Group & Last Name Index to Full History:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Tracks are listed in chronological order by year, then alphabetically.
Listings do not reflect proper order by month or day: later oft precedes earlier.
Find on Page = F3. Not on this page? See history tree below.
Featured on this page loosely in order of first recording if not record release (as possible).
Names are alphabetical, not chronological, per year:
1955 Cry Me a River
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Caveats in the employment of this page: 1. It descends in chronological
order by the year the artist or band is first found on a commercial record
issue (ideally) by year only, alphabetical thereat. One musician above
another doesn't necessarily translate to earlier issue unless the year
changed. 2. Though release dates are the aim with links to YouTube, some are
recording dates and may not be everywhere clearly distinguished. 3. Reissues
are used to represent originals without much discussion. |
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This page concerns modern vocal jazz, listing musicians who released their first recordings before 1970. Earlier vocalists in Swing Jazz Song. Latin vocalists under Latin Recording. Sessions data this page is largely Lord's Disco. A good source for lyrics for this period is Lyrics Playground. Ditto songwriting credits at Cafe Songbook, Jazz Standards, Songfacts and Second Hand Songs. See also Lyrics (credits occasionally inaccurate), OldieLyrics and SongMeanings.
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Vaughn Monroe Source: Canciones Versionades |
Born in Akron, Ohio, in 1911, vocalist,
Vaughn
Monroe, was a baritone w a grand style that set him apart
from more natural crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Though he
more belongs in the popular genre, he began his
career in a jazz environment playing trumpet and trombone, later expanding into the
popular milieu to accommodate his operatic style of love ballad. Graduating
from high school in 1929, the next year he found employment w Gibby
Lockhard's orchestra w which he worked until '33. He was a
student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology when he first sang on radio
in 1931 for KDKA [1,
2] in Pittsburgh, the song 'Out of Nowhere' [*].
The Vaughn Monroe Society (VMS) identifies him w a stage production of 'The
Gondoliers' in 1932 [*]. If that was the Broadway musical at Erlanger's Theatre
which staged eight shows in January he goes uncredited at both IBDB and
Playbill. Monroe abandoned college to join Austin Wylie and His Golden Pheasant
Orchestra in 1933. In 1935 he moved onward to the Larry Funk Orchestra
with which he had made his first known recordings on 19 September 1934, 'Rain' (Melotone
15941) among them. In
1936 Monroe joined Jack Marshard's big band. VMS has him singing w Marchard
per a radio broadcast from the Hotel Statler in Detroit on 17 March 1938: 'I
Fall In Love With You Every Day' and 'Ol' Man River'. VMS has him recording
numerous titles on instrument w Marchard in 1939 along w three vocals: 'My
Love for You' (Brunswick 8389) and 'In the Still of the Night'/'S'wonderful'
(Brunswick 8417). Lord's Disco begins tracing Monroe upon the formation of
his own orchestra in 1940 [members],
lending a date of 19 August for 'Salud, Dinero y Amor' ('Health, Wealth and
Love'). Discogs has that issued the same year w 'Donkey Serenade' on
Bluebird B-10866. That same year Monroe built The Meadows restaurant in Massachusetts from
where he began to host the Camel Caravan radio program in 1946 to its last
documented program on 19 Nov of 1954. (The Meadows was later destroyed by
fire in 1980.) His heydays in the forties, he issued his highest selling
title, '(Ghost) Riders in the Sky', in
1949 [*]. Other of his popular
releases had been 'Take It, Jackson' in '44, 'Something Sentimental' in '45,
'Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!' in '46 and 'Ballerina' in '47.
Discogs and RYM have him issuing the 10" album, 'On the Moonbeam', as early
as 1945. His next 10" album, 'Vaughn Monroe's Dreamland Special', saw issue
in '46, later on LP in '56. Also released in '56 was the LP, 'Dance With
Me!'. During
the fifties Monroe hosted 'The Vaughan Monroe Show' for CBS television. 1961
saw the issue of the LP, 'Vaughn Monroe Presents Music For Yachtsmen'. Big
Band Library (BBL) has him performing in New York City as late as 1971. Monroe
rounded out his life as an executive for RCA, dying after surgery for an
ulcer on May 21, 1973 [*]. References
: VMS,
Wikipedia,
All Music,
BBL. Sessions:
VMS, Lord's,
DAHR.
Discos: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Compilations: 'Vaughn Monroe Racing with the Moon' on
Hamilton HLP 12137 1965.
Monroe in radio.
Film and television: 1,
2. Songwriting
credits.
Archives.
Collections.
Further reading:
Andrew Berish (criticism),
Jacqueline Lynch
(for Dan Gabel & the Overtones), 'Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra' by Charles Garrod (Joyce Record Club Publication 1986/96)
[*]. Vaughn Monroe 1934 Larry Funk Orchestra Composition: Hill/De Rose Larry Funk Orchestra Composition: Columbo/Grossman/Stern Vaughn Monroe 1939 With Jack Marchard Composition: Cole Porter Vaughn Monroe 1941 Composition: Johnny Watson/Pauline Pope/Monroe Composition: Hy Zaret/Irvng Weiser Vaughn Monroe 1942 Composition: Johnny Napton/Roc Hillman Vaughn Monroe 1943 With the Four Lee Sisters Composition: Jimmy McHugh/Frank Loesser Vaughn Monroe 1944 With Marilyn Duke Composition: Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane Vaughn Monroe 1947 Composition: Sam Coslow Film Vaughn Monroe 1949 Composition: Stan Jones Someday You'll Want Me to Want You Composition: Jimmie Hodges 1944 Vaughn Monroe 1951 Composition: Willie Lee Duckworth Vaughn Monroe 1955 Composition: Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller Vaughn Monroe 1960 Television performance Composition: Redd Evans/David Mann Vaughn Monroe 1964 Live in concert Composition: Bob Russell/Carl Sigmann
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Nat King Cole was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1919, removed by his family to Chicago when he was four. He and older brother, Eddie [1, 2], a bassist born in 1910, toured with Noble Sissle when Nat was fifteen [Wikipedia]. He made his first recordings on 28 July 1936 in Chicago with Eddie's Solid Swinsgters: 'Honey Hush'/'Thunder' (Decca 7210) and 'Bedtime'/'Stompin' at the Panama' (Decca 7215) [Lord]. Those also saw later issue in 1973 on the Cole compilation, 'From The Very Beginning', by MCA. The next year Nat formed the King Cole Trio with bassist, Wesley Prince, and guitarist, Oscar Moore. Lord's account of that trio begins with radio transcriptions in Los Angeles likely in October of '38 for such as 'Mutiny in the Nursery' (Standard X-76) and 'By the River Sainte Marie' (Standard Y-132). Also featuring Nat at vocals, those saw later issue in 1991 on the Cole compilation, 'The Complete Early Transcriptions Of The King Cole Trio: 1938-1941', by Vintage Jazz Classics. Numerous transcriptions followed to April 18 of 1940 when the trio was assisted by probable drummer, Lee Young, to lay out 'I Like to Riff'/'On the Sunny Side of the Street' (Ammor 108) and 'By the River Sainte Marie'/'Black Spider Stomp' (Ammor 109). Becoming a Freemason around that time, Cole was first and foremost a pianist, though his rise to popularity was due more to vocals. Cole composed 'That Ain't Right' w Irving Mills toward issue in 1941, performed by Fats Waller and Ada Brown [1, 2] in the 20th Century Fox production of 'Stormy Weather'. Mills also wrote the lyrics for 'Straighten Up and Fly Right' which the King Cole Trio performed in the Republic release of 'Here Comes Elmer' in 1943. He released his first album on shellac that year titled 'The King Cole Trio' (Capitol A-8). That got issued again in 1950 on 33 rpm LP (Capitol H220). In 1944 Cole played piano at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert (July 2) at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Under contract with Columbia, Cole was listed as Shorty Nadine on Mercury recordings of Jazz at the Philharmonic.) Cole's most popular issues in the latter forties were '(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons' in '46, 'Save the Bones for Henry Jones' w Johnny Mercer in '47 and 'Nature Boy' in '48. Cole issued his album, 'Nat King Cole at Piano' on 10" shellac in '49, on 10" vinyl in 1950. Early 1950 had witnessed his duet w Nellie Lutcher, 'For You My Love'. Come Cole's 'Mona Lisa' in May of 1950, his highest-selling release. Stan Kenton supported his issue of 'Orange Colored Sky' a few months later. Popular titles in the early fifties included 'Too Young' in '51 and couple backed by the orchestra of saxophonist, Billy May: 'Walkin' My Baby Back Home' in '52 and 'Can't I' in '53. Cole toured to Cuba in 1956. 'The Nat King Cole Show' debuted in November 1956 for NBC, though ran only just over one year, unable to acquire sufficient sponsorship. That Cole was black was the likely reason, as it was when he'd been attacked onstage by three men in early 1956 in Birmingham, Alabama. Cole fell from his piano bench during the fracas and never played the South again. He was facing criticism at the time from both fans and the NAACP for playing to segregated and white-only audiences. By April of 1956 he had paid the NAACP its $500 membership fee. 'Send for Me' was large the next year. A second tour to Cuba, then Venezuela, in 1958 resulted in a few albums in Spanish. In English Cole was a millionaire several times over by the time he released 'Ramblin' Rose' in 1962. He recorded his last album, 'L-O-V-E', in December 1964, that issued before his death of lung cancer (two packs a day) on February 15, 1965, in Santa Monica, CA. Cole was the father of vocalist, Natalie Cole (1950-2015) [1, 2, 3]. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Sessions: DAHR 1936-41, Lord's Disco. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compilations: 'Hit That Jive Jack' 1936-41 by GRP 1996: 1, 2; 'Riffin' 1936-44 by Verve 2010; 'Too Marvellous for Words' on LP 1975, on CD 1998; 'Love Is Here to Stay' by Capitol 1974; see also above. Charts at Music VF: 1, 2. Cole in film and television: 1, 2, 3. Archive. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Tracks below are vocals by Cole. For piano as well as earlier recordings see Nat King Cole Piano. See also Cole Rock & Roll as well as guitarist, Oscar Moore. Uncredited titles below were composed by Cole. Nat King Cole 1941 Composition: John Alston/Skeets Tolbert Nat King Cole 1942 Nat King Cole 1943 Composition: Robert Scherman Composition: Ben Bernie/Kenneth Casey/Maceo Pinkard Composition: Clifford Burwell/Mitchell Parish Nat King Cole 1944 Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1928 Music: Harold Arlen 1933 Lyrics: Yip Harburg/Billy Rose Nat King Cole 1945 Composition: Roy Alfred/Marvin Fisher Filmed live Nat King Cole 1947 Music: Fabian Andre/Wilbur Schwandt 1931 Lyrics: Gus Kahn Filmed live Composition: eden ahbez Composition: Johnny Mercer/Richard Whiting Composition: Sammy Fain/Irving Kahal/Pierre Connor Nat King Cole 1950 Composition: Henry Nemo 1941 Nat King Cole 1952 Music: Nicholas Brodszky 1952 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn For the film musical 'Because You're Mine' Nat King Cole 1954 Composition: Gershwin Brothers Music: Charlie Chaplin 1936 For the film 'Modern Times' Lyrics: John Turner/Geoffrey Parsons 1954 Nat King Cole 1955 Music: Joseph Kosma 1945 Lyrics: Jacques Prévert Nat King Cole 1957 'Nat King Cole Show' Ensemble: Jazz at the Philharmonic Nat King Cole 1958 Album Nat King Cole 1964 Music: Frederick Loewe 1956 Lyrics: Alan Jay Lernerr For the musical 'My Fair Lady' Album
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Nat King Cole Photo: William P. Gottlieb Source: Circulo de Estudios |
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Slim Gaillard
Photo: Shaw Artists Corporation
Source: Vocal Group Harmony |
Born on uncertain dates between 1911 and 1918, by his own
account guitarist and pianist, Slim Gaillard,
began life's strange trip in
1916 in Santa Clara, Cuba. Though some have him born in the US, his mother
was Afro-Cuban married to a German-Jewish ship steward. At age twelve he
accompanied his father on a world tour, missing the ship when it departed
from a stop in Crete. He scrambled variously in the Mediterranean until
about age fifteen he boarded a ship that he thought
was bound for Cuba. It wasn't, passing by Cuba to deposit him in the united
States where he ended up in Detroit, Michigan. He there worked in a grocery
store and did some boxing. In '31 or '32 he drove a hearse for the Purple
Gang, concealing liquor in coffins during the Prohibition. He began to study music
around that time, teaching himself guitar and piano. Moving to New York, he
happened to play an early gig with Frank Sinatra
['Jazz Greats' #57 Mulherin/ Russell '97]. Both Steve Huey and Scott Yanow
have him with bassist, Slam Stewart,
as early as 1936. Lord's Disco traces him to April 15, 1937, singing w with trumpeter
Frank Newton, on 'There's No Two Ways About It' and ''Cause My Baby Says It's
So' (Variety 550). Other matrices of each saw issue on Columbia. January 19
of 1938 has him with Stewart
in the duo, Slim & Slam, for unissued tracks like 'The Flat Foot Floogie'
and 'Lady Be Good',
etc.. Three of those eventually got released by Legacy in 1996 on 'The
Groove Juice Special'. 'Flat Foot Floogie' went down again w Gaillard as vocalist on 17
February for issue on Vocalion 4021. Slim and Slam was a duo in name but usually incorporated other
musicians such as Sam Allen (piano) and Pompey Guts Dobson (drums) on their
first tracks. Other popular issues in 1938 included 'Jump Session' and 'Tutti
Frutti'. IMDb has 'Flat Foot Floogie' used in the soundtrack of the
1940 film, 'it All Came True'. Slim and Slam remained an enterprise to become Slim Gaillard
and His Flat Foot Floogie Boys from 1939 into the forties. They performed 'Binjee
Binjee Scootta' in the 1942 release of the film, 'Almost Married'. It was
'Sharp as a Tack' in 'Star Spangled Rhythm' premiering in December. Gaillard's
'Cement Mixer' and 'Scotchin' with the Soda' went down on January 12 of 1945
with Bam Brown (bass/vocal) and Zutty Singleton (drums). From the forties
into the fifties he entertained at clubs like the Birdland in NYC. Gaillard was a
comic by nature with a love for languages, several of which he studied,
also creating his own language for the hip called Vout
[1,
2]. After
the issue of 'Slim Gaillard Rides Again' in 1959 Gaillard shifted away from
music toward acting for television, assuming roles in such as 'Mission
Impossible' and 'Roots'. Sources have him moving to England in 1983,
though 'Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere' was recorded in London on October 30,
1982, that featuring Buddy Tate and
Jay McShan. Among others with
whom Gaillard partnered during his career were Dodo
Marmarosa, Charlie Parker,
Flip Phillips,
Coleman Hawkins,
Arnett Cobb,
Dizzy Gillespie,
George Melly, Al Jazzbo Collins
and
Memphis Slim. 1989 saw four
BBC episodes of Anthony Wall's documentary, 'Slim Gaillard's Civilisation'. Gaillard died in London
on February 26,
1991. References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Discos: 1,
2,
3.
Compilations: Gaillard: 'Laughing in Rhythm' by
Proper 2003, 'Laughing in
Rhythm' by
Verve 2001; Slim & Slam: 'Complete Columbia Master Takes' by
Definitive 2001;
'Slim & Slam 1938 1939' by Giants of Jazz
1996.
1982 interview w Les Tomkins.
Criticism.
Archive.
Uncredited titles
below were composed by Gaillard. All tracks through 'Laguna Oroonie' are with bassist,
Slam Stewart. Slim Gaillard 1938 Composition: Gaillard/Slam Stewart/Bud Green Composition: Gaillard/Slam Stewart/Bud Green Slim Gaillard 1941 Composition: Don Raye/Gene DePaul Film Slim Gaillard 1942 Slim Gaillard 1946 Album: 'The Absolute Voutest!' Film Album: 'The Absolute Voutest!' Slim Gaillard 1947 Film: 'Boy! What A Girl!' Vocal: Beryl Booker Composition: Slam Stewart Slim Gaillard 1952 With Baker's Dozen Composition: Curtis Ousley Slim Gaillard 1970 'Flip Wilson Show'
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Nelson Riddle Source: Arts Fuse
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Not having a particular section for arrangers like Nelson Riddle, he is placed here in Modern Jazz Song for his work w Frank Sinatra in the sixties. Also a composer, conductor and pianist, Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. refused to be born until 1921 so he could be in Oradell, New Jersey. He began arranging and playing trombone for the Charlie Spivak Orchestra in 1941, recording as early as January 13 for Okeh: 'Praineland Lullaby' (6036), 'What's Cookin'?' (6061), et al, for Okeh. Lord's disco shows Riddle's last titles with Spivak on July 6, 1942: 'Yesterday's Gardenia's', 'I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen' and 'Southern Medley' (unissued). Riddle joined the Merchant Marine about that time, stationed at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, for a couple years. He put down titles in 1943 in the orchestra of clarinetist, Jerry Wald: 'Alice Blue Gown', 'On the Sunny Side of the Street', et al. Upon leaving the Merchant Marine Riddle hired on with Tommy Dorsey in 1944, arranging and playing trombone. His initial session with Dorsey is thought to have been NBC's radio program, 'All Time Hit Parade', in Hollywood on June 18, 1944, with Bing Crosby at vocals: 'Small Fry', 'Pennies From Heaven', et al. Not a year later Nelson was drafted into the Army, his last recording with Dorsey possibly on April 1 of '45: 'Roses From the South', 'Vienna Life', et al. His tour with the military was a brief one, discharged in time to join the Bob Crosby Orchestra as an arranger for an AFRS 'One Night Stand' broadcast (#1025) from Culver City, CA, on June 1, 1946: 'Summertime' (theme), 'Blue Moon', et al. Riddle worked with Crosby on multiple occasions to as late as '53. Among the more recognizable titles Riddle arranged along the way was 'Mona Lisa' for Nat King Cole in 1950. From 'Songs for Young Lovers' in 1953 to 'She Shot Me Down' in 1981 Riddle arranged and conducted twenty-five albums by Frank Sinatra. Riddle released his own debut album as a bandleader in 1955, 'The Music from Oklahoma!', followed by 'Lisbon Antigua' and 'The Tender Touch' in '56, the first three of about 33 albums. Some twenty of his soundtracks were issued from 'Flame of the Islands', 'Lisbon' and 'Johnny Concho' in 1956 to 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' in 1984. Another of the more important figures in Riddle's career was Ella Fitzgerald with whom he arranged and conducted. Their first title with his orchestra is thought to have been 'Beale Street Blues' in 1958. Come January of 1959 it was 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Books'. Riddle worked with Fitzgerald for the next several years into the sixties, Lord's disco showing a last session for that period in October of 1964 for 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Song Book'. They would reunite in '72 ('Ella Loves Cole'), '78 ('Dream Danicng') and '82 ('The Best Is Yet to Come'). Riddle also worked in television, arranging themes for such as 'The Untouchable' in '59 and 'Route 66' in 1960 (CBS hiring Riddle to come up with an instrumental rather than paying royalties to original composer, Bobby Troup). Among others who employed Riddle's talents were Ella Mae Morse, Billy Eckstine, Georgia Carr, Keely Smith and Peggy Lee. During the eighties he arranged for Linda Ronstadt, who accepted his third Grammy on his behalf in early 1986, Riddle having died in Los Angeles on October 6 of 1985. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Riddle in visual media. Interviews w Les Tomkins 1967-81. Nelson Riddle 1956 Frank Sinatra Composition: Cole Porter Composition: Portugal 1937: Music: Raul Portela Lyrics: José Galhardo/Amadeu do Vale Nelson Riddle 1957 Frank Sinatra Composition: Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne Music: Harry Warren Lyrics: Al Dubin Music: Nacio Herb Brown Lyrics: Arthur Freed Nelson Riddle 1958 Composition: Harry Akst/Grant Clarke 1929 Frank Sinatra Composition: Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer 1943 Composition: Harry Sosnik/Walter Hirsch 1957 Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1940 Lyrics: Johnny Burke Nelson Riddle 1960 Composition: Cole Porter Composition: Cole Porter Nelson Riddle 1962 Composition: Cy Coleman Composition: Nelson Riddle Nelson Riddle 1963 Ella Fitzgerald Music: Jerome Kern 1939 Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Piano: Oscar Peterson Music: Victor Young 1949 Lyrics: Ned Washington Nelson Riddle 1964 Ella Fitzgerald Composition: Johnny Mercer Nelson Riddle 1968 Album Album Nelson Riddle 1968 Album Nelson Riddle 1971 Album From album above Composition: Antônio Carlos Jobim Nelson Riddle 1984 Filmed concert with Linda Ronstadt
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Alice Babs
Source: Bach Cantatas |
Born Hildur Alice Nilson in Västervik, Sweden, in 1924,
Alice Babs
[1,
2] made
her first recording, 'Joddlarflickan', at age fifteen on 25 April 1939 which
Discogs has issued in 1994 on '24 Originalinspelningar 1939-1951' Klara
Skivan KLA 7802-2. Tom Lord picks her up in Stockholm on May 31 of '39 for 'On the Bumpy Road to Love'
(Sonora 3520) with the
Willard Ringstrands Orkester. It was the Sven Arefeldt Orchestra for 'Boogy
Boogy Boo'/'The Lady's in Love with You' (Sonora 3534) on 15 June. On 5 July she recorded 'Nobody's Sweetheart'/'After You've Gone'
(Sonora 3547) with the Nisse Linds Hot Trio. 'Jag Har En Liten
Radiola' (Sonora 3552)ensued 7 July with the Union Orkester. July 21 brought
'Det är 'Fina Fisken''/'Har'u Hört Va' De' Svänger Om Vårat Bass' (Sonora
3551) w Arefeldt. 'Some of These Days' went down on 22 Oct w the Nisse Linds Hot Trio,
not issued until 1984 on 'Svensk Jazzhistoria Vol 3: Rytm Och Swing
1936-1939 (Caprice CAP 2014 1-2). On 22 November it was the Hot Trio for 'Susie'/'Some
of These Days' (Sonora 3590). She commenced 1940 on 10 January w Ulf
Sandstrom (trumpet) and Dag Sandstrom (guitar) to lay out 'Diga Diga Doo'
later released on Caprice CAP22040. Babs continued w both Arefeldt and the
Hot Trio into 1940. Finland was already at arms against Russian invasion in
'39 and German forces would occupy both Denmark and Norway on 9 April per
World War II. Babs' Sweden was able to maintain neutrality during the war.
Thus as Germany and Great Britain were exchanging bombs over the English
Channel Babs' was launched into Swedish stardom per the Dec 1940 release of
the film, 'Swing it, Magistern!'. She was able to tour to destinations in
Scandinavia despite wartime complications as she continued her career in
radio and film while recording extensively. Snowbound Sweden was yet a
wilderness both in terms of location and jazz in the latter forties. Thus an
early performance at the 1949 Festival International de Jazz in Paris
[1,
2] in May w the Swedish Jazz All Stars was verily advance guard. That
organization called itself the Parisorkestern (Paris Orchestra) for that
fair. Joining Babs were
Reinhold Svensson (piano),
Arne Domnérus (sax),
Carl-Henrik Norin (sax),
Putte Wickman (clarinet), trumpeter Gösta Törner
(trumpet), Simon Brehm (bass) and Sven Bollhem (drums). See
All Music and
Music Brainz for recordings by the Parisorkestern in 1949
issued by Dragon in 1999. Others performing at that fair included
Charlie Parker, Miles
Davis,
Sidney Bechet
and
Lead Belly
[*]
(the last to fall ill in France and die back in the States
in December). Among highlights in the
fifties was Babs' formation of the Swe-Danes Trio in 1958 with guitarist
Ulrik Neumann and
violinist
Svend Asmussen. Babs began a long term association with
Duke Ellington in 1963,
recording with his orchestra numerously that year with later reunions in
'68, '69 and '73. Their first session together per Lord had been in Stockholm on
February 7 of '63 for 'Take Love Easy' and 'Star-Crossed Lovers'. The last
in '73 were concerts in England and Sweden, the first for
Ellington's 'Third Sacred
Concert', the second for titles that would eventually see issue on 'Duke
Ellington in Sweden 1973' in 1999. In 1972 Babs was awarded the title of Court Singer by
King Gustaf VI Adolf, the first non-opera vocalist to receive that honor.
Appearing in above a dozen Swedish films, Babs was also Lutheran. Among her
later albums was 'Don't Be Blue' in 2001. She died
of complications from Alzheimer's disease on 11 Feb of 2014 in Stockholm. A
collection of her works was released later that year in a box set of 6 CDs
titled, 'Vi minns Alice Babs'. Discographies: 1,
2,
3.
Babs in film: 1,
2.
Further reading: Babs in context w early jazz in Sweden *; Babs
and
Ellington *.
