 1929. Her last major stage appearance was in Darktown Scandals Review in 1930. She performed with Thomas A. Dorsey as a gospel singer in 1932, after which she worked outside the music industry, running a nursing home in Louisville.Sara Martin died in Louisville of a stroke in May 1955
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Sara Martin
Monday, June 4, 2012
Blues For The Red Boy - Todd Rhodes
Todd Rhodes (August 31, 1900 – June 4, 1965) was an American pianist and arranger and was an early influence in jazz and later on in R&B.
He was born Todd Washington Rhodes, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Rhodes attended both the Springfield School of Music and the Erie Conservatory, studying as pianist and songwriter.
In the early 1920s he played with Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Fats Waller, Rex Stewart, Doc Cheatham, and Don Redman in McKinney's Cotton Pickers, a jazz group. Rhodes lived and played in Detroit in the 1930s. In the late 1940s he started his own group, Todd Rhodes and His Toddlers, and started doing more R&B arrangements. With his Toddlers, he recorded "Your Daddy's Doggin' Around" and "Your Mouth Got a Hole In It." Rhodes also worked with Hank Ballard, The Chocolate Dandies and Wynonie Harris. He featured African American female lead singers, such as Connie Allen, who recorded "Rocket 69" in 1951. After she left the band in early 1952, her position was taken by LaVern Baker.
Rhodes died in June 1965 in Detroit, at the age of 64
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Todd Rhodes
Thursday, May 24, 2012
I'm Gonna Be a Lovin' Old Soul - Sara Martin & her Jug Band
Sara Martin (June 18, 1884 – May 24, 1955) was an American blues singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker". Martin made many recordings, including a few under the names Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts.
Martin was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States and was singing on the African-American vaudeville circuit by 1915. She began a very successful recording career when she was signed by the Okeh label in 1922. Through the 1920s she toured and recorded with such performers as Fats Waller, Clarence Williams, King Oliver, and Sylvester Weaver. She was among the most-recorded of the classic blues singers.
She was possibly the first to record the famous blues song "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" with Waller on piano in 1922.
On stage she was noted for an especially dramatic performing style and for her lavish costumes, which she changed two or three times per show. In his book, Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers, Derrick Stewart-Baxter says of her:
...she was never a really great blues singer. The records she made varied considerably, on many she sounded stilted and very unrelaxed. ... Occasionally, she did hit a groove and when this happened, she could be quite pleasing, as on her very original "Brother Ben". ... The sides she did with King Oliver can be recommended, particularly "Death Sting Me Blues".
According to blues historian Daphne Duval Harrison, "Martin tended to use more swinging, danceable rhythms than some of her peers ... when she sang a traditional blues her voice and styling had richer, deeper qualities that matched the content in sensitivity and mood: "Mean Tight Mama" and "Death Sting Me" approach an apex of blues singing".
Martin's stage work in the late 1920s took her to New York, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, and to Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. She made one film appearance, in Hello Bill with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in 1929. Her last major stage appearance was in Darktown Scandals Review in 1930. She performed with Thomas A. Dorsey as a gospel singer in 1932, after which she worked outside the music industry, running a nursing home in Louisville. Sara Martin died in Louisville of a stroke in May 1955
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Labels:
Kentucky,
Sara Martin
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Chicago Stomp - Jimmy Blythe
He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, and moved to Chicago, Illinois around 1916, studying with pianist Clarence Jones. He was an all-round pianist, who generally incorporated boogie-woogie styles into more varied pieces such as "Chicago Stomps" (1924) which drew on ragtime and other popular styles of the time.
He made hundreds of piano rolls in the early 1920s, for the Columbia (later renamed Capitol) Music Roll Company in Chicago, before accompanying many singers on Paramount Records and appearing with small 'spasm bands' like the Midnight Rounders and the State Street Ramblers. He also duetted with Johnny Dodds, and led his own group, Blythe's Sinful Five. His 1925 recording, "Jimmy's Blues", provided the theme used by Pinetop Smith on "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie", and he was also acknowledged as an influence by Albert Ammons.
Blythe died of meningitis in Chicago in 1931, aged 30.
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Labels:
Jimmy Blythe,
Kentucky
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