Per 1999 below, 'Our Love Is Here to Stay' was the final song composed by
George Gershwin before
his early death in July of '37. His brother, Ira, afterward added text. Alice Babs 1939 With the Nisse Linds Hot Trio Composition: Henry Creamer/Turner Layton With the Union-Orkestern Composition: Jokern/Jules Sylvain Who are Nils Perne and Axel Hansson With the Nisse Linds Hot Trio Composition: Billy Meyers/Elmer Schoebel Ernie Erdman/Gus Kahn Alice Babs 1940 With the Nisse Linds Hot Trio Composition: Carl Bean/Frankie Masters Johnny Burke/Kahn Keene Film Music: Kai Gullmar Lyrics: Hasse Ekman Alice Babs 1951 Composition: Ulf Peder Olrog Alice Babs 1961 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Composition: Johnny Marks 1949 From story by Robert May 1939 Alice Babs 1954 'Der Kuckucksjodler' Composition: Eric Sandström Alice Babs 1956 Composition: Lotar Olias/Peter Moesser Composition: 'St. Louis Blues' by WC Handy 1914 Alice Babs 1958 'Little Star' Music: Åke Gerhard Lyrics: Gunnar Wersén Alice Babs 1963 Composition: Henry Creamer/Turner Layton Television program: 'Hylands Hörna' Alice Babs 1966 Composition: Duke Ellington Alice Babs 1969 Composition: Duke Ellington Alice Babs 1973 Filmed live Alice Babs 1999 Filmed live Piano: Charlie Norman Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Filmed live Piano: Charlie Norman Composition: John Loeb/Carmen Lombardo Filmed live Piano: Charlie Norman Music: Kai Gullmar Lyrics: Hasse Ekman
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Born in
1922 in Cleveland to Ruby Dandridge, actress
Dorothy Dandridge swiftly made her name
during the swing era. She left no huge pile of recordings as she was largely
an actress and died young. Her first professional employment was as a
teenager, touring the South in a duo called the Wonder Children with her
sister, Vivian
(b '21/ d '91),
they managed by Geneva Williams. Getting removed to Los Angeles, the Wonder
Children became the Dandridge Sisters [1,
2,
3] in 1934 upon
the addition of another dancer and friend, Etta Jones (b '28/ d '01;
not). Vivian had made her debut
appearance in film in 1933 per an uncredited role in 'King King'
[*]. Dandridge made her debut film appearance as a cabin kid in 1935 in
'Teacher's Beau', an Our Gang shorty with the Little Rascals. The Dandridge
Sisters began working in film that year as well per 'The Big Broadcast of
1936'. They meanwhile made enough fuss in Los Angeles to be invited to the Cotton Club at the Apollo Theater
back east in Harlem when Dorothy and Vivian were each age fourteen. Come
1937 they sang 'Lazy Rhythm' in the film, 'It Can't Last Forever'. Come 1938
it was 'Harlem Yodel' in 'Snow Gets in Your Eyes' and 'Mutiny in the Nursery' in
'Going Places'.
In 1939 the Dandridge Sisters issued a couple of discs for Parlophone: 'If I
Were Sure of You'/'Undecided' and 'FDR Jones'/'The Lady's In Love With You'
[Vocal Group Harmony].
They performed on Broadway in latter '39 as three pixies in 'Swingin' the
Dream' [IBDB].
They sang 'Alice Blue Gown' in the 1940 film, 'Irene'. Dandridge's first individual credited film role was in 'Four
Shall Die' in 1940. 1941 found her working with the
Glenn Miller Orchestra, notably
a string of the 'Chesterfield Show' broadcasts [Lord]. Among the brighter
highlights of her career was the opportunity to work with the
masterful
Louis Armstrong in 1944
in the films 'Atlantic City' and 'Pillow to Post'. On 9 August they recorded
the duet, 'Whatcha Say', with
Armstrong's orchestra (Meritt
8, Coral 82055, et al). Notable in the fifties was her role in the 1954
film, 'Carmen Jones', also starring
Harry Belafonte and
Pearl Bailey. Singing, however,
was by neither
Belafonte nor Dandridge,
that by Marilyn Horne and LeVern Hutcherson dubbed in. In early '58 she
held session w pianist,
Oscar Peterson, et al, for songs like 'It's Easy to
Remember' and 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was' to eventually see issue on
'Smooth Operator' (Verve Records 314 547 514) in 1999 [1,
2]. It was the same
ensemble consisting of
Peterson,
Herb Ellis (guitar),
Ray Brown (bass) and
Alvin Stoller (drums) in early 1961 for such as 'Somebody' and 'Smooth
Operator' issued on Verve 10231 in '61. Dandridge's last movie, 'Malaga',
had been filmed in 1959, released in
Europe in 1960, but not the States until 1962. Also in 1959 Dandridge lost
her home due to unpaid taxes, that itself due to theft by financial managers
of about $150,000. Dandridge died on 8 September 1965, only 42 years of age,
of an accidental overdose of the antidepressant, imipramine. References:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9.
Filmographies: 1,
2,
3.
Magazine archives: 'Jet' Jul 1959,
'Ebony' Mar 1966,
'Ebony' Dec 1993.
Further reading: 'Dorothy Dandridge: An Intimate Biography' by Earl Mills (Holloway House 1999), 'Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness' by Daniel Bernardi (U of Minnesota Press 2001). All tracks
below for years 1958 and 1961 are with pianist,
Oscar Peterson. Dorothy Dandridge 1940 The Dandridge Sisters Composition: Richard Jones The Dandridge Sisters Composition: Sid Robin/Charlie Shavers Dorothy Dandridge 1941 Film With the Nicholas Brothers Music: Harry Warren Lyrics: Mack Gordon Dorothy Dandridge 1942 Film Music: Don Raye Lyrics: Benny Carter/Gene De Paul Film Composition: L. Wolfe Gilbert/Bob O'Brien Dorothy Dandridge 1953 Music: Vernon Duke Lyrics: John La Touche/Ted Fetter Dorothy Dandridge 1956 Film Composition: Cole Porter Film Composition: Cole Porter Dorothy Dandridge 1958 Titles below recorded 20 Jan 1958 Issued 1999 on 'Smooth Operator' Composition: Frank Eyton/Johnny Green Edward Heyman/Robert Sour Composition: Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Composition: Gershwin Brothers I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face Composition: Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe Composition: Vernon Duke/Yip Harburg Dorothy Dandridge 1961 Recorded 2 Feb 1961 Issued in 1961 Composition: Clyde Otis/Murray Stein
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Dorothy Dandridge
Source: Lady Beauty Vintage |
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Born on
an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks)
began singing pop and hillbilly at age 7 (1929) on WRR Radio in Dallas. At
age fifteen she was chosen by
Joe Venuti to sing in his orchestra.
She would much later record with
Venuti. Lord's disco begins her discography in June and July with the
Bob Crosby Orchestra for the
unissued title, 'Memphis Blues'. That was later included on 'Bob Crosby's
Camel Caravan' in 1984 and 'Kay Starr: Complete Lamplighter Recordings
1945-1946' in 1999. She next hooked up with
Glenn Miller on July 26 of 1939
to leave 'Baby Me' and 'Love with a Capital You', those for Bluebird. Starr's career
consisted largely of recording and touring, both in the States and the U.K..
Often appearing in visual media, she performed in her first film in 1944 w
Jimmie Dodd (Mouseketeer) per the RCM short 'Stop That Dancin' Up There'.
Two of Starr's issues went gold: 'Wheel of Fortune' in '52 and 'The Rock and
Roll Waltz' in '56. Other of her popular titles included 'Hoop-Dee-Doo'
('50), 'I’ll Never Be Free' w
Tennessee Ernie Ford
('50) and 'Side By Side' ('53). Others with whom Starr recorded during her career included respectable
names from
Les Paul to
Charlie Barnet,
Wingy Manone, the Capitol
International Jazzmen ('45),
Benny Carter and Red
Nichols. Starr's last of about 30 albums since the early fifties is thought to have been 'Live
at Freddy’s' in
1997. No later recordings are known than in 2001 on an LP by
Tony Bennett: 'Playin' with My
Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues'.
Starr died
[1,
2] in Beverly Hills, California,
November 3, 2016, due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. References:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
NAMM oral interview 1994.
Archive. Other
profiles: 1,
2.
Per 1959 below, 'Dry Bones' ('Dem Bones') was composed at an unknown time by
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938). Based on 'Ezekiel' 37: 1-14, its first
known recording was by the Famous Myers Jubilee Singers in 1928. Kay Starr 1939 With Glenn Miller Composition: Archie Gottler/Harry Harris/Lou Handman With Glenn Miller Composition: Leo Robin/Ralph Rainger Kay Starr 1944 With Jimmy Dodd Film Kay Starr 1950 Composition: Louis Prima/Milton Kaback Kay Starr 1951 Composition: Ross Bagdasarian/William Saroyan Kay Starr 1952 Composition: Bennie Benjamin/George David Weiss Kay Starr 1954 Music: Larry Coleman Lyrics: Joe Darion Composition: Geoffrey Parsons/Marguerite Monnot Kay Starr 1956 Music: Shorty Allen Lyrics: Roy Alfred Kay Starr 1959 Composition: James Weldon Johnson Composition: Stan Jones Kay Starr 1961 Composition: Pee Wee King
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Kay Starr
Source: Tripod/Kay Starr |
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 Frances Wayne Source: Discogs |
Born Clara Bertocci in
1924 in Boston,
Frances Wayne
[1,
2,
3]
made her first recordings to issue per Lord and Rust w the band of Sam Donahue as Frances Claire
in NYC on
April 11, 1941: 'Loafin' on a Lazy Day' (Bluebird B11169), 'They Still Make Love in London'
(Bluebird B11131) and 'Saxophone Sam' (unissued). On November 12 of 1941 she recorded
'Coffee and Cakes' (Bluebird B11377) as Frances Claire with Donahue. She came in swinging with the
Charlie Barnet Orchestra as
Frances Wayne, her first recording with
Barnet thought to have been a session on July 17, 1942:
'That Old Black Magic' (Decca 18541). The next year Wayne
began working with
Woody Herman, a session on November 8 yielding
the highly popular 'The Music
Stopped' and 'I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night'. She pursued her solo career
en force upon leaving
Herman in
1946, begun in August of 1945 with titles arranged by trumpeter and husband
since 1944, Neal Hefti, like 'He's Funny That Way' and 'In Love with Love'.
IMDb has Wayne appearing in the Columbia Pictures film short, 'Shorty
Sherock and His Orchestra', in 1947. She was the featured guest on the 'Star
of the Family' television program in 1952. Wayne worked with Hefti's orchestra into the latter fifties, issuing three
albums: 'Frances Wayne' ('54), 'Songs for My Man' ('56) and 'The Warm Sound
of Frances Wayne' ('57). When not
recording Wayne worked clubs. She performed into the seventies nigh until
her death on February 6, 1978, in Boston. Sessions 1942-53 at DAHR.
Catalogs: 1,
2,
3. Frances Claire 1941 Sam Donahue Orchestra Composition: Robert Sour/Una Mae Carlisle Sam Donahue Orchestra Composition: Robert Woodland Frances Wayne 1942 Charlie Barnet Orchestra Composition: Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer Frances Wayne 1943 I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night Composition: Jimmy McHugh/Harold Adamson Frances Wayne 1944 Composition: Jimmy McHugh/Harold Adamson Composition: Leo Robin/Richard Whiting/Newell Chase First recording: Maurice Chevalier 1930 Frances Wayne 1945 V-Disc 357 Composition: Charles Tobias/Cliff Friend Frances Wayne 1957 From the LP 'The Warm Sound': Composition: Bart Howard Composition: Guy Wood/Robert Mellin Composition: Thelonious Monk Cootie Williams Bernie Hanighen
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Savannah
Churchill [1,
2,
3] was born in Colfax, Louisiana in
1920, removed to Brooklyn as a youth. Churchill was a mixture of jazz and
R&B first recording per Lord's Disco on July 28 of 1942 with Jimmy Lytell and His All Star Seven: 'Two Faced Man'
(Beacon 106), 'Fat Meat Is Good Meat' (Beacon 104), etc..
She next found a spot with the
Benny Carter Orchestra for
an AFRS broadcast of 'Stompin' at the Savoy' on December 8 of 1942 in Los
Angeles and 'Why Don't You Do It Right?' about the same time. Among
Churchill's more famous songs were 'Hurry Hurry' w
Carter in 1944, 'Daddy Daddy'
w her All Star Orchestra in '45, 'I Want to Be Loved'
w the
Four Tunes as the Sentimentalists in '47, 'Time Out for Tears'
w the
Four Tunes in '48 and 'It's No Sin' ('51).
She performed at the London Palladium w backing by another doo wop group
called the Striders in 1951 [Rosalsky], a group with which she'd begun to
sing in the latter forties. They would visit Hawaii in '54. Unfortunately, jazz
lost a remarkable singer when in 1956 a drunken man fell from a balcony onto
the stage where Churchill was performing and injured her beyond ability to
continue her career. Though she recorded again in 1960 her health declined
until her death on 19 April 1974, only 53 years of age. Others with whom she
had worked included Harlan Leonard and
Jimmie Lunceford. Several of the audios below
are in poor condition, listed for who may have the software
and inclination to improve them. Other synopses: 1,
2.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Churchill in visual media.
Music VF.
Archive. Savannah Churchill 1942 With Jimmy Lytell Composition: Irene Higgin (Irene Higginbotham) Savannah Churchill 1943 With Benny Carter Composition: Richard Larkin Savannah Churchill 1946 With the Four Tunes Composition: Alice Simms/Leonard Joy Savannah Churchill 1947 With the Four Tunes Composition: Savannah Churchill Savannah Churchill 1948 Film: 'Miracle In Harlem' Composition: Savannah Churchill Savannah Churchill 1949 With the Four Tunes Composition: Bennie Benjamin/George David Weiss Savannah Churchill 1951 Composition: Chester Shull/George Hoven With the Four Tunes Composition: Ben Weisman/Fred Wise With the Striders Composition: Jessie Mae Robinson Savannah Churchill 1953 Composition: Savannah Churchill/Irving Berman Composition: Joe Morris
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Savannah Churchill
Source: Vocal Group Harmony |
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Don Cornell
Source: Last FM |
Born Luigi Francisco Varlaro in
1919 in the Bronx, Don Cornell
was a guitarist and singer who began his career
in NYC at the Edison Hotel w the band of Bobby Hayes [*].
JC Marion has him recording 'Trust in Me' w Hayes in an unknown capacity on an unidentified date
for issue on Mercury 70309 [*]. (The only documentation of Mercury 70309
that is found is 'Don'a Wan'a' bw 'Gee But I Hate to Go Home Alone' by Sue
Thompson in 1954.) He then boxed professionally for a while, long enough for
27 wins before returning to guitar to join the band of
Red
Nichols. Come the McFarland Twins Orchestra the same year, with whom
Discogs has contributing vocals to 'Hey Zeke' and 'When Day Is Done' w Betty Norton
and the Norton Sisters on 23 Jan of '42
(Bluebird B-11449). Cornell had joined Sammy
Kaye's
dance band the year prior as both a guitarist and vocalist. It was with
Kaye's organization that he got his name changed from Luigi Varlaro
to Don Cornell. It being World War II, Mussolini had made it unpopular to
bear an Italian name [Grudens: 1,
2].
Lord doesn't consider Cornell or
Kaye to be jazz enough to track either of them at all. DAHR begins tracing Cornell w
Kaye per a session on 5 June 1942, singing 'I Left My Heart at the Stage
Door Canteen' (Victor 27932). July 3 brought 'Miss Americana' (Victor
27952) w 'I Came Here to Talk for Joe' (Victor 27944). Come 9 July for
'Taboo'/'If I Cared a Little Bit Less' (Victor 27972). Cornell was replaced
by Billy Williams when he joined the Army in 1942 and served as a bomber
pilot in the European theater until war's end in 1946, he returning to
Kaye's orchestra. Cornell's heydays as a recording artist were in the
early fifties, releasing such as 'I'll Walk Alone' (Coral 60659) and 'I'm
Yours' (Coral 60659) in 1952. Also highly popular that year was his duet w
Teresa Brewer, 'You'll Never Get
Away' (Coral 60829). Come 'The Gang That Sang 'Heart of My Heart'' (Coral
61076) w Alan Dale and Johnny Desmond in 1953. His highest-selling title
arrived the next year per 'Hold My Hand' (Coral 61206). Cornell made
numerous television appearances while working toward more than fifty million records
sold, and was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame in 1993. Having
moved to Florida in 1979, Cornell died in Aventura on 23 Feb 2004 of emphysema
and diabetes. Other references: 1,
2,
3. Sessions 1942-58 at DAHR.
Catalogs: 1,
2,
3.
Cornell in visual media. Don Cornell 1942 With Betty Norton Composition: Al Hoffman/Jerry Livingston/Mann Curtis I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen Composition: Irving Berlin For the Broadway show 'This Is the Army' Don Cornell 1949 With Laura Leslie Composition: Frank Loesser 1944 Don Cornell 1952 Composition: Milton Berle/Buddy Arnold/Robert Mellin Music: Jule Styne 1944 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Composition: Robert Milton Composition: Frank Warshauer Richard Himber Sylvester Sprigato Don Cornell 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing Music: Sammy Fain Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster Composition: Abner Silver/Roy Alfred Don Cornell 1957 Composition: Budd Schulberg/Tom Glazer
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Al Hibbler
Source: New Hair Now |
Born in
1915 in Tyro, Mississippi, Al Hibbler was blind
from birth. Singing with local bands, Hibbler failed his first audition for
Duke
Ellington in 1935, after which he was employed by Dub Jenkins and his
Playmates. Hibbler initially appears in Lord's Disco per radio
transcriptions for NBC with
Jay McShann from the Savoy
Ballroom in NYC on February 13, 1942, among which he sang 'I Got It Bad'.
Lord has that eventually finding issue on Stash STCD542. Hibbler's next
session with
McShann on July 2 of '42 saw 'Get Me On Your Mind'
toward Decca 4387. In 1943 he replaced Herb Jeffries
who had vacated his position with
Ellington in 1942. His first recording with
Ellington was a radio broadcast
from the Hurricane Restaurant in NYC on June 27, 1943, for 'Summertime'.
That would also occur a long relationship with alto saxophonist,
Johnny Hodges, both through
Ellington and in
Hodges' orchestras. Hibbler kept with
Ellington until 1951, quitting over pay
(concerning which
Ellington was a well-known
tightwad, the opportunity to play in his orchestras thought sufficient to
make up for any lack). Upon leaving
Ellington Hibbler recorded
'Sings Love Songs' on April 1, 1952. He then remained with
Hodges and
recorded with
Count Basie. Hibbler had long
since been placing titles in the Top Ten of the R&B: 'Trees' (#2 '48),
'Lover, Come Back to Me' (#9 '48), 'Danny Boy' (#9 '50), 'What Will I Tell
My Heart' (#9 '51) and 'Unchained Melody' (#1 '54). Others did better on the
Pop chart: 'He' (#4 '55) and 'After the Lights Go Down Low' (#10 '56). Hibbler became involved
with civil rights activism in the fifties and sixties. Arrested twice,
record labels shied away, with the exception of Reprise Records, owned by
Frank Sinatra. Among recordings
in his latter years were 'For Sentimental Reasons' with pianist,
Hank Jones, issued in 1984, and titles
on 'Ted Harris Presents More Giants of Jazz New Jersey Jazz Festival' issued
in 1985. Hibbler died in Chicago on April 24, 2001. References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6;
synopsis.
Sessions 1942-59 at DAHR.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Hibbler in visual media.
Archive. Al Hibbler 1942 With Jay McShann Composition: Gus Johnson/John Tums Al Hibbler 1946 It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream With Duke Ellington Composition: Don George/Duke Ellington/Johnny Hodges With Duke Ellington Al Hibbler 1949 Composition: Joyce Kilmer/Oscar Rasbach Al Hibbler 1951 With Count Basie Composition: Count Basie/Jimmy Rushing Al Hibbler 1955 Music: Jack Richards Lyrics: Richard Mullan Music: Alex North Lyrics: Hy Zaret Al Hibbler 1956 Composition: Phil Belmonte/Allen White/Leroy Lovett Composition: Moose Charlap/Don George Composition: Herb Miller/Irving Berger Al Hibbler 1959 Composition: Henry Nemo 1941 Originally recorded by Nat King Cole Al Hibbler 1972 Album: 'A Meeting Of Times' Sax: Rahsaan Roland Kirk Music: Sol Parker/Hank Sanicola Lyrics: Frank Sinatra Al Hibbler 1981 Album: 'For Sentimental Reasons' Piano: Hank Jones Music: Don Redman Lyrics: Andy Razaf Album: 'For Sentimental Reasons' Piano: Hank Jones Composition: Moose Charlap/Don George Album: 'For Sentimental Reasons' Piano: Hank Jones Music: Neil Moret Lyrics: Richard Whiting
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Henri Salvador
Source: Res Musica |
Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, in 1917, guitarist
Henri Salvador
[1,
2,
3,
4]
moved to Paris with his family when he was age seven. He was age
sixteen when he joined the Paul Raiss' Orchestra. He began performing at
Jimmy's Bar (Paris) in 1935, where he began to employ comedy with his
singing. In 1937 he joined the French infantry until the Nazi Occupation in
1940, after which he found his way to Cannes in the Free Zone in 1941. He
there found work with the Bernard Hilda Orchestra. In 1942 he left for South
America with the Ray Ventura Orchestra. Lord has him playing guitar w
Ventura's band on 'Sweet Georgia Brown'
during a jam session some time in 1942 in Montevideo, Uruguay. That was
eventually issued in Uruguay at an unknown time on Sondor 42-2001. Salvador stayed in South America
until the end of World War II in 1945, recording during those years with
the bands of Louis Viola (Quinteto del Hot Club de Francia) and Pierre Allier
(Jazz Aces). Lord has him w both in Buenos Aires in '42 and '43 on unissued
titles eventually released at an unknown time by an equally obscure Sincopa
y Ritmo in Argentina. Titles w Viola's quintet included such as 'Viper's
Dream' and 'Rosetta'. 'Narcisse' and 'Sweet Georgia Brown' went down with
the Jazz Aces. Come Allier's Swing Bakers on 20 July of '43 in Buenos Aires
for 'Pick-a-Rib', that finding release in 1988 on 'The Rhythmakers of Buenos
Aires 1939-1948' Harlequin HQ 2064 [Discogs]. Another session in Montevideo
in '44 w resulted in 'Lady Be Good' to see issue on Sondor 44-1064. Along w
himself at guitar that ensemble consisted of Booker Pittman (alto sax), Al
Romans (piano) and Eugene d'Hellemmes (bass). Remaining w Viola's ensemble
into '44 and '45, they recorded such as 'My Blue Heaven' toward Victor
60-0685 and 'Tiger Rag' toward Victor 60-0721
[*]. Upon returning to Paris
Salvadr sang with saxophonist, Andre Ekyan, in 1945. That session would appear to have been
his first vocal contribution, 'Hey-ba-ba-re-bop', with his brother, Andre.
A version with Ventura followed. Recordings by Salvador in the forties have been collected on the CD, 'Maladie D'amour' (Intégrale Vol 1 1942 - 1948),
issued by Fremeaux. He began issuing for Polydor in 1948, eight sides (:
'Disease of Love'/'Clopin Clopant') that year into 1951, switching to
Philips for titles from '52 onward. Beginning to issue albums in the
fifties, his first with Philips was 'Henry Cording and His Original Rock and
Roll Boys' bearing 'Rock and Roll-Mops'. He issued a host of LPs into
the new millennium until 'Reverence' in 2006. Other albums in which he
participated were 'Hampton, Salvador, Clark Terry, Moustache et Leurs Amis
Jouent Brassens' recorded in Nice in 1982, Biréli Lagrène's 'Gipsy Project &
Friends' gone down in Paris in 2002 and Rosa Passos' 'Amorosa' in 2003. Salvador was greatly popular in French film
as well, also working in
television. He died in Paris on February 13, 2008, of a ruptured aneurysm.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3.
Compilations: 'Chansons Douces' on Prix Calin 026 (2002). Salvador in visual media. Henri Salvador 1946 With Ray Ventura Composition: Lionel Hampton/Curley Hamner Composition: Bruno Coquatrix/Pierre Dudan Henri Salvador 1947 Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway Blackface with Ray Ventura Film excerpt Composition: André Hornez/Paul Misraki Music: Henri Salvador/Leona Gabriel Lyrics: Leona Gabriel/Marc Lanjean First recording: Léona Gabriel 1931 Henri Salvador 1948 Composition: Henri Salvador Henri Salvador 1959 Film: 'Europa di Notte' ('European Nights') Composition: Maurice Pon Henri Salvador 1960 Music: Noël Roux Lyrics: François Llenas Henri Salvador 1962 Television performance Composition: See note below Henri Salvador 1964 Music: Henri Salvador/Leona Gabriel Lyrics: Leona Gabriel/Marc Lanjean First recording: Léona Gabriel 1931 Henri Salvador 1965 Film Music: Henri Salvador Lyrics: Maurice Pon Henri Salvador 1969 Composition: Henri Salvador/Bernard Michel Henri Salvador 1971 ('But No, But No') Music: Italian composer Piero Umiliani As 'Mah Nà Mah Nà' Lyrics: Henri Salvador Music: Henri Salvador Lyrics: Bernard Michel Henri Salvador 1977 Music: Henri Salvador Lyrics: Bernard Michel Henri Salvador 1997 Composition: See note below Henri Salvador 2003 ('Le loup, la biche et le chevalier') Television duet with Céline Dion Composition: Henri Salvador/Maurice Pon Note: 'Le lion est mort ce soir' is Salvador's version of 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' which has its origins in South Africa in 1931 per 'Mbube' (Zulu for 'Lion') written by Solomon Linda [1, 2, 3, 4] w his Evening Birds consisting of Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, Albert Stanton and George David Weiss [Wikipedia]. The song quickly became popular as it spread to Europe and the States. Pete Seeger and his Weavers recorded a version titled 'Wimoweh' in '51 w the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra for issue in '52. "Wimoweh" was Seeger's mishearing and rendering of "Uyimbube" (Zulu for "You are a lion"). It was credited to "Paul Campbell" as a pseudonym used by the Weavers for royalties. Come the 1961 version by the Tokens w lyrics by George David Weiss known as 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' prior to Salvador's first rendering in 1962 as 'Le lion est mort ce soir'. Linda had originally sold the song for less than two dollars to the Gallo Record Company, meaning no royalties, nor any paid to his wife, Regina, upon his death in 1962. A settlement in 2006, however, made millionaires of his daughters [1, 2]. More on the evolution of this song at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
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Margaret Whiting [1, 2, 3, 4] is an apt example of transition from swing to popular. Born in Detroit in 1924 to be raised in Los Angeles since age five, among the greater of her contemporary rivals during her career would be Peggy Lee, so similar in many respects that the reason they aren't on the same page is that they emerged into moving water that way. Whiting was signed to the fledgling record label, Capitol, in Los Angeles in 1942 by one of its cofounders, Johnny Mercer. (Capitol had been founded as Liberty Records in April of 1942, its name changed to Capitol that May. There was another Liberty label, which Capitol eventually swallowed. The first recording by Capitol was 'Moon Dreams' by Martha Tilton in April that year.) Whiting's first title for Capitol is thought to have been recorded on July 21 of 1942 with the Billy Butterfield Orchestra: 'Without Love' (Capitol 134). [Lord: As Whiting was primarily a singer of popular music Lord's Disco lists only 27 sessions. See patsycline for a fuller sessionography minus radio broadcasts (transcriptions) included by Lord.] It was 'Old Black Magic' (Capitol 126) with the Freddie Slack Orchestra on July 31. Lord has her singing 'I've Heard That Song Before' supported by Slack in August for the AFRS [1, 2] 'Downbeat' program [1, 2] later issued on CD per Jazz Hour JH-1051. Whiting also appeared in the Republic Pictures release of 'Youth on Parade' in 1942 [IMDb]. Continuing in radio while recording for Capitol, her most popular issues were 'A Tree in the Meadow' (Capitol 15122) in 1948 followed by a C&W duet w Jimmy Wakely in 1949 called 'Slipping Around' (Capitol 40224). Working in television variously during the fifties, she commenced the sixties w the issue of 'Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook' w the orchestra and arrangements of Russell Garcia ('60). Her issue of 'The Wheel of Hurt' conducted and arranged by Arnold Goland topped the AC chart as late as 1966. Other orchestras with which Whiting had worked included those of Jerry Gray, Frank DeVol and Lou Busch. She also had occasion to perform with Billy May, Les Brown, Mel Tormé and Loonis McGlohon. Whiting released her last album, 'Then and Now', in 1991. Her last recording was in 1993, 'The Christmas Waltz'. IBDB has her appearing in the Broadway revue of Johnny Mercer tunes called 'Dream' as late as 1997. Come a performance on 'Larry King Live' in 1999. Whiting died. at home in Englewood, New Jersey, on 10 January of 2011. Discographies 1, 2, 3 [see Issues], 4, 5. Composers covered. Whiting in radio and television: Media. Concert performances: Media. NAMM oral interview 1995. Margaret Whiting 1942 Composition: Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer First recording: Glenn Miller 1943 Margaret Whiting 1943 Music: Karl Suessdorf Lyrics: John Blackburn Margaret Whiting 1945 Music: Richard Rodgers Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II For the film 'State Fair' Margaret Whiting 1947 What Are You Doing New Years Eve Composition: Frank Loesser Margaret Whiting 1948 Composition: Joan Whitney/Alex Kramer Composition: Billy Reid 1946 Margaret Whiting 1949 With Jimmy Wakely Composition: Floyd Tillman Margaret Whiting 1959 Music: Victor Young 1949 Lyrics: Ned Washington For the film 'My Foolish Heart' Sung by Martha Mears Margaret Whiting 1966 Album Reissue Margaret Whiting 1993 Composition: Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne For Frank Sinatra 1954
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Margaret Whiting
Source: Jazz Station |
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Norman Granz Source: Noticias de Jazz |
This history doesn't have a
section for impresarios in particular. We therefore place Norman Granz
in Modern Jazz Song, which period includes latter swing, for his work w
Billie Holiday and
Ella Fitzgerald. Born in 1918 in Los
Angeles, Granz wasn't a musician (though he did play tambourine on
Louie Bellson's 'Drumorama!'
in 1957). But he staged the first
Jazz at the Philharmonic (JAPT)
in July 1944 at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. JAPT featured the cream
of jazz musicians
in a series of tours throughout Canada, Europe and the States.
JAPT concerts owned considerable prestige, such that to play for Granz at a
JATP concert you had to be a musician at the top of your game. Granz used various
record labels to promote and distribute recordings of JATP concerts until founding
his own, Verve Records, in 1956, in part to produce
Ella Fitzgerald, whose manager
he had been since 1946. Granz composed the music for the 1958 film,
'Youthful Sinners', performed by members of the JATP including Dizzy
Gillespie and
Stan Getz on that project [IMDb]. Granz was well-liked by his musicians for two main reasons:
the whole point of JATP was to showcase the masters or masters-to-be, thus pay
was above average as well. Second, Granz had no problem with whites and blacks
playing music together in the same ensemble. He was firmly antiracist, to the
degree that he cancelled concerts at locations where segregation was expected,
loss of income regardless. The last JATP concert was held in Tokyo in 1983.
Granz died [1,
2,
3] on 22 Nov 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland.
References for Granz: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5;
Fitzgerald and: 1,
2.
Discographies: 1,
2.
Granz in visual media.
Interviews w Les Tomkins 1966-67: 1,
2.
References for JATP: 1,
2,
3.
Discographies: 1,
2;
Billie Holiday and (Vol 1 of 7): 1,
2.
See also the compilation, 'The
Complete Jazz At The Philharmonic on Verve (1944 - 1949)'. Facebook tribute. The harvest below is but an iota
of the many top name musicians who performed for Granz at JATP concerts. Jazz at the Philharmonic 1944 Live at the Philharmonic Auditorium First concert July 2, 1944 [Discogs] Guitar: Les Paul Piano: Nat King Cole Tenor Sax: Jack McVea Trombone: JJ Johnson First concert July 2, 1944 (included above) Guitar: Les Paul Composition: Earl Hines/Henri Woode Jazz at the Philharmonic 1949 Alto Sax: Charlie Parker Piano: Hank Jones Trumpet: Roy Eldridge Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Bass: Ray Brown Tenor Sax: Lester Young & Flip Phillips Drums: Buddy Rich Piano: Hank Jones Composition: Lester Young Jazz at the Philharmonic 1956 Oscar Peterson Trio Composition: Duke Ellington Jazz at the Philharmonic 1957 Piano: Nat King Cole Music: Vincent Youmans Lyrics: Irving Caesar Oscar Peterson Trio Trumpet: Roy Eldridge Guitar: Roy Ellis Composition: Ann Ronell Jazz at the Philharmonic 1958 Piano: Oscar Peterson Violin: Stuff Smith Vocal: Ella Fitzgerald Composition: Duke Ellington/Irving Mills Jazz at the Philharmonic 1960 Tenor Sax: Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas & Stan Getz Trumpet: Roy Eldridge Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Jazz at the Philharmonic 1966 Bass: Bob Cranshaw Guitar: T-Bone Walker Composition: Count Basie/Jimmy Rushing Bass: Bob Cranshaw Guitar: T-Bone Walker Composition: Aaron Walker Jazz at the Philharmonic 1967 Drums: Louie Bellson Piano: Teddy Wilson Tenor sax: Zoot Sims Trumpet: Dizzy Gillespie
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Arthur Prysock Source: All Music
|
Born in 1924 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, popular singer
Arthur Prysock [1,
2] helped build airplanes during World War II, before being
hired by Buddy Johnson in 1944. Prysock worked
with Johnson for eight years before going solo in 1952. His first recorded
vocal is thought to have been on October 4, 1945, with
Johnson: 'They All Say I'm the Biggest
Fool' (Decca 48016) [DAHR, Lord]. Come Oct 16 for an NBC Radio broadcast from the Savoy
Ballroom to transcribe 'The Other Side of the Rainbow' and 'Gee It's Good to
Hold You' issued later on Jazz Archives JA25. Prysock's
repertoire also included early rhythm & blues, as well as a bit of disco
midway through his career. His highest-selling issues had been 'I Didn't
Sleep a Wink Last Night' in '52, 'It's Too Late Baby, Too Late' in '65 and
'When Love Is New' as late as 1976. From 'I Worry About You' in 1960 to 'Today's Love
Songs, Tomorrow's Blues' in 1988 Prysock issued 29 other albums. Among others
with whom he recorded were
Count Basie in 1965 and the United States
Air Force Airmen of Note [1,
2,
3]
in '67 and '68. Prysock
died on June 14, 1997, in Hamilton,
Bermuda. Tenor saxophonist,
Red Prysock, was Prysock's brother, appearing on
a number of his recordings: 'A Rockin' Good Way' ('85), 'This Guy's in Love
with You' ('86) and 'Today's Love Songs, Tomorrow's Blues' ('88).
Discographies: 1,
2,
3.
Archives.
Other profiles: 1,
2. Arthur Prysock 1946 With Buddy Johnson Music: Walter Gross Lyrics: Jack Lawrence Arthur Prysock 1950 They All Say I'm the Biggest Fool With Buddy Johnson Composition: Buddy Johnson With Buddy Johnson Composition: Dodi Redden Arthur Prysock 1957 Composition: Bennie Benjamin/George David Weiss/Harry Revel Arthur Prysock 1964 Composition: Bernie Wayne/Lee Morris Arthur Prysock 1945 'Dick Clark Show' Composition: Bernice Petkere Arthur Prysock 1965 Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart Composition: Norman Bergen/Shelly Coburn Arthur Prysock 1966 Composition: Ed Bruce Arrangement: Mort Garson Arthur Prysock 1969 I Stood Long Where You Left Me Composition: Walter Benton/Mort Garson Composition: Walter Benton/Mort Garson Arthur Prysock 1976 Composition: Kenneth Gamble/Leon Huff Arthur Prysock 1979 Count Basie Orchestra Composition: Jimmy Van Heusen/Carl Sigman
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Vocalist Mel Tormé was born in 1925 in Chicago. His first professional appearance was at age four with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra at the Blackhawk restaurant in Chicago. At age eight he was acting on radio. He also played drums as a child. Torme began composing songs at age thirteen, publishing his first, 'Lament to Love', in 1941, which Harry James would record. Chicago was the right place to be to make his first unissued recording with the orchestra of Chico Marx (Marx Brothers) in December of 1942: 'Abraham'. His first film appearance was also Frank Sinatra's in 1943, 'Higher and Higher', released in 1944. He formed the Mel-Tones in 1944. Their first single was 'White Christmas' with 'Where Or When' flip side. He began recording solo the next year. 'Careless Hands', released in 1949, was his one and only #1 on the charts. 'Again', though, made it to #3 that year. 'The Four Winds and the Seven Seas' reached #10 in July. The next year saw his duet w Peggy Lee, 'The Old Master Painter', claim #9 on the Hot 100. His own 'Bewitched' rose to #8. His debut album was 'Musical Sounds Are the Best Songs' in 1954. He released his highly popular song, 'Mountain Greenery', in 1956. He was yet popular enough in 1967 to place 'Lover's Roulette' at #6 on the AC. Torme published his first book in 1970: 'The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol' (W. Morrow). Torme's career was a tour through every band in the galaxy. Among who supported him were King Guion, Murray McEachern, Boyd Raeburn, Artie Shaw, Sonny Burke, Frank DeVol, Harold Mooney, Lou Busch, Pete Rugolo, Red Norvo, Nelson Riddle, Charlie Ventura, George Cates, Marty Paich, Wally Scott, Billy May, Russ Garcia, Johnny Mandel, Sy Oliver, Geoff Love, Tony Osborne, Shorty Rogers Benny Barth, Dick Hazard, Mort Garson, Woody Herman, Al Porcino, Chris Gunning, Buddy Rich, Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, Larry O'Brien (New Glenn Miller Orchestra), Cincinnati Sinfonietta, Ray Anthony, Peter Nero and Rob McConnell. Beyond arranging orchestra for a lot of his vocals, Tormé wrote above 250 songs. A couple memoirs appeared in the nineties: 'It wasn't all Velvet' (Zebra 1990) and 'My Music Teachers' (Oxford U Press 1994). His last album was 'An Evening with Mel Tormé' in 1996, a stroke ending his career. He died on June 5, 1999, in Los Angeles [1, 2]. He had last recorded that year with his son, Steve March Torme, participating in the latter's debut album, 'Swingin' at the Blue Moon' on their duet 'Straighten Up & Fly Right'. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 'Mel Tormé: A Chronicle of His Recordings, Books and Films' by George Hulme (McFarland 2008). Chronology. Sessions: DAHR, Hulme, Lord. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Torme in visual media: 1, 2, 3. Interviews w Les Tomkins 1976-84. Criticism. Archive. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Per 1945 below, Torme didn't appear in the film, 'Let's Go Steady'. His lip syncing substitute per IMDb was blond-haired Streak Edwards. Mel Tormé 1944 Composition: Irving Berlin Mel Tormé 1945 Film: 'Let's Go Steady' Vocal contribution only Lip syncing: Streak Edwards Composition: Mel Torme 1945 Film: Lullaby of Broadway Composition: Al Dubin/Harry Warren 'Russian Lullaby in Jive' Film: 'Let's Go Steady' Vocal contribution only Lip syncing: Streak Edwards Composition: Mel Torme 1945 Mel Tormé 1946 Composition: Harry Woods/Jimmy Campbell/Reg Connelly Mel Tormé 1949 Composition: Carl Sigman/Bob Hilliard Mel Tormé 1956 Composition: Slim Gaillard/Paul Mills Mel Tormé 1959 Album
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Mel Tormé Source: Sosegon
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Sarah Vaughan (Sassy)
was conceived in Newark, New Jersey in 1924, her father a carpenter, her
mother a laundress. She dropped out of high school as a junior to pursue
music as both a pianist and vocalist across the Hudson River in New York
City. Winning a talent contest in 1942 meant $10 and the opportunity to open
for
Ella Fitzgerald one night at
the Apollo Theater. That in turn led to being hired by
Earl Hines in April, 1943, to sing
alongside baritone,
Billy Eckstine. Vaughan made her first recording
to issue, 'I'll Wait and Pray' (De Luxe 2003), on 5 Dec 1944
upon
Eckstine forming his own
band. She left
Eckstine's orchestra in late '44, though would
perform with him
often over the years including duets. Working clubs in NYC, Vaughan recorded several tracks
in '45 with the Gillespie/Parker
ensemble as well as Stuff Smith.
She recorded a number of tracks with John Kirby (Crown), Tony Scott (Gotham)
and Dickie Wells in early '46 before entering her first session for
Musicraft in May of 1946. She went large in 1948 w the summer releases of
'Nature Boy' (Musicraft 567) and 'It's Magic' (Musicraft 557). Despite Vaughan's early
successes, Musicraft
was facing bankruptcy in 1948 and couldn't pay its musicians their
royalties. The necessity of moving to a larger label, Columbia, that year
brought Columbia multiple high-selling issues via Vaughan into the early
fifties beginning w 'Black Coffee' (Columbia 38462) in the summer of 1949.
Come 'I Love the Guy' (Columbia 38925) in 1950 followed by 'These Things I
Offer You' (Columbia 39370) in '51. Proving to be a major rival to
Billie Holiday and
Ella Fitzgerald by that time,
she moved over to Mercury to bring that label numerous large successes like
'Make Yourself Comfortable' (Mercury 70469) in '54 and 'Whatever Lola Wants'
(Mercury 70595) in '55. TsorT has her issuing her overall highest-selling
issue, 'Broken Hearted Melody', in the summer of 1959, that to go gold. She
followed that several months later w 'Smooth Operator' (Mercury 71519)
composed by Clyde Otis w Murray Stein. Vaughan had sung for
Count Basie at Carnegie Hall in
1954. Heavily touring the States from the start, her first trip to
Europe was in 1963 with
Quincy Jones, recording live in
Denmark. The next year she performed for President Johnson at the White
House. 1966 saw the release of 'A Lover's Concerto' (Mercury 72543). The seventies and eighties
witnessed seven albums released for
Norman Granz' Pablo Records,
including 'I Love Brazil!' and 'Copacabana'. A performance in 1978 at Rosy's
Jazz Club in New Orleans was recorded toward later release on 'Live at
Rosy's' [1,
2,
3]. Vaughan gave her last performances
at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, NYC, in 1989. Unable to
perform her last engagement of the series due to lung cancer, she returned home
to California for treatment where she died [1,
2,
3,
4] on 3 April 1990, refusing the
further troubles of chemotherapy. She was buried in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
More of Vaughan in 1955 under
Herbie Mann.
References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Sessions: Brown; Lord;
Minn: multiple takes,
peronnel.
Discos: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Compilations: Chronological Classics: 1944-46: 1,
2;
1946-47;
1949-1950;
1951-1952;
'Lover Man' 1945-55;
'The Divine Sarah Vaughan' 1949-53.
Vaughan in visual media.
Les Tomkins interview 1972.
Archives: IA,
'Life' magazine June 1972.
Further reading: 'Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan' by Leslie Gourse (Da Capo Press 1994).
Other profiles: 1,
2.
Per 'Interlude' 1945 below, Gillespie
shared credits as author of that w Frank Paparelli in exchange for
assistance w transcription (notation) albeit Paparelli made no contribution. Sarah Vaughan 1945 Interlude (A Night in Tunisia) Trumpet: Dizzy Gillespie Music: Dizzy Gillespie Lyrics: Raymond Leveen Trumpet: Dizzy Gillespie Composition: Jimmy Davis/Jimmy Sherman/Roger Ramirez Sarah Vaughan 1946 Composition: Frank Eyton/Johnny Green Edward Heyman/Robert Sour Sarah Vaughan 1947 Music: Walter Gross Lyrics: Jack Lawrence Sarah Vaughan 1949 Live Music: Sonny Burke Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster Sarah Vaughan 1951 Composition: Mitchell Parish/Peter de Rose Film Composition: Will Hudson/Irving Mills Sarah Vaughan 1952 Composition: Cavanaugh/Mascheroni/Ravasini Sarah Vaughan 1953 Music: Richard Rogers Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year Composition: Erroll Garner/Johnny Burke Sarah Vaughan 1954 With Clifford Brown Composition: Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira Sarah Vaughan 1955 Composition: Richard Adler/Jerry Ross 1955 For the stage musical 'Damn Yankees' Sarah Vaughan 1957 How Long Has This Been Going On? Composition: Gershwin Brothers Music: George Gershwin 1935 Lyrics: DuBose Heyward/Ira Gershwin For the opera 'Porgy and Bess' Sarah Vaughan 1958 Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1944 Lyrics: Johnny Burke Sarah Vaughan 1959 Filmed live Music: Erroll Garner 1954 Lyrics: Johnny Burke Sarah Vaughan 1965 Composition: Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster Sarah Vaughan 1970 Composition: John Elliott/Andrew Archer Sarah Vaughan 1972 Composition: Marvin Gaye/James Nyx Jr. Composition: Michel Legrand/Alan & Marilyn Bergman Sarah Vaughan 1987 Composition: Stephen Sondheim
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Sarah Vaughan Source: Spletnik/Muzyka
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Dinah Washington Source: ladybret |
Bluesy torch singer, Dinah Washington [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1924. She released her first recording, 'Evil Gal Blues', in 1944 for Keynote with Lionel Hampton. Washington was the equation of all variety of factors and qualities that jelled together to produce one of the 20th century's elite female jazz vocalists, Washington to assume her place beside such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, yet during a very brief career. As a child she played piano and sang gospel, moving onward to Chicago nightclubs as a teenager. The door to her career was opened upon being hired by Hampton in 1943, with whom she kept until 1946, afterward signing onto Mercury. Her first recordings with that label were in April of 1947 with the Chubby Jackson Orchestra: 'Mean and Evil Blues' (rejected), 'You Satisfy' (rejected), 'Stairway to the Stars' and 'I Want to Be Loved'. The latter two tracks were first released back to back on 78. Washington's short career saw a remarkable 35 titles reach Billboard's Top Ten in R&B. The first to gain #1 was 'Am I Asking Too Much in 1948, followed by 'Baby Get Lost' in '49. 'This Bitter Earth' found #1 in 1960, as well as two songs with Brook Benton, 'Baby (You've Got What It Takes)' and 'Rockin' Good Way'. Yet with a career that looked as promising as sky Washington died on December 14, 1963, at the relatively young age of 39 due to an accidental drug overdose. Lord's discography lists her final sessions on October 15 that year, the last three tracks of which were 'Lingering', 'Lord You Made Us Human' and 'They Said You'd Come Back Running'. A brief account of Washington's recordings with songwriting credits. See also 1, 2. Washington in visual media. More early recordings by Washington in Modern Blues. Dinah Washington 1943 With Lionel Hampton Composition: Leonard Feather/Sammy Price Dinah Washington 1945 Composition: John Henry Composition: Duke Henderson/Eduardo Paim Composition: John Henry Dinah Washington 1949 The Richest Guy In The Graveyard Composition: Leonard Feather Dinah Washington 1952 Composition: Sir Noël Coward Dinah Washington 1954 Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Composition: 1946 Music: Harold Arlen Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Composition: Sammy Cahn/Gene DePaul Dinah Washington 1955 Composition: Cole Porter Composition: 1941 Music: Gene de Paul Lyrics: Don Raye Dinah Washington 1958 Newport Jazz Festival Composition: 1931 Gerald Marks/Seymour Simons Dinah Washington 1959 Composition: Arthur Hamilton 1953 Composition: Maria Grever 1934 English translation: Stanley Adams 1934 Dinah Washington 1960 With Brook Benton Composition: Brook Benton/Luchi DeJesus Baby (You've Got What It Takes) With Brook Benton Composition: Clyde Otis/Murray Stein/Brook Benton Composition: Clyde Otis Dinah Washington 1961 Composition: Barney Bigard/Duke Ellington/Irving Mills Composition: Harry Warren/Al Dubin 1937 Dinah Washington 1962 Composition: 1962 Music: Doris Tauber Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Composition: 1934 Music: John Frederick Coots Lyrics: Sam Lewis Dinah Washington 1963 Composition: Big Bill Broonzy/Lil Green 1940
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Pearl Bailey Source: Toronto Blues Society
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Actress Pearl Bailey, woman with an attitude, was born in 1918 in Virginia, raised in Newport News. She decided to become a dancer and singer upon winning a couple of talent contests as a teenager and was soon performing in clubs in Philadelphia and along the East Coast. In 1941 she toured the States with the USO, then began working clubs in NYC where big names began entering into her gigs, also performing with such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Lord initiates his account of Bailey w a session in NYC on 6 Jan 1944 with the Cootie Williams Orchestra: 'Now I Know' and 'Tess's Torch Song' (Hit 7075). It was the Stuff Smith Trio on December 20 that year for 'Perdido' (Baronet A48105) and 'Our Waltz' (AB Fable ABCD2 007/8). She led her own group on January 18 of 1945 for 'He didn't Ask Me' (V-Disc 431), 'My Baby Said Yes' (unissued) and 'The Quicker I Gets to Where I'm Goin'' (V-Disc 431). 'Fifteen Years' visited Billboard's R&B at #4 in Jan of 1946 Bailey's debut Broadway performance was as Butterfly the barmaid in 'St. Louis Woman' later that year. She was particularly successful with an all-black version of the stage musical, 'Hello Dolly!', in the sixties with Cab Calloway. Her first film, 'Variety Girl', premiered in 1947. In June of 1951 she made her first television appearance on 'Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town' for CBS. Her release of 'Takes Two to Tango' dance to #7 on the Hot 100 in Sep 1952. Bailey was married to jazz drummer, Louie Bellson, on November 19, 1952, in London. Lord's disco doesn't show Bellson in a session with Bailey until September 10, 1953, with the Don Redman Orchestra for 'I Love My Argentine', 'Me and My Shadow' and 'She's Something Spanish'. Bailey and Bellson were constant companions into the sixties, he supporting her on albums to 'Pearl's Pearls' in 1971. From 1950 ('Pearl Bailey Entertains') to "Pearl's Pearls' she issued 32 albums. The first of several of Bailey's books, 'The Raw Pearl', was published in 1968. She was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Ford in 1975 (she a Republican). Bailey died on August 17 of 1990 in Philadelphia, and was buried in West Chester, Pennsylvania. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Synopses: 1, 2. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Interview w Dick Cavett 1990. Pearl Bailey 1945 Composition: Bailey/Moore Composition: Allan Roberts/Doris Fisher Composition: Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke Composition: Allan Roberts/Doris Fisher Pearl Bailey 1947 A Little Learnin' Is a Dangerous Thing With Frank Sinatra Composition: Al Jacobs/Sy Oliver Pearl Bailey 1949 With Hot Lips Page Composition: Frank Loesser 1944 Pearl Bailey 1953 Composition: Ernesto Lecuona Album: 'Say Si Si' Composition: 1922: Gus Kahn/Ernie Erdman/Danny Russo Pearl Bailey 1959 Composition: Morley (James Ernest Maker) Matty Malneck Pearl Bailey 1960 Composition: Cole Porter Album: 'Naughty, But Nice!i' Live with Dinah Shore Music: Kurt Weill 1928 Lyrics: Bertolt Brechtr For 'Die Dreigroschenoper' ('Threepenny Opera') Pearl Bailey 1963 Live with Andy Williams Composition: Harry Ruby/Rube Bloom
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Vocalist June Christy [1, 2, 3, 4] was born Shirley Luster in Springfield, Illinois, in 1925. Moving to Chicago after high school, she worked for a brief time as Sharon Leslie w the bands of Boyd Raeburn and Benny Strong. She began going by June Christy in 1945 upon hooking up with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, replacing Anita O'Day. Her first title with that band is thought to have been 'Tampico' (Capitol 202) on May 4 in Chicago followed by 'It's Been a Long Time' (Capitol 219) on June 30 in NYC, both of which brought her to early fame. Christy that year appeared w Kenton in the FilmCraft Productions film shorts, 'Tampico' and 'It's Been a Long Time' [IMDb]. The next year Christy and Kenton issued 'Shoo Fly Pie' (Capitol 235) followed by 'Across the Alley from the Alamo' (Capitol 387) in 1947. Also released in '47 were the film shorts 'Stan Kenton and His Orchestra' (Warner Bros) and 'Let's Make Rhythm' (RKO). Christy appeared on the CBS television program, 'Adventures in Jazz', in 1949. Christy issued her first name album, 'Something Cool', in 1954, the same year she released her one and only child, a daughter titled Shay. She toured heavily that decade, including internationally: Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan. She issued her final album, 'Impromptu', in 1977. Christy gave her last performance in 1988 with Chet Baker and Shorty Rogers on her last tour. She died two years later on 21 June of kidney failure in Sherman Oaks, California. Among others with whom she'd worked were Jonah Jones and The United States Air Force Airmen of Note [1, 2, 3]. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Compilations: 'The Best of June Christy: The Jazz Sessions' 1949-68 by Capitol 1996. Tribute site. June Christy 1945 On the Sunny Side of the Street With Stan Kenton Music: Jimmy McHugh Lyrics: Dorothy Fields With Stan Kenton Composition: Cliff Burwell/Mitchell Parish June Christy 1950 Composition: 1937: Walter Jurmann/Gus Kahn/Bronisław Kaper For the film 'A Day at the Races' Performed by Ivie Anderson Filmed live Music: Neil Moret Lyrics: Richard Whiting Composition: Vernon Duke/John La Touche/Ted Fetter June Christy 1953 Composition: Erroll Garner/Johnny Burke Composition: Frank & Dorothy Daniels June Christy 1954 Composition: Billy Barnes Album: 'Something Cool' June Christy 1958 Composition: Duke Ellington/Irving Mills Album: 'June's Got Rhythm' June Christy 1959 Composition: Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart June Christy 1960 Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1925 For the musical 'Tip-Toes' Performed by Queenie Smith as Tip-Toes June Christy 1965 Lovely Way to Spend an Evening Television performance with Stan Kenton Composition: Jimmy McHugh/Harold Adamson Television performance with Stan Kenton Composition: Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer June Christy 1968 Composition: Benny Carter/Paul Vandervoort II
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June Christy Source: Jazza-Me Muito
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Steamy and much underestimated Etta Jones [1, 2, 3, 4] was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1928 though was raised in Harlem. She was BB King's sweet sixteen at age fifteen, he eight years older. Her first recordings in New York City on 29 Dec 1944 were w the Barney Bigard Orchestra for 'Salty Papa Blues'/'Blow Top Blues' (Black & White 9) and 'Evil Gal Blues/'Long, Long Journey' (Black & White 10) [Lord]. Dinah Washington had released 'Evil Gal Blues' the previous year, both boarding the torch song express about the same time. Jones was major rival to Washington in that until the latter's early death in 1963. By 1949 Jones was working with major name pianist, Earl Hines. The most important musical association of her profession was alto saxophonist, Houston Person, with whom she performed for three decades, he also her manager and producer. Lord's disco shows their first recordings at Watt's Mozambique in Detroit, Michigan in March of 1973: 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do' and 'Don't Go to Strangers'. Among others with whom she'd left titles were Floyd Horsecollar Williams, Pete Johnson, Gene Ammons, Cedar Walton, Rein de Graaff, James Williams, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Dick Morgan, Junior Mance, Clark Terry. Gene Walker. Keter Betts, John David Simon, Jeanie Bryson and James Williams. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. Her last album, with Houston Person, was 'Etta Jones Sings Lady Day', recorded in June of 2001 and released on the same date she died of cancer, October 16th, in Mount Vernon, New York. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Etta Jones 1947 Composition: Leonard Feather Composition: Leonard Feather Etta Jones 1947 I Sold My Heart to the Junkman Composition: Leon René (Jimmie Thomas) Etta Jones 1960 Composition: Mort Dixon/Ray Henderson Music: Mort Dixon/Ray Henderson Lyrics: Redd Evans Album: 'Don't Go to Strangers' Etta Jones 1961 Composition: Meredith Willson 1957 Etta Jones 1962 Composition: eden ahbez Album: 'Hollar!' Etta Jones 1998 Composition: Buddy Johnson Album: 'My Buddy' Etta Jones 1998 Composition: Seymour Simons/Gerald Marks
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Etta Jones Source: Ennaus |
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Frankie Laine See
Popular Music:
Frankie Laine. |
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 Dave Lambert Photo: William Gottlieb Source: PRX |
Born in
1917 in Boston, Dave Lambert
[1,
2,
3]
sang with the Johnny Long Orchestra upon release from the Army in 1943. He
was next hired by Gene Krupa
for whom he composed 'What's This', also sharing vocals with Buddy Stewart
on Columbia D.B. 2593. The first
instance of the Dave Lambert Singers with Jon Hendricks
and
Annie Ross recorded unissued titles with
the Mary
Lou Williams Trio on May 14, 1950: 'The Sheik of Araby', 'Yes, We Have No
Bananas', 'Walkin'' and 'Cloudy'. 1955 saw Dave Lambert's Singers in a
couple sessions yielding 'Four Brothers', 'Cloudburst', 'Four Brothers' and
'Standin' on the Corner'. In 1957 the Dave Lambert Singers
became the trio that was Lambert,
Hendricks
&
Ross, 'Sing a Song of Basie'
their first release recorded in August. That trio recorded numerously
through several albums while backing other operations to latter 1961 for
Dave Brubeck's 'Blow Satchmo'. They had recorded with
Louis Armstrong that
September. When
Ross left the trio in '62 she was replaced by Yolande
Bavan, that trio leaving 'Live at Basin Street East' on September 6 of
1962. A few more albums ensued into latter '63 before that configuration
dissolved the next year. 1965 saw titles with the
Billy Taylor Trio. Lambert's
early death
was an accident in Connecticut on October 3, 1966. It seems a flat tire had
Lambert stopped partially off the highway in wee hours. That or he had
stopped to assist a motorist. Either way he wasn't completely off the road
while parked, his lights were off, and he was struck by a tractor-trailer.
Others who had recorded with Lambert include
Stan Kenton,
Al Haig,
Charlie Parker,
Erroll Garner, Mary
Lou Williams, King Pleasure and
Count Basie. More Lambert under
Jon Hendricks. Discographies:
1,
2.
Compilations: 'Lambert, Hendricks & Ross' 1958-60
by Giants of Jazz.
Documentaries: 'Audition at RCA' 1964.
Archives: 'Down Beat' magazine 1958.
Further reading at JazzWax. Per 1946 below,
tracks are with Buddy Stewart &
Red Rodney's Be-Boppers, the
latter consisting of
Rodney on trumpet,
Al Haig at piano, Curly Russell at bass and
Stan Levey on drums. Titles were arranged by Neal Hefti. Dave Lambert 1945 With Buddy Stewart & Gene Krupa Composition: Dave Lambert Dave Lambert 1946 With Buddy Stewart Band: Red Rodney's Be-Boppers Composition: Dave Lambert Arrangement: Neal Hefti With Buddy Stewart Band: Red Rodney's Be-Boppers Composition: Dave Lambert Arrangement: Neal Hefti Dave Lambert 1949 With Jo Stafford Composition: Dave Lambert Dave Lambert 1958 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross From the LP: 'The Swingers': Music: Sonny Rollins 1954 Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Music: Sonny Rollins 1956 Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Love Makes the World Go Around Composition: Jon Hendricks Dave Lambert 1961 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Filmed live Music: Miles Davis 1954 Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Dave Lambert 1962 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Album Dave Lambert 1963 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Trumpet: Clark Terry Tenor sax: Coleman Hawkins Music: Herbie Hancock 1962 Lyrics: Jon Hendricks
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Nellie Lutcher Source: Keep Swinging |
Nellie Lutcher (sister of R&B sax player Joe Lutcher) was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1912. Playing piano as a child, she is an apt example of R&B filtered through jazz. She played in a local ensmeble called the Southern Rhythm Band until traveling to Los Angeles in 1935 to work at the Dunbar Hotel (previously the Sommerville). Adding vocals to piano, she worked clubs in LA until 21 November 1944 when Lord's Disco finds her backing Lena Horne w the orchestra of Horace Henderson on 'I Didn't Know About You'/'One for My Baby' (Victor 20-1616) and 'As Long As We Live'/'I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues' (Victor 20-1626). Lutcher had made private recordings, but not until Dave Dexter of Capitol Records heard her singing 'The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else' during a 1947 March of Dimes radio broadcast from Hollywood High School did she record to issue in her own name on April 10 that year: 'The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else' (Capitol 10108), 'Hurry on Down' (Capitol 40002), 'The Lady's in Love with You' (Capitol 40002) and 'You Better Watch Yourself' (Capitol 40002). "Hurry On Down' reached the #2 spot on Billboard's R&B. ' He's a Real Gone Guy' did the same in November that year. Other strong issues were 'Come and Get It' (#6 '48), 'Cool Water' (#7 '48), 'Do You or Don't You Love Me?' (#9 '48), 'Fine Brown Frame' (#2 '48) and 'The Song Is Ended' (#3 '49). IBDb has Lutcher performing 'He's a Real Gone Guy' in the 1947 UI (Universal International) film short, 'Girl Time'. It was television per the 'Ed Sullivan Show' in Dec 1948 to sing 'Fine Brown Frame'. Lutcher recorded steadily into the fifties less successfully until she became a board member of the Los Angeles Musician's Union in 1957, after which she continued to perform into the nineties on occasion at clubs on both coasts, though not a primary focus. Among later recordings were with the Cab Calloway Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on July 6 of 1973. Her initial success had enabled her to invest in real estate, she owning an apartment building in Los Angeles. Lutcher died on 8 June of 2007 [1, 2]. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Archive. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Nellie Lutcher 1947 Composition: Nellie Lutcher Composition: Nellie Lutcher Composition: Mitchell Parish/Rene Touzet Composition: Burton Lane/Frank Loesser The One I Love Belongs to Someone Else Composition: Isham Jones/Gus Kahn Nellie Lutcher 1948 Composition: Bob Nolan A Chicken Ain't Nothing but a Bird Composition: Babe Wallace Composition: Guadalupe Cartiero/Jay Mayo Williams Nellie Lutcher 1950 Duet with Nat King Cole Composition: Sammy Cahn Duet with Nat King Cole Composition: Paul Gayten Nellie Lutcher 1956 Filmed live Composition 'Blue Skies': Irving Berlin 1926 For the musical 'Betsy'
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Born Frances Wolfe in 1926 in Bronx,
Fran Warren was a chorus
girl at the Roxy Theater when at age 16 she auditioned for
Duke Ellington.
Whatever her disappointment that he didn't hire her, two years later she was
singing on radio with Art Mooney's orchestra. Lord's disco identifies her as
a contributing vocalist on 9 August 1945 in New York City for unspecific
titles w Mooney later issued on the obscure compilation, 'Art Mooney and His
Orchestra 1945-1946' (Circle CLP134) on an unknown date. Circle CCD134
appeared in 1989. It was about the time that Fran was working with Mooney
that
Billy Eckstine rechristened her
from Wolfe to Warren. Soon afterward she was hired by
Charlie Barnet to replace
Kay Starr. Lord first finds Warren
with Barnet per a combined
Decca/World Trascriptions radio broadcast including 'Just a Little Fond
Affection' on October 2 of 1945 issued that December on Decca 18736.
Hired by Claude
Thornhill in 1947, it was with Thornhill that
Warren made a big name for herself. Their tune, 'A Sunday Kind of Love'
(1947), sold so well that Thornhill paid her a $5000 bonus.
She arrived to greater acclaim with the orchestra of Henri Rene in 1949 on
'A Wonderful Guy' followed by 'Envy' w an orchestra uncredited on the label
but identified as Rene's by Billboard.
Warren commenced 1950 w her highly
popular duet w Tony Martin [1,
2], 'I Said My Pajamas (And Put on My Pray'rs)',
that supported by Rene. Come 'I Love the Guy' later that year, also
supported by Rene. Warren's last song to chart was in
1953 per 'It's Anybody's Heart' w the Lew Douglas Orchestra.
IMDb has Warren
making her first television appearance in 1951 per the 'Colgate Comedy Hour'
in a production 'Would-Be Gentleman' with Jerry Lewis and
Dean Martin. In 1952 she appeared in
the film, 'Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd'. During the sixties she
worked with Harry James. Having collaborated with trumpeter, Joe Cabot,
during the fifties and sixties, she connected with him again in 1979, whence
they spent the next few years touring with the revue, 'The Big Broadcast of
1944'. Others with whom Warren had performed were
Woody Herman and
Tommy Dorsey. Warren died on her birthday, March 4, in 2013 in Connecticut where
she resided. The deaths of her husband and one of two daughters had preceded
her own. References: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Discos: 1,
2,
3.
Warren on Broadway.
Archive. Fran Warren 1945 With Charlie Barnet Composition: Elton Box/Desmond Cox/Lewis Ilda Fran Warren 1946 With Claude Thornhill Composition: Harry Stoddard/Marcy Klauber Fran Warren 1947 Just About This Time Last Night With Claude Thornhill Composition: Louis Prima/Paul Cunningham/Sid Miller With Claude Thornhill Composition: 1946: Barbara Belle/Anita Leonard Stan Rhodes/Louis Prima Fran Warren 1949 With Claude Thornhill Composition: Irving Berlin Fran Warren 1950 With Henri René Composition: Frederico Valério/Leslie Saunders With Henri René Composition: Eve London/David Gussin With Henri René Music: Jeanne Burns Lyrics: Harold Mott With Hugo Winterhalter Composition: Frank Loesser Duet with Tony Martin With Henri René Composition: Eddie Pola/George Wyle Filmed live Fran Warren 1951 With Hugo Winterhalter Composition: Jack Gold/Dick Emerson Fran Warren 1952 With Nelson Riddle Composition: Dick Gasparre/George Fragos/Jack Baker What's This Thing Called Love? With Ralph Burns Composition: Cole Porter With Ralph Burns Composition: Harold Rome Fran Warren 1953 Composition: Douglas/LaVere/Belloc Composition: Fogarty Fran Warren 1956 A Corset Can Do a Lot for a Lady Music: Irving Gertz Lyrics: Hal Levy For the film 'The First Traveling Saleslady' Fran Warren 1957 From the LP 'Hey There!': Composition: Richard Adler/Jerry Ross Composition: Johnny Burke/James Van Heusen Composition: Gene DePaul/Don Raye Fran Warren 1958 Composition: Joseph Meyer/Robert Allen/Sid Wayne
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Fran Warren Photo: Neal Prince Trust Source: Stian Eriksen
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Rosemary Clooney
was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1928. Her mother married a sailor and
left for California w Rosemary's brother, Nick, when she was sixteen,
leaving her and sister, Betty [1,
2], w their father. Their father soon disappeared
upon stepping out one night to celebrate the end of World War II. Left to
take care of themselves, Rosemary was age 17, Betty 14, when they found
employment with WLW Radio in Cincinnati for $20 a week.
Lord's disco has the Clooney Sisters transcribing 'I Still Feel the Same About You'
with unknown accompaniment on June 20 of 1945, issued on an obscure CD per
WXVYOU on an ungiven date with a note that indicates Cincinnati radio.
Howsoever, singing at WLW got them noticed by
Tony Pastor [*] who soon had
them touring the States with his big band from coast to coast. Lord has
Rosemary and Pastor singing vocals on 'Sooner or Later' (Cosmo 721) in April
of '46, that used in Walt Disney's animated Uncle Remus film, 'Song of the South'. That session also included
the Clooney Sisters on 'Everybody Has a Laughing Place' (Cosmo 722), 'How Do You Do?'
(Cosmo 722) and 'Uncle Remus Said' (Cosmo 721), those also used in 'Song of the South'. Among the
many titles recorded with Pastor were 'You Started Something' and 'The Click
Song' issued in September of 1948 (Columbia 38297). They had worked at the
Click Club in Philadelphia around that time. Clooney's last session
with Pastor is thought to have been on September 16, 1949, again with Betty
as the Clooney Sisters for 'I Never See Maggie Alone' and 'I've Got a Lovely
Bunch of Cocoanuts' (Columbia 38609). Clooney had begun to record in her own name on
June 16 of '49 with the Norman Leyden Orchestra: 'Lover's Gold' and 'The
Four Winds and the Seven Seas' issued by Harmony (1050). 'I Still Feel
the Same About You' went down on January 2 of 1951 with the Percy Faith
Orchestra. Clooney shot to
national fame in 1951 w the issue of 'Beautiful Brown Eyes' followed by
'Come on a My House' the same year which topped the Pop
chart as did 'Half
as Much' in May 1952. That summer witnessed Clooney's duet w
Marlene Dietrich called
'Too Old to Cut the Mustard'. Later that year she issued 'You'll Never Know'
w the Harry
James Orchestra as well as 'The Night Before Christmas' w
Gene Autry, the latter among numerous Christmas titles recorded w
Autry. Also an actress, Clooney's first film role was in 'The Stars
Are Singing' released in May 1953. Oct of '53 saw the premiere of the film,
'Here Come the Girls', in which Clooney starred long w Bob Hope
[*], Tony
Martin [1,
2]
and Arlene Dahl [*]. Clooney issued duets w
Guy Mitchell in '53 and '54. She
also topped the charts thrice in 1954 w 'Hey There!',
'This Ole House' and 'Mambo Italiano'. She starred with
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in
the film, 'White Christmas', released in latter '54. Her last Top Ten title was 'Mangos'
in March of 1957. The sixties saw Clooney recording for RCA Victor, Reprise
and Dot until a nervous breakdown in 1968. She was ready to resume her
career in 1976 w United Artists, '77 w Concord. Her sister, Betty, had died
young at age 45 of a brain aneurysm in Las Vegas on August 5, 1976. Rosemary performed w
4 Girls 4
from 1977 to 1983. Commencing w Clooney,
Barbara McNair, Rose Marie
[*] and
Margaret Whiting, others to sing
w that quartette of dames were
Helen O'Connell, Kaye Ballard
[*],
Kay Starr and Martha Raye
[*]. The first of Clooney's two memoirs
had appeared in
1977, published by Playboy Press: 'This for Remembrance'. Another duet arrived in 1986 per 'It's a Hard Business' with Wild Man
Fischer [*]. Come 'Green Eyes' w Barry Manilow
[*] in 1994 to appear on
the latter's album, 'Singin' with the Big Bands'. 'Girl Singer: An
Autobiography' was published in 2001 by Three Rivers Press. Clooney had recorded
in Honolulu what would get released as 'The Last Concert'
on November 16, 2001. She gave her last performance in Hawaii in
December 2001, dying of lung cancer on 29 June the next year in Beverly
Hills, CA [1,
2]. Others with whom recorded were
Eddie Condon, George
Girard,
Tommy Dorsey,
Les Brown, Duke
Ellington,
Louis Armstrong,
Bing Crosby,
Benny Goodman,
Marian McPartland and Matt
Catingub. References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4. Compilations:
'The Clooney Sisters with Tony Pastor and His Orchestra' by
Epic 1988;
'The Complete Tony Pastor with the Clooney Sisters'
by Collectors Choice
2000; 'Rosemary Clooney: Ballads, Blue Songs, Hits and Jazz 1949 - 1958'
by JSP
2009; 'The Rosemary Clooney CBS Radio Recordings 1955-61'
by Mosaic
2013. Lyrics.
Clooney in film and television: 1,
2.
Official website
(licensing et al). Archive. Clooney Sisters 1947 With Tony Pastor Composition: Allie Wrubel Rosemary Clooney 1947 Film With Tony Pastor Clooney Sisters 1948 Aka 'Bibidi Boo Bot' With Tony Pastor Composition: Jack Barnett/Sammy Fain Rosemary Clooney 1951 Composition: Traditional First known arrangement: Alton Delmore/Arthur Smith 1937 First recording: Arthur Smith Trio 1937 Rosemary Clooney 1952 Composition: Curley Williams 1951 Music: Walter Gross Lyrics: Jack Lawrence Clooney Sisters 1954 Composition: Irving Berlin Rosemary Clooney 1954 Composition: Richard Adler/Jerry Ross For the musical play 'The Pajama Game' As the Haynes Sisters w Vera Ellen Clooney plays Betty Haynes Ellen plays Judy Haynes Composition: Irving Berlin Film: 'White Christmas' Ellen's performance is overdubbed. Ellen did no singing in this film. Her parts were sung by Trudy Stevens. Rosemary Clooney 1956 Film with Dorothy Malone and Bobby Troup Composition: Bobby Troup Rosemary Clooney 1959 Composition: Bert Kalmar Harry Ruby Oscar Hammerstein II Rosemary Clooney 1966 Television performance Rosemary Clooney 1981 Live performance Music: Vernon Duke 1936 Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Live performance Live performance Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Rosemary Clooney 1995 Live performance Composition: Richard Adler/Jerry Ross For the musical play 'The Pajama Game'
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Rosemary Clooney Source: All Music
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Dean Martin was a rough Italian kid (his parents immigrants) born in 1917 Steubenville, Ohio. When I myself was a kid it was Eric Burdon and the Animals one moment, Dean Martin the next. Born Dino Paul Crocetti, Martin dropped out of high school in 10th grade to pursue boxing. He also labored in a steel mill, bootlegged liquor and dealt blackjack in an illegal casino. All that was ruined upon joining Ernie McKay's band as a crooner in 1938. He toured with McKay a couple years, changing his name from Dino Crocetti to Dean Martin in 1940. He first met Frank Sinatra, later Rat Pack [1, 2, 3, 4]comrade, in 1943 in NYC, both performing at the Riobamba nightclub. He was drafted in '44 but released a year later due a double hernia. He returned to crooning in nightclubs on the East Coast and was making a comfortable living at such when he released his first record, 'Which Way Did My Heart Go', in 1946, recorded that July. Prior to that he had met Jerry Lewis in NYC at the Glass Hat Club, such that his first act with Lewis was also in July of 1946. That was at the 500 Club in Atlantic City and flopped. But they got the psychology right for their second act, Lewis the goofball, and their famous team was born. First appearing on television in June of '48 on 'Talk of the Town' (later to become 'The Ed Sullivan Show'), radio followed in '49, as well as film with 'My Friend Irma'. Lewis and Martin remained a team until 1956, after which Martin's first solo appearance in film was in 'Ten Thousands Bedrooms' in 1957. That film was a box office flop but Martin thereafter pursued serious acting quite successfully, along with a twin career as a major vocalist, coming distinctly into his own during the sixties as well. 'The Dean Martin Show', first aired in 1965, was popular until its pull in 1974. Martin had a vanity license plate that read "DRUNKY" because he could. The persona he leant himself on television as a lush, drink ever at hand, was entertainment. He wasn't himself a heavy drinker (despite what was said about the Rat Pack). Martin had played Las Vegas since the fifties in association with the Rat Pack (fundamentally a small circle of friends who decided to assist each other professionally). He continued to be popular there through the eighties, during which time he released an MTV video in 1983 created by his youngest son, Ricci. In 1988 he contributed 'That's Amore' to the soundtrack for 'Moonstruck'. His last appearances in Las Vegas were at Bally's Hotel in 1990 with Jerry Lewis. He died of emphysema on Christmas Day in 1995 at his home in Beverly Hills, CA. He had recorded above 600 songs and more than 100 albums. Of his numerous Top Ten titles those which rose to #1 on the Hot 100 or Adult Contemporary were 'Memories Are Made of This' ('55), 'Everybody Loves Somebody' ('64), 'The Door Is Still Open to My Heart' ('64), 'You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You ('64), 'In the Chapel By the Moonlight ('67) and 'In the Misty Moonlight' ('67). References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Martin in visual media: 1, 2, 3. Websites: official internet hub, tribute. Official YouTube channel. Further reading: criticism, 1976 surprise reunion w Jerry Lewis. Archive. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Dean Martin 1946 Composition: Sid Wayne/Gene Carroll/Irvin Rose Dean Martin 1951 Music: Ted Snyder Lyrics: Harry Ruby/Bert Kalmar Dean Martin 1952 Composition: Curley Williams 1951 Dean Martin 1953 Music: Harry Warren Lyrics: Jack Brooks Dean Martin 1955 Film Composition: Terry Gilkyson/Richard Dehr/Frank Miller Studio Composition: Terry Gilkyson/Richard Dehr/Frank Miller Dean Martin 1959 Composition: Frank Loesser 1944 Dean Martin 1964 Composition: Ken Lane/Sam Coslow/Irving Taylor Dean Martin 1965 Studio Recording Composition: Roger Miller 1964 Live performance with Frank Sinatra Composition: Roger Miller 1964 Dean Martin 1967 From the LP: 'Welcome to My World': Composition: Hank Mills/Dick Jennings First recording: Charlie Walker 1966 Composition: Johnny Hathcock/Ray Winkler Dean Martin 1983 MTV Composition: Ivory Joe Hunter
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Dean Martin Source: I Love Dino Martin |
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Born in
Harlem in 1920 to Jamaican parents, Carmen McRae
[1,
2,
3,
4] received some encouragement as a
teenager when
Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson recorded one of her
compositions, 'Dream of Life'. In her
latter teens McRae began playing piano professionally at Minton's Playhouse
[1,
2]
in Harlem. She there met and married drummer,
Kenny Clarke, in 1944. The first time she recorded
to issue was
as Carmen Clarke on 17 May 1946 in NYC as both pianist and
vocalist with the orchestra of Mercer Ellington (only child of Duke
Ellington [1,
2,
3]). 'Pass Me By' saw issue that
year on Musicraft 379 w Mercer's instrumental rendition of
Duke's 'Metronome
All Out' flip side [Discogs]. 'She Shoulda Flipped When
He Flopped' and 'Moon Mist' weren't
issued. McRae issued her first recordings in her own name in 1954. Among
titles gone down on 6 Oct that year were 'Old Devil Moon'/'Tip Toe Gently'
(Venus 101). That date is given in three sessionographies [1,
2, Lord]. Venus
101 is reviewed, however, the prior month in the 25 Sep 1954 issue of 'Billboard' magazine.
Perhaps the 'Billboard' entry better meant "scheduled" for issue.
Also listed per Oct 6 are 'Easy
to Love' and 'If I'm Lucky', those released on later compilations. McRae
issued her debut LP, 'Carmen McRae', in March of 1955. Among McRae's better
known issues were 'Next Time It Happens' ('56), 'Skyliner' ('57), 'Alfie'
('66) and 'Elusive Butterfly' ('68). Other than recording, McRae's career
consisted largely of playing nightclubs throughout the United States, also
appearing often at jazz festivals. Issuing well above fifty albums, her
final recordings are thought to have been in tribute to
Sarah Vaughan w the
Shirley Horn Trio for 'Sarah:
Dedicated to You' released in 1991. McRae died upon a stroke at her home in Beverley
Hills, CA, on 10 November 1994. Among her more
frequent recording partners
had been guitarist Mundell Lowe, bandleader Jack Pleis,
bassist Ike Isaacs, drummers Specs Wright, Frank Severino and Mark Pulice,
and pianists Don Abney, Norman Simmons, Marshall Otwell and Eric Gunnison.
Sessionographies: [1,
2,
Lord, Decca 1954-60].
Dates of multiple versions.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Composers covered.
McRae in visual media.
Archive.
Other synopses: 1,
2. Carmen McRae 1955 Composition: Chuck Darwin/Paulette Girard LP: 'Carmen McRae' Composition: Don Raye/Gene DePaul Carmen McRae 1956 Composition: Sam Stept Recorded 14 June 1955 First issue on the LP 'By Special Request' Composition: Cole Porter Composition: Cindy Walker/Eddy Arnold Carmen McRae 1957 Album Composition: 'Blue Moon': Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart 1935 Recorded 18 June 1957 Issued on MCA GRD-2-647 1995 Composition: Sir Noël Coward 1929 For the operetta 'Bitter Sweet' With Sammy Davis Junior Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1935 For the opera 'Porgy and Bess' Carmen McRae 1962 Telecast Carmen McRae 1980 Composition: Joe Bushklin/John De Vries Carmen McRae 1982 Vibes: Cal Tjader Composition: Stevie Wonder Carmen McRae 1986 Composition: Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach
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Carmen McRae Photo: Charles Stewart Source: Zona de Jazz
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Ernestine Anderson Photo: Jef Jaisun Source: Rankopedia
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Born in Houston in 1928, Ernestine Anderson began singing
professionally as a teenager in 1943 with Russell Jacquet. She quickly made
it large upon graduating from Garfield High School in Seattle, signing on
with Johnny Otis in 1947. She also made her debut recordings in 1947 with
Shifty Henry's orchestra: 'Good Lovin' Man' and 'K.C. Lover' on Black &
White 863 [Lord]. She toured with Lionel Hampton
in 1952. In 1953 she recorded 'They Tired' and 'Puerto Rico' with the
Russell Jacquet Orchestra. Come the orchestra of Clifford King Solomon on
August 2 of '53 for 'Li'l Daddy' and 'Square Dance Boogie'. It was the
Gigi Gryce Orchestra on October 22
of '55 for 'Social Call' and 'The One I Love'. Anderson began recording
enforce in 1956, beginning with a tour to Scandinavia with
Rolf Ericson resulting in
numerous sessions with various for three months, among them those to result
in her first LP, 'Hot Cargo' ('58 'It's Time for Ernestine' in Sweden). Her
first session on that tour was June 1 with
Duke Jordan (piano), John Simmons
(bass) and
Art Taylor (drums), they
recording such as 'Supper Time' and 'Looking for a Boy' in Stockholm, Sweden.
Those would be included on a Japanese reissue of 'It's Time for Ernestine'
('58) in 1975. 'It's Time for Ernestine' was the Swedish version of 'Hot
Cargo' issued in the States and Canada ('58), identical in all but title. Anderson moved to England in 1965,
recording 'Miss Ernestine Anderson' in London before moving on to Sweden, returning to the
States in time to join
Don Friedman in 1971. Highlighting
that decade was her 1976 performance at the Concord
Jazz Festival in California, included on the 1978 release of 'Live From
Concord to London'. Her first tour to Japan in 1983 resulted in 'Three
Pearls', after which
Gene Harris backed her on 'When the Sun
Goes Down' in August of '84. Another tour to Japan in 1987 with the Concord
Jazz All Stars resulted in 'Ow!'. She participated in a couple titles toward George Shearing's
'Dexterity' in 1988 in Tokyo as well. Come 1991 it was 'Late at Night' in
Tokyo with Larry Fuller (piano) Bob Maize (bass) and Greg Williamson
(drums). Anderson recorded and performed into her latter years, also conducting vocal jazz
workshops in Seattle. She died in Seattle on March 10, 2016
[1,
2]. Among her later
albums had been 'Nightlife: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola' recorded in
March and April of 2010. References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Synopsis.
Discos: 1,
2,
3. Ernestine Anderson 1947 With Shifty Henry Composition: Shifty Henry Ernestine Anderson 1953 With Cliff Solomon Hill Composition: Quincy Jones/Gigi Gryce Ernestine Anderson 1956 Composition: Noel Coward Album: 'Hot Cargo' Ernestine Anderson 1967 Live Music: Bobby Timmons 1958 First issue: Art Blakey Jan 1959 Lyrics: Jon Hendricks 1959 Ernestine Anderson 1978 Filmed live Composition: Billy Moll/Murray Mencher Ernestine Anderson 1981 Filmed live Composition: Stanley Adams/María Grever Ernestine Anderson 1983 Composition: Miles Davis Album: 'Big City' Ernestine Anderson 1984 In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down Filmed live Vibes: Milt Jackson Composition: Leroy Carr/Don Raye Ernestine Anderson 1987 Please Send Me Someone to Love Live in Japan Piano: George Shearing Composition: Percy Mayfieid Ernestine Anderson 1993 Live Composition: Stix Hooper/Will Jennings Ernestine Anderson 1994 Filmed live Composition: Irving Kahal/Sammy Fain See also * Filmed live Composition: Rudy Toombs
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 Painting by Tony Bennett Image: artbrokerage.com Source: Art Brokerage |
Anthony Dominick Benedetto worked under various names early in his career. It was Bob Hope who suggested Tony Bennett in 1950. Born in Queens New York in August of '26, Bennett was age ten when he sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge (now the Robert F. Kennedy). He began his career at age thirteen as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants. He studied music and painting at the School of Industrial Art (High School of Art and Design) in Manhattan before dropping out to work as a copy boy at Associated Press. Otherwise graduating from restaurants to nightclubs as a vocalist, Bennett was drafted into the Army in Nov 1944 whence he saw combat during the taking of Germany in World War II. Due to Mussolini, Italians weren't especially popular with Americans at that time, Bennett likely an object to some of that. Howsoever, Bennett made his first vocal recording in Germany w Lin Areson conducting the 314th Infantry Band. The song was Joe Primrose's (nee Irving Berlin) 'St. James Infirmary Blues' w arrangement by George Masso recorded on an unidentified noncommercial V-Disc [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] in 1946 [1, 2, 3, 4]. (Cab Calloway had also recorded 'St. James Infirmary Blues' for V-Disc, that issued in '44 on #259.) Released from service in Germany in 1946, Bennett returned to NYC to study bel canto at the American Theatre Wing while singing as a waiter. He is thought to have recorded as Joe Bari in 1947: 'Fascinatin' Rhythm' and 'Vieni Qui' (Leslie 919) [1, 2]. Bennett began touring with Bob Hope in 1949, whence his career broke out of the gate with his first name issues the next year: 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams, ''Sing You Sinners, 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love' and 'Crazy Rhythm'. 'Boulevard' went gold. Among other highly popular issues in the early fifties were 'Because of You' ('51), 'Cold, Cold Heart' ('51), 'Rags to Riches' ('53) and 'Stranger in Paradise' ('53). Bennett released his first album, 'Cloud 7', in 1955. Though Bennett's issue of 'In the Middle of an Island' in 1957 popped buttons on Billboard's blouse it was Bennett's least favorite song. Bennett's producer had been Mitch Miller since 1950, during which time they had their differences per just what songs Bennett ought record. Bennett disliked the song even more when it occasioned the worst argument he'd ever had with Miller at its session [1, 2] on 19 June of '57. Another odd thing about that tune is that though it charted on Billboard at a whopping #9 Bennett never again received a request to sing the song. Sessions with Count Basie on 22 and 30 Dec 1958 went toward the album, 'In Person'. Bennett focused his endeavors on nightclubs in the sixties as he issued more popular titles like 'Who Can I Turn to (When Nobody Needs Me)' ('64) and 'A Time for Love' ('66). The seventies were tumultuous for Bennett, from one failed marriage to a failed record label (inability to distribute) to a waning career beyond Las Vegas to the IRS with designs on his Los Angeles home to another failed marriage. Things began looking up in the eighties when his son, Danny, became his manager, concentrating on a younger audience. Since that time Bennett's career has been among the most luminous of the old guard. His 1994 release of 'MTV Unplugged' won the 1995 Album of the Year Grammy Award. He performed in Israel for the first time in September 2014, playing there with Lady Gaga before their Cheek to Cheek tour, commencing that December until August 2015. Among Bennett's latest releases was the joint album w pianist and vocalist, Diana Krall, 'Love Is Here to Stay', in 2018. Politically speaking, Bennett has been a lifelong Democrat. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Major events. Sessionographies: 1, 2. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Composers covered. Bennett in visual media. Interviews: Les Tomkins 1966/72, Tavis Smiley 2006, Marc Myers 2017. Criticism: 'The Movie Song Album' of 1966: *; 'The Complete Collection' of 2011: 1, 2. Memoirs (several). Art by Tony Bennett. Archives: IA; periodicals: 'Billboard' 1968, 'Pittsburgh Press' 1988, 'Good Housekeeping' 1995, 'Billboard' 1997, 'AARP' 2003. Official website. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. YouTube. Further reading: Bennett at age ninety. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Tony Bennett 1947 As Joe Bari Composition: Gershwin Brothers Tony Bennett 1950 Music: Harry Warren 1933 Lyrics: Al Dubin Tony Bennett 1951 Composition: 1940: Arthur Hammerstein/Dudley Wilkinson Composition: Hank Williams Sr. Tony Bennett 1953 Composition: Richard Adler/Jerry Ross Tony Bennett 1954 Composition: Lincoln Chase Composition: Hank Williams Sr. Tony Bennett 1955 Composition: Bernice Petkere 1933 First recording: Freddy Martin 1933 Composition: Max Steiner/Leonard Adelson Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1939 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Guitar: Chuck Wayne Music: Jule Styne 1955 Lyrics: Eddie DeLange Tony Bennett 1957 Music: Joseph Meyer/Roger Wolfe Kahn 1955 Lyrics: Irving Caesar Tony Bennett 1962 I Left My Heart in San Francisco Guitarist: Chuck Wayne Music: George Cory Lyrics: Douglass Cross Tony Bennett 1966 Live performance Composition: Leslie Bricusse/Cyril Ornadel Tony Bennett 1974 Live performance Drums: Kenny Clare Composition: Duke Ellington/Irving Mills Tony Bennett 1987 Live performance Music: Victor Young 1944 Lyrics: Ned Washington 1946 Tony Bennett 1994 Filmed live Music: Burton Lane 1947 Lyrics: Yip Harburg Tony Bennett 2011 Duet with Lady Gaga Music: Richard Rodgers 1937 Lyrics: Lorenz Hart For the musical 'Babes in Arms' On the Sunny Side of the Street Duet with Willie Nelson Music: Jimmy McHugh Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Tony Bennett 2018 Filmed duet with Diana Krall Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1938 For the film 'The Goldwyn Follies' Duet with Diana Krall Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight Show' Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1927 For the musical 'Funny Face'
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Tony Bennett Source: 5th Avenue
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Born Lee Brown in 1919 in Newark, New Jersey, bop singer Babs Gonzales is said to have changed his name from Brown to Ricardo Gonzales so he could get a hotel room, passing for Mexican rather than black. He worked with the orchestras of Charlie Barnet and Lionel Hampton before forming his own band, Three Bips And A Bop, in 1946. On February 24, 1947, that ensemble recorded what saw issue as 'Oop-Pop-a-Da'/'Stompin' at the Savoy' (Blue Note 534) and 'Lop-Pow'/'Pay Dem Dues' (Blue Note 535). 'Lop-Pow' was the initial matrix of that session which ensemble consisted of Rudy Williams (alto sax), Tadd Dameron (piano), William Pee Wee Tinney (guitar), Arthur Phipps (bass) and Charles Simon (drums). A beat poet, Gonzales was known for vocalese. Vocalese is the extemporaneous addition of lyrics to an instrumental or substitution of voice for an instrument. An example of such is 'Ornithology' below, become 'The Boss Is Back' with Gonzales. Among his compositions were 'Glidin' Along' and 'Expubidence' found on Bennie Green's 'Glidin' Along' in 1961. Gonzales published a couple of books per Expubidence publishing in 1967: 'Be Bop Dictionary' and 'I Paid My Dues'. He released 'The Ghettosburg Address' as late as 1970 on his own Expubidence label. Gonzales wrote 'Movin' on Down de Line' for issue by Expubidence in 1975. Passing away on January 23, 1980, among others with whom he recorded were James Moody, Lester Young, Johnny Griffin, Lenny Hambro and Eddie Jefferson. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Sessionographies: Lord, Tetsuro. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Compilations: Chronological Classics '1947-49' 2000. Gonzales in visual media. Babs Gonzales 1947 Composition: Gonzales Composition: Dizzy Gillespie/Babs Gonzales Composition: Gonzales Babs Gonzales 1949 Composition: WC Handy Babs Gonzales 1953 Lyrics: Gonzales From 'Ornithology' Composition: Charlie Parker/Benny Harris 1946 Composition: Gonzales Babs Gonzales 1956 Composition: Gonzales Babs Gonzales 1958 Composition: Gonzales Composition: Gonzales Babs Gonzales 1959 Composition: Gonzales Composition: Gonzales Babs Gonzales 1963 Composition: Gonzales
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Babs Gonzales Photo: Willeam P. Gottlieb Source: All About Jazz
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Buddy Greco Photo: Maurice Seymour Source: Marilyn 4 Ever
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Buddy Greco was born Armando in 1926 in Philadelphia. Though Greco was a pianist he was better known as a vocalist. Though he sang popular music he didn't draw a lot of audience aside from a few gold titles [1, 2] during his career. His fame, though, has yet lingerered through the years as one of the Rat Pack [1, 2, 3, 4] w of other crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.. The Rat Pack was a loose association of friends who performed in Las Vegas and fussed about with "mascot" actresses like Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe. Just so, Greco occasions emphasis on the hot spot that was Las Vegas in which casinos he spent the majority of his career, not needing to sell a lot of records to there remain a main attraction for years. Like you remember the lights of Las Vegas in a rear-view mirror before they disappear, so it is w Greco. He began to play piano as a young child, although not greatly advantaged, his family not having one [*]. His mother was a musician in some capacity while his father worked variously as the owner of a record shop, a radio host at WPEN in Philadelphia and an opera critic [*]. He was four or five years old when he first sang on radio per his father at WPEN. At age fifteen he formed the Three Shades of Rhythm w Charlie Chasen (guitar) and Don Sgro (bass) which became the Three Sharps after graduating from high school in 1942 [1, 2]. In 1946 the Three Sharps consisted of Francy Beecher (guitar) and Don Sgro (bass), the bunch that issued 'Ooh Look-a-There Ain't She Pretty'/Don't You Think I Ought to Know' (Musicraft 515) in November of 1946 [45 Worlds/ Miller]. 'Ooh Look-a-There Ain't She Pretty' placed well on the charts in December and would go gold (million copies). He was thinking to purchase his parents a house with his first royalty check when he was surprised by a sum of only $33, the rest absconded by method the New York Times mentions but doesn't clarify [*]. Lord's Disco initiates its account of Greco w a session on November 12 of 1948, backing 'Shawn' on piano for vocalist, Buddy Stewart, that released that year by the Sittin' In With label (#512). Come December 1st, 1948, at the Hotel Syracuse in New York, when Greco played piano in the band of Benny Goodman on 'Clarinet a la King' and 'You Turned the Tables on Me'. His next recordings with Goodman were the next day, same place, after which they rapidly recorded some 150 instances into 1949 together [Lord]. Greco accompanied Goodman to the UK in 1949 to perform at the London Palladium. His next title to eventually sell a million copies was 'I Ran All the Way Home' in 1951. It was 1955 when Greco began performing in Las Vegas, that at piano in the lounge of the Sands where he met Frank Sinatra that year [*], thus figuring in that loose circle of Hollywood and Las Vegas entertainers called the Rat Pack [1, 2, 3, 4] which heydays continued through the sixties. Continuing his career in casinos, Greco released his most popular title, 'The Lady Is a Tramp', in 1960 followed by 'Around the World' in '61. He issued his own favorite album, 'From the Wrists Down', in 1965. The latter sixties saw a few strong titles on Billboard's AC like 'There She Goes' in '67 before fading off w 'From Atlanta to Goodbye' in 1969. Greco was performing at the Desert Inn in Vegas when he met and married his fifth of four wives, Lez Anders, in 1995. They later opened a club in Palm Springs and made a second home in Essex, England. Greco gave his final Las Vegas performances in August and November of 2016 at the Italian American Club, the former a 90th birthday celebration, the latter upon his induction into the Las Vegas Entertainment Hall of Fame [1, 2, 3]. Greco died on January 10, 2017, in Las Vegas, survived by Anders, five daughters and three sons [1, 2], one of whom is rock drummer, Buddy Greco Jr.. Having issued above sixty albums, representative of his early career are 'My Buddy' ('The Lady Is a Tramp' '60), 'Buddy & Soul' (62), 'My Last Night in Rome' (64), 'On Stage' (64), 'Big Band and Ballads' (66), 'Buddy's in a Brand New Bag' (66) and 'Away, We Go!' (67), all included in the Collectables box set of 4 CDs, 'Only the Best of Buddy Greco', in 2009. He released 'Jazz Grooves' as late as 1998. Further references: 1, 2, 3, 4. Though Greco wasn't a superstar in any media despite the prolific number of albums he issued, he was a superstar in Las Vegas for decades. Discographies: 45 Worlds, Discogs, Miller, RYM. Compilations: 'Golden Hour Presents Buddy Greco' on 4GH 659 (1974? 1979?). Greco in visual media. Official YouTube channel. NAMM oral interview 1995. Criticism. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. Per 1949 below, all tracks are Greco on piano with Benny Goodman. Buddy Greco 1947 Don't You Think I Ought To Know Composition: Melvin Wettergreen/William Johnson Ooh! Look-a-There Ain't She Pretty Composition: Carmen Lombardo/Clarence Todd Buddy Greco 1949 Composition: Chico O'Farrill Composition: Cecil Payne/Daniel Mendelsohn Composition: Chico O'Farrill Buddy Greco 1953 Composition: Walter Donaldson Buddy Greco 1960 Buddy Greco 1961 Composition: Harold Adamson/Victor Young Buddy Greco 1966 Composition: George Forrest/Robert Craig Wright Buddy Greco 1974 You Are the Sunshine of My Life Composition: Stevie Wonder Buddy Greco 1984 Filmed live at Sheffield City Music Hall Composition: Cole Porter 1938 For the musical 'You Never Know' Buddy Greco 1998 Composition: John Andrews Album: 'Jazz Grooves' Buddy Greco 2008 Composition: Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick Filmed live Filmed live Composition: Walter Donaldson/Gus Kahn 1925
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 Johnny Hartman Source: The Rake |
Johnny Hartman
[1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6]
was born in 1923 in either Chicago or Louisiana to be later raised there. Eight years later he was singing and
playing piano. He attended the Chicago Musical College before service in the
military, during which he sang in the US Army. After his tour was up he won
a singing contest that found him in the band of
Earl Hines. He had recorded
'Always To-Gether'/'The Songs You Sing' (Sunbeam 108) with Marl Young in February of
1947 in Chicago, but it was his November tracks with
Hines that brought him exposure:
'Sweet Honey Babe' and 'Midnight In New Orleans'. Those were immediately
followed by several more titles with
Hines (all recorded in Chicago) before
he made his first name recordings, also in November of '47, being two takes
of 'Why Was I Born?' in NYC. The next month in December he laid out 'Just You,
Just Me' (2 takes), 'A Woman Always Understands', 'I Let a Song Go out of My
Heart', 'Sometime Remind Me to Tell You' (2 takes), and 'There Goes My
Heart' (2 takes). Like his first recordings in November, those were at
Majestic Studios in NYC for the Regent label. Most of were held in inventory
for release years later. Hartman also sang with
trumpeter, Dizzy
Gillespie, and pianist,
Erroll Garner, in the latter forties.
During the sixties he worked with
John Coltrane ['John Coltrane and
Johnny Hartman' '63: 1,
2,
3].
Come Clark
Terry in '79 per 'Ain't Misbehavin'. Hartman's popularity fell
into decline in the seventies along with other jazz crooners, though he
continued recording until 1980, his final that year in Ontario,
Canada: 'This One's for Tedi' released in 1985. Hartman was only sixty years
old when he died of lung cancer on September 15, 1983. Sessionographies:
Akkerman/Cohen
w composers, Lord.
Discos: 1,
2,
3.
Hartman in visual media. Johnny Hartman 1948 With Earl Hines Composition: Earl Hines Johnny Hartman 1949 Composition: Will Hudson Johnny Hartman 1956 Composition: Roy Alfred/Marvin Fisher Johnny Hartman 1963 John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman Album Johnny Hartman 1964 Album Johnny Hartman 1966 Not issued until 1995 LP: 'Unforgettable' Johnny Hartman 1980 Telecast with Loonis McGlohon Composition: Loonis McGlohon Telecast with Loonis McGlohon Composition: Loonis McGlohon Johnny Hartman 1983 Telecast Composition: Billy Strayhorn
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Joe Williams was born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia, in 1918. He got his big break in 1938 when Jimmie Noone asked him to sing with his band. Lord's sessionography puts him with Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson at Frenchy's in Milwaukee, WI, on October 15, 1943, for unissued recordings of 'Fast Blues' and 'Pine Creek'. Williams first recorded with Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy on December 2, 1946: 'Now You Tell Me', 'Louella' and 'I'm Falling for You'. Come Hot Lips Page and Red Saunders on June 15 of 1950 to back 'Blow Mr. Low-Blow' and 'Lyin' Gal Blues'. He worked with the King Kolax Orchestra in 1952, then left more titles with Saunders in 1953. His main vehicle into the early sixties and significant thereafter arrived in 1955 via Count Basie. His first title with Basie became his signature song, 'Every Day I Have the Blues', recorded at Municipal Auditorium in Topeka Kansas in February of 1955. (Memphis Slim is usually credited with composing 'Every Day I Have the Blues' in 1949, issued as 'Nobody Loves Me'. Though Slim altered nigh all of the lyrics, it was actually composed in 1935 by the Sparks Brothers and released that year on Bluebird B-6125.) During the latter part of Williams' career he performed on cruise ships and in Las Vegas. Among others with whom he recorded were Wes Montgomery & the Billy Taylor Trio, Ray Bloch, Ben Webster & the Junior Mance Trio, Frank Hunter, Dizzy Gillespie, the United States Air Force Airmen of Note [1, 2, 3], the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Melvin Moore, George Shearing, Bob Friedman, Cannonball Adderley, Dave Pell, Milt Jackson, Jim Cullum Jr., Milt Hinton, Tommy Newsom, Marian McPartland, Lou Rawls, Louie Bellson, Frank Foster, Arturo Sandoval, Benny Carter, the WDR Big Band Koln (Cologne, Germany) and Jay Leonhart. He had recorded duets with Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Diane Schuur, Dianne Reeves and Nicole Yarling (1998). Williams died on March 29 of 1999 in Las Vegas. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1 (strike the Corvairs and Little Joe), 2, 3. Williams in visual media. Less Tomkins interview 1965. Collections: U of Idaho. Further reading: SFGate: 1995, 1997. Other profiles: 1, 2. Joe Williams 1953 With Red Saunders Composition: Big Joe Turner With Red Saunders Composition: Joe Williams Joe Williams 1955 With Count Basie Composition: See Wikipedia Joe Williams 1971 Piano: George Shearing Composition: Mack Gordon/Harry Warren Joe Williams 1972 Filmed live w Count Basie Composition: Sidney Wyche Filmed live w Count Basie Composition: Count Basie/Jon Hendricks Joe Williams 1981 Filmed live w Count Basie Carnegie Hall Composition: See Wikipedia Trumpet: Joe Newman Filmed live in Hamburg Composition: Joe Williams Joe Williams 1985
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Joe Williams Source: Concert Database |
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Guy Mitchell Source: HWOF |
Born Albert George Cernik in 1927 in Detroit, popular singer
Guy Mitchell barely fits into the jazz genre, being more
a popular vocalist
along the
Mitch Miller vein. Mitchell
ventured into various styles, including rockabilly, and retained a country
air ever since his early days with Dude Martin. Mitchell began his life as an entertainer at age eleven,
signing on with Warner Brothers for grooming as a film star. He also sang
for KFWB in Los Angeles soon after. Among his first pro gigs upon graduating
from high school was with country musician, Dude Martin, in San Francisco.
'I Go in When the Moon Comes Out' and 'Ah, But It Happens' (Decca 24488),
those w the Camarillo Orchestra. In 1949 Mitchell recorded
several tracks as Al Grant for the King label, among them: 'I Do I Do I Do'
(w Louise Carlyle),
'Cabaret', 'This Day Is Mine' and 'Lover's Gold'. His initial tracks as Guy
Mitchell were with the
Percy Faith Orchestra in NYC:
'Giddy Up!'/'Where in the World' (Columbia 38822). <ore titles followed with
Faith, including Rosemary Clooney, until his first with
Mitch Miller in November of
1950: 'My Heart Cries for You'/'The Roving Kind' (Columbia 39067). Both of
those charted on
Billboard
at #2 and #4 respectively. Of several songs
Mitchell placed on Billboard's Top Ten were two reaching the #1 spot:
'Singing the Blues' ('56) and 'Heartaches by the Number' ('59), after which
Mitchell's popularity declined. He had issued the first of at least nine LPs
in 1953: 'Songs of the Open Spaces'. Married thrice, Mitchell
died on July 1, 1999, from complications arising from surgery for cancer. He
had issued his first of at least nine LPs, 'Songs of the Open Spaces', in
December 1952 ['Billboard']. Main entry for Guy Mitchell at Popular Music.
See also Fifties Rock. Guy Mitchell 1949 As Al Grant Composition: Joel Cowan/Al Russell Also issued on 'Yours Sincerely' in 1959 As Al Grant Unissued Released on 'Yours Sincerely' in 1959 Guy Mitchell 1950 Angels Cry (When Sweethearts Tell a Lie) Composition: Bee Walker/Bob Merrill Composition: Terry Gilkyson Guy Mitchell 1951 With Percy Faith Composition: Ned Washington/Victor Young Guy Mitchell 1952 With Doris Day Composition: Kay Twomey/Fred Wise/Ben Weisman Guy Mitchell 1953 Composition: Bob Merrill Composition: Paul Campbell Guy Mitchell 1956 Composition: Bob Merrill Film: 'Mirth and Melody' Composition: Bob Merrill Film: 'Mirth and Melody' Guy Mitchell 1960 With Petula Clark Also known as ''A' You're Adorable' Music: Sidney Lippman 1948 Lyrics: Buddy Kaye/Fred Wise
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Teresa Brewer Source: Music Journal |
Born
Theresa Veronica Breuer in 1931 in Toledo, Ohio, popular singer
Teresa Brewer was two years old when she first
appeared on radio WSPD in Toledo, a program called 'Uncle August's Kiddie
Show', for which she was paid cookies and cupcakes [*].
Between ages five and twelve Brewer sang and tap danced for the 'Major Bowes
Amateur Hour' traveling radio show [*]. At age twelve she attempted a normal
school experience back in Toledo, but winning a local radio contest at age
sixteen got her sent to New York City where she changed the spelling of her
last name and graduated from radio competitions to nightclubs. Brewer's
first issues
were with the Jack Pleis Orchestra in 1949 per 'When the Train Came In'/'A
Man Wrote a Song' (London 511) [see also
sessions/issues/synopsis].
'Ol Man Mose' got issued in 1949 on London 563 w 'I Beeped When I Shoulda
Bopped'. It was Pleis backing her and Bobby Wayne in 1949 for 'Copper Canyon' and 'Way
Back Home' (London 562 '50). Those were released in December on London 30007
per 45cat, the same month she recorded
'Copenhagen' and 'Music, Music, Music' with the Dixieland All Stars on the
20th, also for London [Tom Lord/see also
1,
2]. Supporting that session were
Pleis on piano, Ernie Caceres (clarinet), Max Kaminsky (trumpet), Cutty
Cutshall (trombone), George Wettling (drums), Ed Sefransky (bass) and Danny
Perri (guitar). April of 1951 found her on 'The Bing Crosby Show' for
such as 'When You and I Were Young' and 'I Apologize'. That program was with
Louis Armstrong in San Francisco. Brewer was picked up by Coral Records in
1951 for which she issued 'Till I Waltz Again with You' in '52 and
'Ricochet' in '53. Other of her songs which did well were 'Jilted' and 'Let
Me Go, Lover' in 1954, 'A Tear Fell' and 'A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl' in
'56, and 'You Send Me' in '57. Brewer switched to
Phillips in 1962, then various others several years later. Having issued
nearly six hundred tracks during her career, among others with whom who
worked were Duke
Ellington and George Segal. Brewer ceased recording upon
the death of her husband, a producer for Flying Dutchman Records, in 1996.
She died in New Rochelle, New York, on October 17, 2007.
Songwriting credits
for Brewer's titles at 45cat. Per 1962 below, Al
Hill is a
pseudonym for Fred Wise, Kathleen Twomey and Ben Weisman. Teresa Brewer 1950 Composition: Vic Mizzy/Manny Curtis Composition: Charlie Davis/Walter Melrose I Guess I'll Have to Dream the Rest Composition: Mickey Stoner/Martin Block/Harold Green Composition: Larry Clinton Composition: Bernie Baum/Stephan Weiss Composition: Isham Jones/Charles Newman Teresa Brewer 1951 Composition: Tom Delaney Teresa Brewer 1952 Gonna Get Along Without You Now Composition: Milton Kellem Teresa Brewer 1953 'Colgate Comedy Hour' 'George Jessel Show' Composition: Jerry Livingston/Mack David 'George Jessel Show' Composition: Joe Darion/Larry Coleman/Norman Gimbel Composition: Sid Prosen Teresa Brewer 1955 Composition: Winfield Scott Teresa Brewer 1956 Composition: Bob Merrill Teresa Brewer 1961 Composition: George Vaughn Horton Composition: Hank Williams Sr. Teresa Brewer 1962 Composition: Dick Manning/Kay Twomey Composition: Jenny Lou Carson [1, 2]/Al Hill Teresa Brewer 1963 Composition: Charles Tobias/Nat Simon Teresa Brewer 1973 Teresa Brewer 1977 Composition: D. Peacock/J. Hodges/T. Brewer/B. Thiele
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Betty Carter (Betty Bebop) was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1929, but grew up in Detroit. She was a teenager when she began singing and playing piano at local clubs in Detroit. She sang with Charlie Parker at age sixteen (1945) and toured with Lionel Hampton soon afterward with Wes Montgomery in his band. Lord has Carter with Hampton on 4 August transcribing a radio broadcast in Peoria, Illinois: 'Lady Be Good'. That eventually saw issue on the CD, Sounds of Yester Year DSOD2005. Come 'Jay Bird' transcribed at an unknown location in October, eventually released on the CD, 'Betty Carter The Bebop Girl' (Official 83023). 'Benson's Boogie' (Decca 24574) saw session on January 27 of '49. 'The Hucklebuck' (Decca 24652) followed on May 10. Carter released her first solo album, 'Out There', in 1958. 1961 saw the album, 'Ray Charles and Betty Carter' containing titles like 'Baby It's Cold Outside'. She founded Bet-Car Records in 1970 (becoming a Verve imprint in 1987). During the seventies Carter toured Europe and South America in addition to the States, performing at the Newport Jazz Festival twice. December of 1979 saw the recording of her performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco issued on 'The Audience with Betty Carter' [*]. 1987 witnessed the issue of 'The Carmen McRae/Betty Carter Duets'. Carter's 1988 album, 'Look What I Got!', won a Grammy. She died [1, 2, 3] of pancreatic cancer ten years later in September 1998. She had released the album, 'I'm Yours, You're Mine', in 1996. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Synopsis. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Interviews: Appelbaum 1982, Rogovoy 1997. Facebook tribute. Betty Carter 1949 With Lionel Hampton Composition: Lionel Hampton With Lionel Hampton Composition: Andy Gibson Betty Carter 1952 With King Pleasure Composition: Ben Kynard/Lionel Hampton Betty Carter 1958 Composition: Randy Weston/Jon Hendricks Composition: Norman Mapp Betty Carter 1963 Composition: Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields Music: Victor Young 1952 Lyrics: Edward Heyman For the film 'One Minute to Zero' Betty Carter 1964 Composition: Betty Carter Composition: Harry Warren/Mack Gordon Music: Victor Young 1952 Lyrics: Edward Heyman For the film 'One Minute to Zero' Betty Carter 1965 Music: Tommy Wolf 1955 Lyrics: Fran Landesman Betty Carter 1977 Live Performance Music: Bob Haggart Lyrics: Johnny Burke Betty Carter 1988 Composition: Betty Carter Album: 'Look What I Got' Betty Carter 1990 From the album 'Droppin' Things' Live at the Bottom Line NYC: Composition: Betty Carter Composition: Betty Carter Betty Carter 1990 Concert Betty Carter 1995 Live Performance Carnegie Hall Music: Morgan Lewis Lyrics: Nancy Hamilton
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Betty Carter Source: La Musica Actual
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Chris Connor Source: Diego Fischerman |
Born in 1927 in Kansas City Missouri,
Chris Connor was a
clarinetist as a youth. She first sang in public at the Jefferson City
Junior College graduation ceremonies. Her initial professional employment
was with the college band of the University of Missouri, she also working as
a stenographer. In 1948 she moved to New York City where she continued as a
stenographer but became homeless. She then joined a vocal group called the
Snowflakes to make her first recordings in support of the Claude Thornhill
Orchestra on 6 January of 1949 toward 'If I Forget'/'There's a Small Hotel'
(Victor 20-3376) and 'I Don't Know Why' (Victor 20-3376). She found herself with the orchestra of Jerry Wald
on 17
April of '52 toward 'You're the Cream in My
Coffee'/'Cherokee' (Decca 28203), 'Terremoto' (Decca 28554 w Wald's
instrumental 'The Thrill Is Gone' flip side) and 'Pennies From Heaven'/'Raisins and Almonds (Decca 29575). A session with Thornhill followed in October for 'Come
Rain Or Shine', 'Sorta Kinda' and 'Wish You ere Here' [Mercado; Lord adds
'Who Are We to Say']. Mercado has those eventually found on Dan Vc 5016
(Jap), Tokuma Tkcf 77076 (Jap)and Audio Park CDAPCD-6054 (Jap). In February 1953
June Christy heard Connor singing
live over the radio.
Christy intended to leave Stan Kenton's band at that
time and suggested Kenton hire Connor.
Thus leaving New York to tour w Kenton,
Connor's first session with Kenton
is thought to have been February 11 of '53 in Hollywood for 'And the Bull
Walked Around, Olé!'/'Jeepers Creepers' (Capitol 2388 on 78, F2388 on 45).
Connor toured w Kenton to as late as a session 5 July at the Crystal
Ballroom in Vermilon, Ohio. Mercado lists her last documented session w
Kenton per 'Concert in Miniature' radio series #47 w the Drill Hall Royal
Canadian Air Force on 30 June 1953 in Centralia, Ontario, for a taping of
'If I Should Lose You'. Mercado has that eventually included on 'Vintage
Radio Classics' Collectors' CD54371 and 'Sounds of Yesteryear' Collectors'
CDDSOY 2072. Connor left Kenton's band for reason of exhaustion before
Kenton took off to Europe w her replacement,
June Christy. She found the pace a little
less driving at the Birdland in NYC that autumn.
then signed on to Bethlehem Records in latter 1953 to issue her first two solo albums the
next year: 'Chris Connor Sings Lullabys of Birdland' and 'Chris Connor Sings
Lullabys for Lovers'. Her first documented session at the Birdland had been
on 24 Sep of '54 per an NBC radio broadcast of 'Hear America Swingin': Stars
in Jazz' yielding titles like 'Lullaby of Birdland' and 'Come Back to
Sorrento'. Supporting her on those were Eddie Costa (piano), Jimmy Gannon
(bass) and Jimmy Campbell (drums). Though never issued, Mercado has tape
shelved at the Library of Congress per RGA 0883 B4. Connor moved over to
Atlantic from 1953 to 1962, issuing the album, 'I Miss You So' in 1957 on
Atlantic 8014. That included her rendurings of 'I Miss You So' and 'Trust in
Me'. Also released in 1957 was 'Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song'
on Atlantic 2-601. Connor also recorded for FM, Paramount and
the Japanese label, Eastworld: Tours to Japan in '69 and '83 had resulted in
'Softly and Swingin'' and 'Three Pearls'. Connor's last three LPs were released by High Note Records
slightly into the new millennium: 'Haunted Heart' ('01), 'I Walk with Music'
('02) and 'Everything I Love' ('03). Connor performed on occasion in the New
York vicinity until her death of cancer on August 29, 2009, in Tom's River, New Jersey.
Among the many who supported her were Sy Oliver, Ellis Larkins,
Vinnie Burke,
Maynard Ferguson, Michel
Colombier and
Hank Jones.
References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Sessionographies: Lord; Mercado w composers: big bands
1949-53,
Bethlehem
1953-55,
Atlantic
1956-62,
other
1963-2007,
concerts,
radio,
television,
multiple versions,
backing personnel.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Compilations: 'The Complete Atlantic Singles 1956-1960' by Blue Moon:
1,
2.
Composers covered.
Interviews: Myers 2008.
Criticism: Mercado: 1,
2;
Myers: 1,
2. Other profiles: 1,
2,
3.
Synopses: 1,
2. All tracks for 1965
below are from the album, 'Chris Connor Sings
Gentle Bossa Nova'. Edits for 1992 require noise reduction. Chris Connor 1953 With Sy Oliver Composition: Murray Semos/Jack Val/Jimmy Dale With Stan Kenton Composition: Cole Porter Arrangement: Bill Russo Composition: George Shearing/George David Weiss With Stan Kenton Composition: Harry Warren/Johnny Mercer Arrangement: Bill Russo Chris Connor 1954 Composition: Burton Lane/Frank Loesser Composition: Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Piano: Ellis Larkins Composition: Jimmy Campbell/Reg Connelly/Harry Woods Chris Connor 1955 From the LP 'This Is Chris': Composition: Edward Heyman/Oscar Levant Composition: Cole Porter Composition: Cole Porter Composition: Cole Porter Chris Connor 1956 Composition: Earl Brent/Matt Dennis Composition: Noel Coward Chris Connor 1957 Composition: Buddy DeSylva George Gershwin Ballard MacDonald Chris Connor 1958 Music: Karl Suessdorf Lyrics: John Blackburn Album: 'Chris Craft' Composition: Arthur Quenzer/Paul Madison/Artie Shaw Chris Connor 1959 Live at Village Vanguard Music: Erroll Garner 1954 Lyrics: Johnny Burke Composition: Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh Chris Connor 1962 Composition: Ornette Coleman/Margo Guryan Chris Connor 1965 From the LP 'Gentle Bossa Nova': Composition: Elmer Bernstein/Ernie Sheldon Composition: Henry Mancini Jay Livingston Raymond Evans Composition: Tony Hatch Composition: Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse Composition: Frank De Vol/Mack David Composition: Acker Bilk/Robert Mellin Composition: Bobby Scott/Ric Marlow Who Can I Turn to When Nobody Needs Me Composition: Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse Chris Connor 1992 Filmed live Composition: Earl Brent/Matt Dennis Filmed live Composition: Lew Brown/Ray Henderson
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Sammy Davis Jr. Source: Celebrity Net Worth
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Pop singer Sammy Davis Junior was born in 1925 in Harlem. His parents were vaudeville dancers who divorced when he was three. He thus performed as a youth w his father and uncle in the dance troupe, the Mastin Trio. He had appeared in film as early as 1933, singing and dancing at age eight with Ethel Waters in 'Rufus Jones for President' in which he played the part of Jones [IMDb]. Serving in the military in World War II, upon discharge Davis joined his uncle's troupe again in Portland. Lord's disco has his first recordings on January 13, 1949, in Los Angeles with the Dave Cavanaugh Orchestra both singing and tap dancing in a session for Capitol including such as 'I Don't Care Who Knows' and 'The Way You Look Tonight' (Capitol 15390). Those are advertised in the 12 March 1949 issue of 'Billboard'. Come 22 Feb toward 'I Ain't Got Nobody'/'You Are My Lucky Star' (Capitol 57-70004), those advertised in the 7 May 1949 issue of 'Billboard'. Davis recorded two sides as Charlie Green on 22 July: 'Dreamy Blues'/'What Can I Do' (Capitol 57-70038). Lord has him as Shorty Muggins on the same date toward 'Got a Great Big Shovel'/'We're Gonna Roll' (Capitol 57-70052). On 29 July Davis laid out 'Smile, Darn Ya, Smile'/'Azure' (Capitol 57-70045). During that period he also continued working w the Mastin Trio. On November 19, 1954, Davis was returning from Las Vegas to Los Angeles when an auto accident in San Bernardino deprived him of his left eye. Wikipedia has him adding tracks to his first album that year, issued the next in January as 'Starring Sammy Davis Jr.', he wearing an eye patch on the cover. Davis wore a patch for six months before exchanging it for a glass eye. Davis was well-known as one of the Rat Pack [1, 2, 3, 4] including colleagues, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He starred in the initial Rat Pack film, 'Ocean's 11', in 1960. As the Rat Pack was a circle of friends largely centered in Las Vegas, Davis became a strong act there in the sixties, his most successful decade. One example of recordings from that era was issued in 1979 as 'Sinatra, Basie & Friends', recorded on July 20, 1965, in St. Louis, Missouri. Others with whom Davis recorded had been Billy Daniels, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Billy May and Benny Carter. Davis wasn't the recording star that his friends, Sinatra and Martin, were. He did release a few songs that performed well on Billboard though: 'Something's Gotta Give' at #9 in '55 and 'I've Gotta Be Me' at #11 (#1 AC) in '68. 'The Candy Man' topped the Pop and AC charts in '72. Beyond his career Davis enjoyed photography and gun slinging. Davis died of throat cancer in 1990 in Beverly Hills, California. He had contributed 'I Wish I'd Met You' to Lena Horne's 'The Men In My Life' in 1988. References encyclopeic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; other: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; timeline. Sessionographies: Lord; w composing credits 1949-88: studio, live, visual media, multiple versions. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, albums. Composers covered. Davis in film: 1, 2; theatre: 1, 2, 3; television: 1, 2. Memoirs. Criticism. Further reading: Davis and civil rights *; recording career *; race vs romance: 1, 2; trivia *. Facebook tribute page. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Per 1954 below, 'Hey There' was composed by Jerry Ross w words by Richard Adler for the 1954 musical play, 'The Pajama Game'. All selections for 1966 below are with guitarist Laurindo Almeida from the album 'Sammy Davis Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays'. Sammy Davis Junior 1954 'Colgate Comedy Hour' Studio version Composition: Ross Bagdasarian/Frank Cady Sammy Davis Junior 1966 Composition: Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke Composition: Harry Carroll/Joseph McCarthy Composition: Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster Composition: Kurt Weill Composition: Al Frisch Composition: Carl Fischer/Frankie Laine Sammy Davis Junior 1989 Live Performance Composition: Jerry Jeff Walker 1968
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Eddie Jefferson [1, 2] was born in 1918 in Pittsburgh. He first recorded his vocalese in 1949 with the Spotlight label, putting words to Charlie Parker's 'Parker's Mood' and Lester Young's 'I Cover the Waterfront'. (Vocalese is the application of words to previously existing instrumentals, extemporaneously or otherwise.) He experienced early success as a songwriter upon adding lyrics to James Moody's 'Moody's Mood' sung by King Pleasure in 1952, that rising to #2 on Billboard's R&B. Jefferson was included on the LP, 'The Bebop Singers', in 1953 w Joe Carroll and Annie Ross. He was backed by such as Ed Swanson on piano on those four titles: 'Old Shoes', 'Be Kind to Me', 'Strictly Instrumental' and 'Start Walkin', Stop Talkin''. Among the more important bandleaders with whom Jefferson worked was Moody, their first occasion in Lord on January 8, 1954, for 'Workshop'. The best Jefferson compilation to date is probably 'The Jazz Singer' by Evidence on ECD 22062-2 in 1993 consisting of recordings made between 1959 and 1965. Issued during that period was the album, 'Letter from Home' (Riverside), in 1962. Jefferson released 'Body and Soul' and 'Come Along with Me' on Prestige in '68 and '69. IMDb has Jefferson appearing w Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge in an episode of the NET Festival television series in 1969. Jefferson and Moody partnered numerously to as late as the 1972 issue of Moody's 'Heritage Hum' to which Jefferson contributed 'Parker's Mood' and 'Pennies from Heaven'. Jefferson's final of eight or nine solo LPs was 'The Main Main' issued in 1977. Lord's disco lists sessions for Jefferson to as late as April 25, 1979, with alto saxophonist, Richie Cole: 'Hi Fly', 'Relaxin' at Camarillo', 'Waiting for Waits' and 'Hooray for Hollywood'. Those saw release the next year on their joint LP, 'Hollywood Madness' (Muse MR 5207). Two weeks after that session Jefferson's life got clipped on May 9, 1979, when he walked out of Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit about 1:30 in the morning and was shot to death by a dancer he had fired [*]. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Vocalese lyrics to titles below by Jefferson. Credits are otherwise to original compositions. Eddie Jefferson 1952 Composition: Frank Eyton/Johnny Green Edward Heyman/Robert Sour Music: Lester Young Eddie Jefferson 1968 Music: Miles Davis 1959 Eddie Jefferson 1976 Music: Charlie Parker 1948 Eddie Jefferson 1977 Composition: Duke Pearson/Oscar Brown Jr. LP: 'The Main Man'
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Eddie Jefferson Source: Rock e Martello |
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Keely Smith was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1928. She is thought to have begun singing in public at age fourteen at the Naval base in Norfolk where Saxie Dowell was stationed, leading a Navy band. Smith's first professional job came the next year, singing in the band of Earl Bennett. She began recording in 1947 radio broadcasts with future husband (1953-61) Louis Prima. Such were included on a CD released in 2000 titled '1940s Broadcasts with Keely Smith Vol. 2' covering Prima recordings from 1941 to 1947 [Reflections 8105]. Smith was at first a band accompanist until Prima took her to Las Vegas to become his duet partner in 1948. Their first recordings together are thought to have been issued in 1949. They released their popular song, 'The Bigger the Figure', in 1952. Keely issued her first single, 'I Wish You Love', in 1956, the album, 'Keely Smith', following in '57. She and Prima released their most popular title, 'That Old Black Magic', in 1958. Her last performance with Prima was in 1961 at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, the same year as their divorce. Their last recordings together were released the same year on the album, 'Return of the Wildest'. Her highest selling solo issue was 'You're Breakin' My Heart' in 1965. Smith largely withdrew from the music industry during the seventies. She released her comeback album, 'I'm In Love Again', in 1985, leading to a highly productive decade in the nineties and into the new millennium. Among others with whom she's recorded were Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Smith remained active while living in Nevada and performing about the Las Vegas region until her death of heart attack on 16 Dec 2017 in Palm Springs, California [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Discographies: 1, 2, 3; w Prima: 1, 2. Smith in visual media. Criticism: Smith w Prima *, 'The Intimate Keely Smith' *. Archives: IA, 'Pittsburgh Press' 1986. Further reading: 'Out from the Shadows' by Christopher Louden. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. Keely Smith 1949 With Louis Prima Composition: Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn Keely Smith 1956 Composition: Léo Chauliac/Charles Trenet/Albert Beach Keely Smith 1957 Composition: Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke LP: 'I Wish You Love' Filmed live with Louis Prima Music: Jimmy McHugh 1935 Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Composition: John Frederick Coots/Haven Gillespie LP: 'I Wish You Love' Keely Smith 1958 With Louis Prima Music: Harold Arlen 1942 Lyrics: Johnny Mercer 'The Chevy Show' with Louis Prima Composition: Allan Roberts/Doris Fisher Louis Prima/Paolo Citorello Keely Smith 1959 Composition: Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen Music: Joseph Kosma 1945 Lyrics: Jacques Prévert Music: Sholom Secunda 1932 Lyrics English: Sammy Cahn/Saul Chaplin Filmed live with Louis Prima Composition: Jimmie Thomas/Oscar McLollie Music: Jule Styne 1947 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Keely Smith 1960 Composition: George Wallace Keely Smith 1961 Composition: Arthur Altman/Jack Lawrence Keely Smith 1962 Composition: Nicholas Brodszky/Sammy Cahn Music: Arthur Schwartz 1934 Lyrics: Yip Harburg Keely Smith 1963 Duet with Frank Sinatra Composition: Cole Porter 1948 For the musical 'Kiss Me, Kate' Keely Smith 1963 Composition: John Lennon/Paul McCartney 1963 Keely Smith 1965 Composition: Keely Smith/Jimmy Bowen Producer: Jimmy Bowen Bowen was Smith's husband 1965-69 Composition: 1948: Pat Genaro/Sunny Skylar/Ruggero Leoncavallo
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Keely Smith Source: Jeremy Aldridge |
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The Four Freshmen [1, 2, 3, 4] were at first a barbershop quartet called Hal's Harmonizers. They originally consisted of Bob Flanigan, Don Barbour, Ross Barbour and Hal Kratzsch. Formed in 1948, they changed their name the same year to the Toppers upon becoming more jazz oriented, then the Four Freshmen. Two years later Stan Kenton garnered them a recording contract with Capitol Records. Lord initiates his account of the Four Freshman per a session on 13 April, 1950, to string out unissued titles like 'Baltimore Oriole' and 'Basin Street Blues'. Those would later see release on the compilations, 'The Complete Capitol Four Freshmen Fifties Sessions' 1950-69 by Mosaic 2000 [1, 2] and 'Complete 1950-1954 Studio-Issued Recordings' by Jazz Factory 2004 [Discogs]. They spread along 'Mr. B's Blus'/'Then I'll Be Happy' on October 13, 1950, toward Capitol (F) 1293. They appeared in the film, 'Rich, Young and Pretty', in 1951 [IMDb]. The group's first charting title was 'It's a Blue World' in 1952. Their debut album was 'Voices in Modern' in 1954. The had also worked with bandleader, Ray Anthony. The Four Freshmen are yet an active group, though with none of its original members. Their last original member, Bob Flanigan, remained with them until 1993. Their current drummer, Bob Ferreira, has been with the group the longest, since the early nineties. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compilations: 'Day by Day' 1962 by Hindsight Jazz 1994. Official website. Four Freshmen Foundation. Four Freshmen Society. Other vocal jazz quartets at roots of doo wop. Four Freshman 1950 Music: David Raksin Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Four Freshman 1952 Composition: George Forrest/Robert Wright Music: Nat Simon 1936 Lyrics: Buddy Bernier See SHS Four Freshman 1955 Composition: Axel Stordahl/Paul Weston/Sammy Cahn Composition: Jay Livingston/Ray Evans Four Freshman 1956 Music: Joe Sherman Lyrics: Noel Sherman Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Four Freshman 1966 Composition: Carl Sigman/Matty Malneck/Robert Maxwell
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Four Freshmen Source: Mania DB |
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| British vocalist,
Cleo Laine, was born
Clementine Dinah Bullock
in Uxbridge, Middlesex, in 1927. She began her recording career in 1951 with the
John Dankworth Seven on
'Mr. & Mississippi', 'Lush Life'
and 'It Ain't No Sin'. Those saw issue on Esquire 5-052, Esquire 5-056 and
the
Dankworth album, 'Get Happy'
on Esquire S 317 [*]. In 1955 she released 'Cleo Sings British'
on a ten inch LP. Laine married Dankworth
(alto sax) in 1958, with whom she
remained until his death in 2010, they working more than half a century
together through countless titles. She was best known for 'You'll Answer to
Me' in 1961. She and
Dankworth founded The Stables in
1970, a musical venue in Wavendon (now with two auditoria, hosting above 600
events per year, mostly concerts). Laine visited Australia with
Dankworth in 1972 before
arriving to the United States to play Lincoln Center. Her first of three appearances at Carnegie Hall
was with Dankworth on October
17, 1973. They performed at Carnegie again on January 13, 1976, and April 6
of 1983, all those concerts recorded and issued. Laine's last issue was 'Jazz
Matters' in 2010, again with Dankworth. She is thought to have performed as recently as 2013 in Wavendon.
References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Laine in visual media.
On Broadway.
Interviews:
2005,
2011,
2011. Cleo Laine 1957 Composition: Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer Album: 'She's the Tops' Music: Duke Ellington/Barney Bigard Lyrics: Irving Mills Album: 'In Retrospect' Cleo Laine 1961 Composition: Hal David/Sherman Edwards Cleo Laine 1962 Live performance Composition: George & Ira Gershwin 1924 For the Broadway musical 'Lady, Be Good!' Cleo Laine 1963 Composition: H. Adair/P. Ling/S. Race Composition: L. Vandyke/L. Reed Cleo Laine 1964 Music: Arthur Young Lyrics: From Shekespeare's 'Twelfth Night' Album: 'Shakespeare and All that Jazz' Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day Music: John Dankwoeth Lyrics: From Shekespeare's Sonnet 18 Album: 'Shakespeare and All that Jazz' Cleo Laine 1965 Composition: Buddy Kaye Roberto Menescal Ronaldo Boscoli Album: 'Woman Talk' Cleo Laine 1972 Composition: Artie Butler/Jerry Fuller Album: 'Feel the Warm' Cleo Laine 1974 With Johnny Dankworth Composition: Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley Cleo Laine 1976 Live performance Composition: Noel Coward With Ray Charles Music: George Gershwin 1934 Lyrics: DuBose Heyward/Ira Gershwin For the opera 'Porgy and Bess' Cleo Laine 1977 Live performance Music: Burton Lane 1965 Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner For the musical: 'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever' Live performance Music: Richard Rodgers 1945 Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II For the film 'State Fair' Cleo Laine 1978 Live performance Composition: Duke Ellington/Irving Mills Cleo Laine 1980 Live with John Williams Music: Stanley Myers Lyrics: Cleo Laine Cleo Laine 1982 Live performance Composition: Ray Evans/Jay Livingston Cleo Laine 1991 With Gerry Mulligan Music: Gerry Mulligan Lyrics: Mel Tormé/Bobby Troup Album: 'Jazz' Cleo Laine 2009 'Paul O'Grady Show' Composition: Frank Loesser
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Cleo Laine Source: Playbill |
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Born in
1926 in Liverpool, Lancashire, George Melly
was born to liberal parents, his father a wealthy Catholic wool broker, his
mother Jewish. Raised w a brother and sister, he was drawn to surrealism [1,
2,
3,
4,
5] as a teenager, that to become the general context of his life.
Melly joined the Royal Navy sometime after the end of World War II in early
1946. At one point during his service he was nearly court-martialed for
distributing anarchist literature [Wikipedia]. Upon discharge from the
military in '48 he worked at an art gallery in London, whence began his
career as a jazz vocalist w Mick Mulligan's Magnolia Jazz Band. Lord traces
Melly with Mulligan to as early as 16 Jan of 1950 for
'Frankie and Johnny' and 'Empty Bed Blues', neither issued. Come 14 May for
'Pleadin' for the Blues'/'Take me for a Buggy Ride' (Tempo A65), 'Root
Doctor' (Tempo A72) and 'Candy Lips' (Tempo A66). On 8 Oct Mulligan backed
Melly on 'Jenny's Ball', that unreleased. Melly hung w Mulligan into 1951
when he formed a trio w Johnny Parker (piano) and Norman Dodsworth (drums)
to lay out 'Rock Island Line'/'Send Me to the Electric Chair' (Tempo A96).
Come 24 April of 1952 for ''Kitchen Man'/'Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town'
(Tempo A104) supported by Ian Pearce (piano), Barry Longford (bass),
Stan Bellwood (drums) w Paul Simpson adding clarinet to 'Jazzbo Brown from
Memphis Town'. Lord has Melly's first live recordings at Royal Festival Hall
in London on 30 Oct of 1954 toward 'I'm Down in the Dumps'/'Frankie and
Johnny' (Decca F10457). 'The Telegraph' has him writing for the comic strip,
'Flook', drawn by Willy Fawkes (nee Trog) as early as 1956. That strip
published in 'The Daily Mail', a collection of Melly-Fawkes collaborations
was published in 'I, Flook' in 1962 by MacMillan. Discogs has Melly
releasing his initial of numerous LPs, 'Nothing Personal', in 1957. Also
authoring numerous books, he published his autobiography, 'Owning Up', in
1965. From '65 to '73 he worked as a film critic for 'The Observer'. In 1974
Melly began partnering w John Chilton's Feetwarmers with which he kept until
2003. Along with lecturing and writing about modern art, surrealism
especially, Melly authored multiple memoirs and was an honorary associate of both the National Secular
Society and the Rationalist Association. He also served as president of the
British Humanist Association from 1972 to 1974. Melly made his last
recordings in March of 2007 for the album, 'Farewell Blues'. He gave his
last performance, a charity benefit, in June that year at the 100 Club in
London. He died the next month (July 5) of emphysema and lung cancer, and
was given a humanist funeral. Others with whom he recorded were Alex Welsh,
Monty Sunshine,
Chris Barber and Digby
Fairweather. References: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Melly in visual media.
Books by Melly;
see also 'Take a Girl Like Me' by Diane Melly
(Chatto & Windus 2005). Website. Other profiles: 1,
2.
George Melly 1957 Composition: Jelly Roll Morton 1925 George Melly 1958 Originally 'Abdulla Bulbul Ameer' Composition: Percy French 1877 Arrangement: Mick Mulligan Lyrics English: Frank Crumit Composition: Frank Crumit George Melly 1960 Composition: Stuff Smith George Melly 1972 Composition: Roosevelt Sykes/Edna Pinkard LP: 'Nuts' George Melly 1978 With the Stranglers Composition: the Stranglers: Hugh Cornwell/Jean-Jacques Burnel Dave Greenfield/Jet Black George Melly 1987 With John Chilton's Feetwarmers Television performance George Melly 2006 With Van Morrison Composition: Bessie Smith 1927 George Melly 2007 With the UCS Jazz Quartet Composition: JC Johnson First issue: Bessie Smith 1928
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George Melly Photo: The Guardian/Christian Sinibaldi Source: Entelekia |
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Born in 1930, Annabelle Short had a case of wanderlust upon completing tenth grade. So she left Los Angeles and went to Europe where she began her singing career, changing her name to Annie Ross. Ross had actually been born in London of Scottish parents who brought her to the States when she was a child. They returned across the Atlantic but she and her aunt stayed. Ross was first appeared in film 1938 at age eight singing 'The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond' in 'The Our Gang Follies' [*]. After dropping out of high school to visit her family in Scotland she performed in the musical, 'Burlesque' at the Princes Theatre in London in 1948. An affair in 1949 with drummer, Kenny Clarke, produced Kenny Clarke Jr., raised by Clarke's family. On 22 February 1950 Ross recorded her first vinyl in Paris for the band of pianist, Jacques Jack Dieval, with tenor saxophonist, James Moody: 'Le Vent Verte'/'Emef' (Pacific 2541) and 'Head Light'/'Big Chief Peckham' (Pacific 2542), those for Pacific on February 22. The next month on May 14 she was in NYC for the first instance of the Dave Lambert Singers with Jon Hendricks for unissued titles with the Mary Lou Williams Trio: 'The Sheik of Araby', 'Yes, We Have No Bananas', 'Walkin'' and 'Cloudy'. April 1 of 1952 found her recording 'I'm Beginning to Think You Love Me' with Blossom Dearie at piano and Percy Heath at bass. October 9 of 1952 found her recording her own composition, 'Twisted', putting words to the original tune by Wardell Gray in 1949. (Some may be familiar with the version done by folk singer Joni Mitchell in 1974.) Ross recorded seven albums with the trio, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, between 1957 ('Sing a Song of Basie') and 1961 ('High Flying'). Their last known session was with Dave Brubeck for 'Blue Satchmo' in latter '61 before she left that trio in '62. Ross opened Annie's Room, a London nightclub, in 1964. He latter career included several film roles. Wikipedia has her down for twenty albums from '52 to 'Live in London' in 2006, recorded in 1965. That issue was preceded by 'Let Me Sing' in 2005. She contributed 'Music Is Forever' to 'The Royal Bopsters Project' issued in 2015. Among others with whom she recorded during her career were Charlie Parker, Jack Parnell, Tony Crombie, Vaughn Monroe, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Carmell Jones, Cleo Laine and Mel Tormé. As of this writing Ross is yet active, performing at the Metropolitan Room in NYC. Per 1981 below, 'Small Fry', is performed with both Hoagy Carmichael and the British singer and pianist Georgie Fame. That was one of Carmichael's last recordings before his death in 1981. More Ross under Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Interview (pdf) w Anthony Brown 2011. Further reading: Ross and vocalese. Annie Ross 1938 The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond Scottish traditional Published 1841 Film: 'Our Gang Follies' Annie Ross 1952 Music: Wardell Gray Lyrics: Annie Ross Annie Ross 1957 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Composition: Benny Goodman/Jon Hendricks Dave Lambert/Jimmy Mundy Album: 'Sing a Song of Basie' I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face Saxophone: Gerry Mulligan Composition: Alan Jay/Loewe Lerner Annie Ross 1959 Composition: Duke Ellington/Mack David Annie Ross 1964 Composition: Art Farmer/Annie Ross Annie Ross 1981 With Hoagy Carmichael & Georgie Fame Composition: Hoagy Carmichael/Frank Loesser Annie Ross 2006 Composition: Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II Annie Ross 2009 Music: Lou Singer Lyrics: Hy Zarat From 'The Lone Fishball': George Martin Lane 1855 Composition: Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II Composition: Jimmy Mundy/Johnny Mercer/Trummy Young Annie Ross 2012 Composition: Billy Strayhorn
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Annie Ross
Photo: David Beyda
Source: Annie Ross |
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Lita Roza Source: Euro Covers |
Born in Liverpool in 1926, Lita Roza [1, 2] began her music career at age twelve as a juvenile dancer. At age sixteen she began singing at a Liverpool nightclub called the New Yorker. This was at the height of the Nazi Blitz. Two years later Roza left war-ravaged England for Miami via marriage. The marriage didn't last and she found herself back in England in 1950, whence upon she began singing with the Ted Heath orchestra. Roza's first recording with Heath is thought to have been 'My Very Good Friend the Milkman' on September 1, 1950. That was followed on March 26 of 1952 by 'Blacksmith Blues'. She is said to have despised the title that took her to #1 on the UK chart in March of 1953, '(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?', that released in the States the prior month by Patti Page as 'The Doggie in the Window'. Immensely popular with Heath's orchestra through 1954, Roza then left to pursue her solo career, recording 'Guilty' and 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me' on April 5 of 1955 with the Tony Kinsey Quartet. She married trumpet player, Ronnie Hughes, in 1956. He would accompany her in Billy Munn's All Stars on February 11 of '57 for 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea'. He also supported her on 'Drinka Lita Roza Day' on May 4 of 1960. The fifties were Roza's strongest decade, releasing numerous titles through 1959. Wikipedia picks her up again for four sides in 1965: 'What Am I Supposed To Do'/'Where Do I Go From Here' and 'Keep Watch Over Him'/'Stranger Things Have Happened'. Lord's disco has her participating in Stan Reynolds' 'The Greatest Swing Band in the World ... Is British' as late as September of 1975. Her last performance was for the BBC in September 2002. She died six years later on August 14, 2008, at her home in London. Roza sings with Heath's swinging band in all the examples below except the last. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also the compilation, 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea & Singles 1951-53', consisting of vocals backed by Billy Munn's All-Stars side A and Ted Heath's outfit flip side. Further reading: BBC. Lita Roza 1951 Composition: Irving Gordon Lita Roza 1953 Composition: Bill Haley Composition: Johnny Tyler Lita Roza 1955 Composition: Warwick Webster Lita Roza 1962 Mama (He Treats Your Daughter Mean) Composition: Herbert Lance/John Wallace Lita Roza 1964 Demo Composition: Lennon-McCartney
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Born in
1921 in Newark, Ohio, drummer, Jon Hendricks,
would develop into a vocalese singer. Vocalese is the extemporaneous
addition of song to an instrumental piece (thus given to scat singing) or
the substitution for an instrument with voice. Hendricks got moved moved
about multiple times as a child with fourteen siblings, his father a pastor
[Wikipedia;
there were apparently more on the way as Don Clarke's
Encyclopedia states he was one of seventeen
children, enough to man an aircraft carrier by all accounts]. Sources vary on when the family settled in Toledo, Ohio, home
town of pianist, Art
Tatum. NPR has him performing w Tatum at Toledo's Waiters & Bellman's
Club as early as 1928 when Tatum was age nineteen, Hendricks seven. Unclear
when he began singing on radio w Tatum
(the Guardian
suggests 1935), Hendricks had an act as an adolescent in which he sang 'Me
and My Shadow' with a younger boy who imitated him as such. Continuing his
career in nightclubs and radio, Hendricks moved over from Toledo to Detroit
before being drafted into the Army sometime after the Normandy invasion (6
June 1944) to serve in France until the end of the war in early '46.
Resuming his career in Toledo, Lord [see also J-DISC] traces him to a
session as early as May 14 of 1950
in NYC with pianist, Mary
Lou Williams. No matrices are listed for 'The Sheik of Araby', 'Yes, We Have No Bananas',
'Walkin'' and 'Cloudy''. Nor did that session yield any issues, which is
also the first instance of the
Dave Lambert Singers with Annie
Ross in Lord. In 1954 Hendricks joined King Pleasure and
Eddie Jefferson backed by the
Quincy Jones Orchestra for
'Don't Get Scared' and 'I'm Gone'. 1955 saw
Dave Lambert's Singers in a couple
sessions yielding 'Four Brothers', 'Cloudburst', 'Four Brothers' and 'Standin'
on the Corner'. In 1957
Dave Lambert's Singers became the
vocal trio that was Lambert,
Hendricks &
Ross, recording 'Sing a Song of Basie'
on August 26 that year. Lord's discography has that trio recording
numerously through several albums to latter 1961 for
Dave Brubeck's 'Blow Satchmo'. The had put down 'High Flying' that year in March and held a
couple sessions with
Louis Armstrong in September. In the meantime Hendricks
had recorded his debut album in 1959, 'A Good Git-Together'. Hendricks moved to London in 1968, touring Europe and Africa from
there. Returning to the States five years later, he worked as a critic for
the San Francisco Chronicle and taught at the University of
California, Berkeley, while homed in Mill Valley, California. In 2000
Hendricks began instructing at the University of Toledo, later at the
University of Paris. He has recorded as late as the 2015 issue of 'The Royal
Bopsters Project', contributing 'Music In the Air'. Among others with whom he's recorded are Dizzy
Gillespie, Duke
Ellington, Harry
James, the United States Air Force Airmen
of Note,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Art Blakey, Jimmy Diamond,
Jimmy Rowles,
Lionel
Hampton, the Manhattan Transfer, Janis Siegel, Larry Vuckovich,
Freddie Hubbard, Michele Hendricks, Wynton Marsalis, Al Grey,
Georgie Fame,
Joyce, Patti Dunham, Charles Schwartz, Gege Telesforo,
Antônio Carlos Jobim,
Benny Carter, Michele Hendricks, Kurt Elling, The Legacy, Larry Vuckovich,
Karrin Allyson, Take 6, Andy Farber, Sachal Vasandani, the Three Cohens,
Connie Evingson and Amy London. Hendricks died on 22 November 2017 in
Manhattan. References: 1,
2,
3.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3;
Dave Lambert Singers
*.
Hendricks in visual media.
Interviews: 1968/73,
1995
(pdf),
2009,
2017. Obits:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Other profiles: 1,
2.
References for Lambert,
Hendricks &
Ross: 1,
2,
3;
discos: 1,
2,
3. Jon Hendricks
1958 Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
Composition:
Frank Foster Album: 'Sing a Song of Basie'
Composition:
Memphis Slim Album: 'Sing a Song of Basie' Jon Hendricks 1959 Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
Composition:
Memphis Slim Jon Hendricks 1961 Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
Music: Miles Davis 1954
Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks 1973 With Art Blakey
Music: Bobby Timmons
Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks 1975 Soundstage performance
With Annie Ross/Eddie Jefferson/Leon Thomas Jon Hendricks 1988 Live with Dizzy Gillespie
Composition:
Babs Gonzales Jon Hendricks 1990 Filmed concert
Music: Miles Davis
Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks 1997 Live with Wynton Marsalis
Composition:
Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks 2003 Piano: Larry Vuckovich
Music: Lester Young
Lyrics: Jon Hendricks Jon Hendricks 2012 Filmed live with
Sachal Vasandani
Music: Thelonious Monk 1947
Tribute to Bud Powell
Lyrics: Jon Hendricks |
 Jon Hendricks Source: James Tartaglia |
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Born in 1924 in East Durham, New York, singer Blossom Dearie switched from classical piano to jazz as a teenager. In 1948-49 she recorded a few vocals in NYC which didn't make it to issue at the time. The first was 'In the Merry Land of Bop' in May of '48, sharing vocals with Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart with Al Haig on piano. That would be included on an album by various in 1965 called 'A Look at Yesterday', also on the 1972 issue of 'Yesterday'. On July 28 of '49 she contributed vocals to 'Be Still, TV' and 'Short P, Not LP' with Haig at piano, those to eventually be included on the album by various, 'Prezervation', in 1967. February 19, 1952, found her singing with King Pleasure on 'Moody's Mood for Love'. Allmusic mentions her recording a lost album of piano solos around this time. Her first issue at piano was recorded April 1, 1952, for Annie Ross, resulting in Dee Gee titles like 'Every Time' and 'The Way You Look Tonight. Shortly afterward that year, at age 28 she took off for France where she formed the group, The Blue Stars of France. Her initial session with that ensemble in November of '54 in Paris was a long stream of vocals such as 'La legende du pays des oiseaux' ('Lullaby of Birdland') and 'Cherokee'. The next year she performed piano with Herman Garst (bass) and Bernard Planchenault (drums) toward her first name album, 'Jazz Sweet'. On April 20 of '55 Dearie arranged titles for Bobby Jaspar such as 'Lover Man' and 'What's New?'. They co-led more titles on January 16, 1956, like 'Old Devil Moon' and 'Flamingo'. Dearie and Jaspar married in April of '56 to 1963. Numerous sessions with Les Blue Stars ensued in '56 until Dearie returned to America that year to record her first record album in September: 'Blossom Dearie'. 'Give Him the Ooh-la-la' followed in September of '57, 'Once Upon a Summertime' in September of '58. Sessions in NYC followed until the recording of 'Soubrette: Blossom Dearie Sings Broadway Hit Songs' in Los Angeles in February of 1960. Her first trip to London in '62 or '63 resulted in 'Sweet Blossom Dearie' recorded live at Ronnie Scott's jazz club. She would spend the remainder of her career commuting between the United Kingdom, New York City and California. She founded Daffodil Records in New York in 1974 (not to be confused with the Canadian label existent in 1971-78). Dearie's career wasn't recording intensive with only fifty some sessions, the majority her own. She yet maintained, if not a blockbusting presence, one of distinctive charm. Dearie is thought to have recorded her final album, 'Blossom's Planet', in 1999 for 2000 release. Her last title, 'It's All Right to Be Afraid', was issued in 2003. Dearie died on February 7, 2009, in her flat in Greenwich Village, NYC [1, 2]. The box set of 4 CDs, 'Complete Recordings: 1952-1962', was issued by Enlightenment in 2014. Her debut album of 1957, 'Blossom Dearie', was reissued in 2018. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Dearie in visual media. Les Tomkins interview and blindfold test 1966. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Piano solo by Dearie. Blossom Dearie 1949 Not issued until 1967 Tenor sax: Stan Getz Trombone: Kai Winding Piano: Al Haig Guitar: Jimmy Raney Bass: Tommy Potter Drums: Roy Haynes Composition: Jimmy Raney Blossom Dearie 1952 With King Pleasure Composition: See Wikipedia Blossom Dearie 1955 Composition: See Wikipedia With Les Blue Stars Music: George Shearing 1952 Lyrics: B. Y. Forster B. Y. Forster = George David Weiss With Les Blue Stars Composition: Kurt Weill Blossom Dearie 1957 Composition: Dearie LP: 'Blossom Dearie' Reissued w additional titles in '59 Composition: Bart Howard Composition: Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers 1927 LP: 'Blossom Dearie' Reissued w additional titles in '59 Blossom Dearie 1958 Composition: Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg LP: 'Once Upon a Summertime' Composition: Steve Allen/Don Elliott LP: 'Once Upon a Summertime' Blossom Dearie 1959 Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1926 Blossom Dearie 1960 Rhode Island Is Famous for You Composition: Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz 1948 Blossom Dearie 1961 Filmed Live 'It Might as Well Be Spring' Music: Richard Rodgers 1945 Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II For the film 'State Fair' Filmed Live Composition: Max Raio de San Lazaro Blossom Dearie 1964 Composition: Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer 1942 Composition: Léo Chauliac/Charles Trenet/Albert Beach Blossom Dearie 1966 Music: Bob Dorough Lyrics: Dave Frishberg Blossom Dearie 1979 Filmed Live Composition: Max Raio de San Lazaro
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Blossom Dearie
Source: Soulful Planet
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 Bill Henderson Source: Jazzy 88.9 |
Vocalist
Bill Henderson
was born in 1926 in Chicago. All Music and
Wikipedia have Henderson
beginning his career in Chicago in 1952 in association w
Ramsey Lewis, later moving over to NYC
in 1958. Lord begins his account of Henderson per July 18, 1952, in New
York City with the Jackson Brothers Orchestra for such as 'We're Gonna Rock This Joint'
(Victor 20-5004) and 'There Is No Other Way' (Victor 20-5446). 'Billboard'
magazine has Henderson issuing 'How Long Has This Been Going On?' and
'Busy Signal' (Riverside 612) with his All Stars by June 2, 1958. June 15 of 1958
found him with Horace Silver on 'Señor Blues'/'Tippin''
(Blue Note 1710).
He appeared on 'Art Ford's Jazz Party' on October 8 of 1958. On October 14 he laid four tracks with organist,
Jimmy Smith: 'Ain't
That Love'/'Willow Weep For Me' and 'Ain't No Use'/'Angel Eyes'. Those were
also issued on
Smith's album, 'Softly as a Summer Breeze', per 1960.
Henderson began recording for Vee-Jay Records in October of 1959. Thirteen
months of Henderson's recordings with Vee-Jay are compiled on CD titled
'Bill Henderson: His Complete Vee-Jay Recordings'
Vol 1 and
Vol 2. He released his album,
'Bill Henderson', in Dec 1962. Come 'Gravy Waltz'/'You'll Never Get Away
From Me' (MGM K13155) in 1963 w the
Oscar Peterson Trio. In 1967 Henderson began his twin career as a film and
television actor upon moving to Hollywood. Henderson was backed by all
number of bands from Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers,
to those of Count Basie,
Hugh Masekela,
Charlie Haden, Mike Melvoin and Chico Hamilton. Henderson died
on 3 April 2016 in
Los Angeles. He had recorded 'Beautiful Memory' at the Vic in Santa
Monica, CA, in 2007, above eighty years of age. Discographies:
45Cat: 1,
2,
3;
Discogs;
RYM;
Wikipedia.
Henderson in film and television: 1,
2.
Per 1958 below, all nonannotated tracks are with organist,
Jimmy Smith. Bill Henderson 1952 Jackson Brothers Orchestra Composition: Harold Crafton/Wendell Keane/Harold Bagby Bill Henderson 1958 Composition: Wythe/Kirkland Composition: Ray Charles Composition: Dennis/Brent Piano: Hank Jones Composition: Bill Henderson/Don Neway Piano: Horace Silver Composition: Horace Silver Piano: Horace Silver Composition: Horace Silver Composition: Ann Ronell Bill Henderson 1959 Music: Richard Rodgers 1940 Lyrics: Lorenz Hart For the musical 'Higher and Higher' Bill Henderson 1960 Composition: Ronnell Bright Bill Henderson 1961 Composition: Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh Bill Henderson 1999 Composition: Herbert Martin/Michael Leonard Bill Henderson 2009 Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Thing Filmed live at the Litchfield Jazz Festival Composition: Herbert Martin/Michael Leonard
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Eartha Kitt See
Eartha Kitt. |
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Gloria Lynne Source: JazzMa |
Vocalist
Gloria Lynne was born in 1929 in
Harlem. At age fifteen she was awarded first prize at an amateur contest at
the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. She first recorded in 1953 as Gloria Alleyne (her married name) with the
female doo wop group, the Delltones (not to be mistaken for the male group
later formed in 1958). (Previously the Enchanters, Lynne was part of that
group when it became the Delltones, but not until after their earlier
recordings for Jubilee in '52). Those 1953 Delltone tracks for Coral Records
(a Brunswick imprint) were 'My Heart's On Fire' (lead vocal by Della
Simpson) and 'Your's Alone' (lead vocal by Alleyne). Lynne's first
recordings in her own name were also as Gloria Alleyne: 'When I Say My
Prayer' and 'Uncloudy Day' for Josie Records, session thought held in
September of 1954. After leaving the Delltones Lynne became more jazz
oriented, issuing her first LP, 'Miss Gloria Lynne With Wild Bill Davis and
His Group', in 1958. The sixties Lynne's strongest decade during which she issued two Top
Ten titles on Billboard's R&B: 'I Wish You Love' (#3 '64) and 'Watermelon
Man' (#8 '65), the latter for which she authored the lyrics to
Herbie Hancock's composition. Karen Chilton
helped her write 'I Wish You Love: A Memoir' published by Forge in 2000.
Having released above forty albums, Lynne recorded 'From My Heart to
Yours' as recently as 2007. She died of heart attack in Newark, New Jersey,
on 15 October 2013.
Her career had included collaborations with others such as
Harry Belafonte and
Billy Eckstine. References:
1,
2. Discographies:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Compilations:
1956-67,
1961,
1964-66.
Lynne in visual media.
Further reading *.
Other profiles: 1,
2. Gloria Lynne 1953 With the Delltones Gloria Lynne 1958 Composition: Vernon Duke/Yip Harburg Composition: Mort Dixon/Ray Henderson I Can't Give You Anything But Love Composition: Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields Composition: Abel Baer/Cliff Friend Composition: Leonard Gaines/Duke Ellington Composition: Aaron T-Bone Walker Gloria Lynne 1959 Composition: Danny Small/Reverend CL Moore Album 'Lonely and Sentimental' Gloria Lynne 1960 Composition: Grant Clarke/Harry Akst Gloria Lynne 1961 Composition: Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira 1941 Album 'I'm Glad There Is You' Gloria Lynne 1962 Composition: Arthur Hamilton/Mark VII Album: 'He Needs Me' Gloria Lynne 1963 Composition: Fred & Doris Fisher Album: 'Gloria, Marty & Strings' Gloria Lynne 1965 I'm Gonna Laugh You Right out of My Life Composition: Cy Coleman/Joseph McCarthy Album 'Intimate Moments' Gloria Lynne 1966 Composition: Buddy Scott/Jimmy Radcliffe Gloria Lynne 1972 Composition: GL Gaye/Gloria Lynne Album: 'A Very Gentle Sound'
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Helen Merrill was born to Croatian immigrants in NYC in 1930. Wikipedia has her singing in jazz clubs as early as age fourteen. She made her first silken-voiced record release in 1953 with pianist Earl Hines for issue on D'Oro 102: 'A Cigarette For Company' recorded on December 15 of '52 [Lord]. Her debut LP was released in 1954 with trumpeter Clifford Brown and bassist Oscar Pettiford, arrangements by Quincy Jones. Often touring Europe, Merrill lived in Italy during the sixties, then Tokyo as of 1967. Returning to live in the States in 1971, Merrill took up touring again. Highlights in Merrill's career were collaborations with Gil Evans in both early and later recordings. Having borne one child, rock musician, Alan Merrill, in 1951, Helen is yet active. She issued the album, 'Lilac Wine', as late as 2003. Among those with whom she's recorded were Hal Mooney, Piero Umiliani, Sandro Brugnolini, John Lewis, Al Haig, Sir Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan, Shoji Suzuki, Billy Eckstine, Yvonne Roome and Vienna Art Orchestra. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Merrill in visual media. Criticism: 'Helen Merrill With Strings' (1955) Marc Myers, 'Jelena Ana Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill' (2000) Yoshi Kato. Interviews: 2006, 2009. Archives: 'New York Times' 1986. Organissimo forum. Other profiles: *. Per 1954 below, all tracks are from Merrill's debut LP, 'Helen Merrill', arranged by Quincy Jones with Clifford Brown at trumpet and Oscar Pettiford on bass. Helen Merrill 1955 Composition: Mel Tormé/Bob Wells Composition: Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Composition: George & Ira Gershwin Composition: Bob Haggart/Johnny Burke Composition: Otto Harbach/Jerome Kern Helen Merrill 1955 Composition: Haven Gillespie/Victor Young/Wayne King I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over Composition: Allie Wrubel/Herbert Magidson Composition: James Shelton Helen Merrill 1956 Composition: Jerome Moross/John La Touche Helen Merrill 1957 Music: Jule Styne 1946 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Helen Merrill 1966 Composition: Bob Dylan Helen Merrill 1990 Filmed live in Tokyo Composition: Cleo Laine/Stanley Meyers
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Helen Merrill Source: Jazz Wax |
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Rita Reys was born in 1924 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. She began her professional career in 1943 touring Europe with her new husband, drummer, Wessel Ilcken. Lord's Disco traces her first recordings to issue with Ilcken to 2 March 1953 in Stockholm, Sweden, with the Lars Gullin Kvartett toward 'Deed I Do'/'Over the Rainbow' (Artist B3095) and 'Lullaby Rhythm'/'He's Funny That Way' (Artist B3097) with alt takes of each eventually issued on Dragon DRCD405. Reys first visited New York City in 1956, upon which she recorded with Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers on May 3: 'Taking a Chance on Love', 'That Old Black Magic', et al [*]. Another trip in 1957 resulted in titles that May with the Mat Matthews Combo including Milt Hinton: 'You Stepped Out of a Dream', 'It's Mine After All', et al. Among the more important figures in her career was pianist, Pim Jacobs, who had first accompanied her per Lord on 'The Cool Voice of Rita Reys' on March 25 of 1957. The two remained partners with various of Jacobs' bands from small combos to orchestra into the eighties. Lord's disco shows them recording together as late as April 7 of 1985 for 'Live at the Concertgebouw', that with pianist, Louis Van Dijk. Professionally based in the Netherlands, Reys was sometimes called Europe's First Lady of Jazz. A trip to the States in 1969 saw her with Milt Hinton, Clark Terry and Zoot Sims at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Among others with whom Reys recorded titles were the Wessel Ilcken Combo, Jos Cleber, Oliver Nelson, Peter Knight, the Dutch Swing College Band and Rogier Van Otterloo. Reys died on 28 July of 2013 in Breukelen, Netherlands. She had recorded 'Beautiful Love: a Tribute to Pim Jacobs' as recently as 2004. References: 1, 2, 3. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Reys in visual media. Awards. Official YouTube channel. Rita Reys 1953 Music: Fred Rose 1926 Lyrics: Walter Hirsch Rita Reys 1955 Music: Richard Rodgers 1937 Lyrics: Lorenz Hart For the musical 'Babes in Arms' Rita Reys 1956 Music: Vernon Duke 1940 Lyrics: John La Touche/Ted Fetter For the musical 'Cabin in the Sky' Rita Reys 1961 Composition: Gershwin Brothers 1930 Composition: Cole Porter 1953 For the musical 'Can-Can' Rita Reys 1963 Music: Turner Layton 1918 Lyrics: Henry Creamer First issue: Marion Harris for Victor 1918 Rita Reys 1965 Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1943 Lyrics: Johnny Burke For the 1944 musical 'And the Angels Sing' Music: George Gershwin 1935 Lyrics: DuBose Heyward/Ira Gershwin For the opera 'Porgy and Bess' Rita Reys 1971 Composition: Burt Bacharach/Hal David For 1964 film 'A House Is Not a Home' Rita Reys 1973 Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1953 Lyrics: Johnny Burke For the Broadway musical 'Carnival in Flanders' Rita Reys 1990 Music: Jimmy Van Heusen 1939 Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Rita Reys 2010 Music: Johnny Richards 1953 Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh
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Rita Reys Source: Rita Reys |
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Della Reese Source: Autograph Sellers |
Gospel
was the first love of
Della Reese before turning to jazz.
Born Delloreese Patricia Early in 1931 in Detroit, Reese graduated from high
school at age fifteen. She sang with
the gospel group, the Meditation Singers, in the latter forties while
majoring in psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. Upon the death
of her mother, however, she had to quit both school and singing to help
support her ill father. Per Lord, Reese was in Chicago in 1953 to record titles on
June 30 with Clark
Terry, Jimmy Hamilton, et al: 'Blue and Orange Birds (and Silver
Bells)', 'There Will Never Be Another You' (unissued) and 'Yes Indeed',
released by Great Lakes (#1203) in 1954. In 1953 she landed a contract
with Jubilee Records. Her first issues by that outfit in '55 had been
recorded in '54 in either Chicago or Detroit: 'In the Still of the Night'
and 'Kiss My Love Goodbye'. Powered by a few years of successful career in
jazz, Reese was able to do her thing with the Meditation Singers again,
this time in a larger way. In 1958 they recorded 'Amen' in Detroit. Reese
had a twin career as a television actress and had her own show in 1969,
'Della'. She also filled roles in several films. She published her memoir,
'Angels Along the Way', in 1997 with Putnam Adult. Her 23rd and latest
album was 'Give It to God' in 2006. Reese became an ordained minister in
2010, serving at the Understanding Principles for
Better Living Church [1,
2]
in Inglewood, California, until her death [1,
2] on 19 November 2017.
Among others with whom she recorded are Glenn Osser, Neal Hefti, Mercer
Ellington and Duke
Ellington.
References encyclopedic: 1,
2,
3;
musical: 1,
2,
3.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Compilations: 'The ABC Collection' 1976.
Reese in film and television: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Awards.
Interviews: 2008,
2013.
Further reading: 1,
2.
See also: 1,
2.
Gospel is interspersed with jazz in tracks below, listed alphabetically by year. Della Reese 1954 There Will Never Be Another You Composition: Mack Gordon/Harry Warren Della Reese 1955 Composition: Hoagy Carmichael/Jo Trent Della Reese 1959 With the Meditation Singers Composition: Gospel traditional This arrangement: Morty Palitz Composition: Al Stillman/Camillo Bargoni Composition: Bobby Worth 1959 With the Meditation Singers Composition: Mary Lou Coleman With the Meditation Singers Composition: Alfred Barratt/Bertha Mae Lillenas With the Meditation Singers Composition: Spiritual traditional This arrangement: Morty Palitz Della Reese 1960 Music: Johnny Richards 1953 Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh Composition: Edward Eliscu Billy Rose Vincent Youmans Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You) Composition: Jimmie Hodges 1944 Composition: Harry Link/Eric Maschwitz/Jack Strachey Della Reese 1961 Composition: Cole Porter LP: 'Della Della Cha Cha Cha' Della Reese 1966 Composition: Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn Della Reese 1967 Composition: Bobby Worth/Stanley Cowan LP: 'On Strings of Blue' Composition: Jerry Kruger/Theodor Grouya LP: 'On Strings of Blue' Della Reese 1968 Composition: Ben Oakland LP: 'I Gotta Be Me ... This Trip Out' Della Reese 1970 Composition: Randy Newman LP: 'Right Now' Della Reese 1985 Live performance Composition: Irving Berlin Live Trumpet: Al Hirt Composition: 1966: Bonnie Lake/Eddie DeLange/Jack Jenney Della Reese 1988 Live performance Adaptation/composition: Thomas Dorsey See Wkipedia Della Reese 1993 Live performance Music: Harold Arlen 1946 Lyrics: Johnny Mercer For the musical 'St. Louis Woman'
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Julie London Source: Joan Crawford |
Born Julie Peck in Santa Rosa, California, in 1926, smoky and sultry Julie London was a film and television actress who is perhaps best known for her rendition of 'Cry Me a River', released in 1955. She had worked as an elevator operator until she gave a performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles one night. Tom Lord begins his account of London on 2 March of 1955 in Hollywood w the Bobby Troup Orchestra to lay out 'Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child', 'A Foggy Day', 'You're Blase' and 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me'. Those saw issue per 'Billboard' magazine in early 1957 on 'Bethlehem's Girlfriends' (BCP-6006) [1, 2]. London released her first singles in 1955 on 10" 78 and 7" 45: 'Cry Me a River'/'S'Wonderful' (Liberty 55006) and 'Baby, Baby, All the Time'/'Shadow Woman' (Liberty 55009). London's debut album, 'Julie Is Her Name', arrived in 1955 as well. The albums, 'Lonely Girl' and 'Calendar Girl' ensued in '56. Twenty-seven more followed to 1969. London was twice married, first to television star, Jack Webb ('Dragnet'), from '47 to '54, then composer and pianist Bobby Troup from '59 until his death in 1999. London's last recording was 'My Funny Valentine' in 1981 for the Burt Reynolds film, 'Sharky's Machine'. Her health began to fail upon a stroke in 1995. She died October 18, 2000, on what would have been Troup's birthday. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Tribute site. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. In film and television: 1, 2, 3, 4. Periodical archives: 1, 2, 3. Documentaries: 'The Lady's Not a Vamp' BBC 2006. Further reading: 'Lady Liberty: The Definitive Julie London Handbook' by J. R Spencer (CreateSpace 2013). Julie London 1955 Composition: Arthur Hamilton 1953 Music: Allie Wrubel 1937 Lyrics: Herb Magidson Composition: Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira Composition: 1944: Axel Stordahl/Paul Weston/Sammy Cahn For the film 'Thrill of a Romance' Music: Ord Hamilton Lyrics: Bruce Sievier Julie London 1958 Composition: Bobby Troup Film: 'Man of the West' Score: Leigh Harline Julie London 1964 You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To Filmed live in Japan Composition: Cole Porter 1942 Julie London 1965 Composition: Jerry Herman 1943: For the Broadway musical 'Hello Dolly' Public premiere: 16 Jan 1964 Performed by Carol Channing Julie London 1966 Composition: Harry Akst/Grant Clarke 1929 Composition: Frank Loesser/Jimmy McHugh 1942 Julie London 1967 Composition: Frank Eyton/Johnny Green Edward Heyman/Robert Sour Julie London 1968 Composition: Dave Dreyer/Billy Rose/Al Jolson Julie London 1981 Music: Richard Rodgers 1937 Lyrics: Lorenz Hart For the musical 'Babes in Arms'
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Bobby Darin Source: Pop Bop Rock Til U Drop |
Born
Walden Robert Cassotto in 1936 in NYC, composer and multi-instrumentalist,
Bobby Darin
[1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6],
didn't learn until 1968 that his older sister, Nina, was actually his
mother. He played several instruments as a teenager: piano, drums,
guitar, harmonica and xylophone. He also ventured into multiple genres
from rock and jazz to pop and a bit of country western [kinds of material
covered]. Darin commenced his career as a
songwriter in 1956, working alongside Don Kirshner at the Brill Building
on Broadway and 49th in Manhattan. Among songs to which he contributed was
'My First Real Love' by Connie Francis, gone down on February 6 of '56.
Greatentertainers has
backing vocals by Darin and his Jaybirds
overdubbed on that. He and Francis became involved in a brief romantic
relationship. It was February or March that Darin put down his
first commercial tracks with his Jaybirds, 'Rock Island Line'/'Timber' (Decca
9-29883) and 'Silly Willy'/'Blue Eyed Mermaid' (Decca 9-29992) [issues]. 'Rock
Pile' went unissued. Guitarists, Al Caiola and Billy Mure, may have
supported that session. July 11 brought 'Hear Them Bells'/'The Greatest
Builder' (Decca 9-30031) and 'Dealer In Dreams'/'Help Me' (Decca 9-30225). He
was at the Bradley Film and Recording Studio ;in Nashville on May 6 of
'57 with Hank Garland (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Farris Coursey (drums)
and Marvin Hughes (piano) for 'I Found a Million Dollar Baby'/'Talk to Me
Something' (Atco 6092). 'Just In Case You Change Your Mind' saw release
with an August 21 recording of 'So Mean' (Atco 6109). 'Wear My Ring' got
included on Darin's first LP in 1958, 'Bobby Darin'. August 21 resulted in
'Don't Call My Name'/'Pretty Betty' (Atco 6103) and '(Since You're Gone) I
Can't Go On', the latter included on 'Bobby Darin'. Darin's first session
of 1958 came to 'Brand New House' and 'Actions Speak Louder Than Words' to
find issue on 'Bobby Darin'. 'You Never Called' and 'All the Way Home'
were included on the LP, 'For Teenagers Only' in 1960. It was Darin's date
on April 10 of '58 w Al Caiola (guitar), Billy Mure (guitar), Wendell
Marshall (bass), Jesse Powell (tenor sax) and Panama Francis (drums) that resulted in 'Splish Splash'/'Judy Don't Be Moody'
(Atco 6117), the former title topping
Billboard's R&B at #1 in June.
'Queen of the Hop' had also gone down in that session, that to see #6 on
the R&B in October. 'Early in the Morning' had visited the R&B at #8 in
July, recorded on April 24. Darin also appeared on 'The Dick Clark
Show' that month [*]. 'Dream Lover' planted itself at #2 on the Hot
100 (R&B #4/UK #1) in April '59. Come 'Mack the Knife' in August at #1
(R&B #6/UK #1). Darin not only rocked but released jazz standards
about that time like 'Black Coffee' ('59), 'Caravan' ('59), 'Bill
Bailey' ('60) and 'Minnie the Moocher' ('60). From 1960 to 1966 he placed seven titles in the Hot 100 Top
Ten beginning with 'Beyond the Sea' and ending with 'If I Were a
Carpenter'. Also an actor, Darin first appeared
on television in that capacity in 1959 in the television series, 'Hennessy'.
He also first appeared in films in 1959: 'Shadows'. In 1962 found him
appearing in five films within the space of a year [1,
2]. Also a music publisher and record producer, it was Darin who signed
singer, Wayne Newton, to his first recording contract in 1963. Politically
active, Darin worked with the 1968 campaign of Robert Kennedy. In 1969 he
founded Direction Records specifically to produce activist folk music. In
1972 he ran his own variety show for NBC, 'The Bobby Darin Amusement
Company'. 'The Bobby Darin Show' followed in 1973. His last performance on that show
was in April 1973 ('Splish Splash' below). His last recorded performance
arrived in November of '73 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. That got
issued in 2000 on 'The Curtain Falls: Live at the Flamingo'. His last of
about thirty studio and live LPs issued before his death had arrived in
1972: 'Bobby Darin'. He was only
age 37 when he died December 20 of 1973 in Los Angeles of heart complications ensuing upon rheumatic fever as
child. Darin was well-known as a composer, among his
numerous creations
including 'Multiplication' ('61), 'Jailer Bring Me Water' ('62), 'You're
the Reason I'm Living' ('62) '18 Yellow Roses' ('63) and 'Maybe We Can Get
It Together' ('70). Songwriting credits for his titles at
1,
2,
3. Beyond music, though not a master, Darin was an expert chess player.
Bobby Darin in visual media. More
Bobby Darin in
Fifties Rock and Roll. Bobby Darin 1956 Composition: Buddy Kaye/Mort Garson Composition: Bobby Darin/Don Kirshner/George M. Shaw Bobby Darin 1957 Composition: Cy Coben Composition: Cy Coben Harry Warren/Mort Dixon/Billy Rose Bobby Darin 1958 Composition: Bobby Darin Bobby Darin 1959 Music: Gene de Paul Lyrics: Don Raye/Patricia Johnston Bobby Darin 1959 Composition: 1928 Music: Kurt Weill Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht Bobby Darin 1960 Live with Clyde McPhatter Composition: Bobby Darin/Don Kirshner Composition: Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne Bobby Darin 1962 Composition: eden ahbez Bobby Darin 1966 Music: Harold Arlen 1933 Lyrics: Yip Harburg/Billy Rose Composition: Jerry Herman Composition: Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster Bobby Darin 1967 Composition: Leslie Bricusse Bobby Darin 1968 Composition: Bobby Darin Bobby Darin 1972 Live performance Composition: Gilbert O'Sullivan Live performance Composition: Frankie Valli Bobby Darin 1973 Television performance Composition: David Gates/Jimmy Griffin/Robb Royer (Bread) Last television performance Composition: Bobby Darin/Murray Kaufman
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Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930, Abbey Lincoln was
raised on a farm near Calvin Center, Michigan. The family having a piano at
which she sang as a youth, she also listened to Lena Horne records. She was
a maid at age twenty when winning an amateur singing contest encouraged her
to head to California where she began her career in Los Angeles nightclubs.
From 1952 to '54 she worked at an unidentified club in Honolulu by the name
of Anna Marie. She was back on the mainland to perform at the Moulin Rouge
in Hollywood in 1954. Her manager, Bob Russell, had her name changed to
Abbey Lincoln in 1956, a truncated wedding of Westminster Abbey and Abraham
Lincoln. Lord begins his account of Lincoln with the recording of the album,
'Abbey Lincoln's Affair', in July of '56 w
Benny Carter arranging.
She first appeared in film upon the December '56 premiere of 'The Girl Can't
Help It' in which she sang 'Spread the Word' uncredited. Lincoln recorded her second album,
'Abbey Lincoln's Affair... A Story of a Girl in Love', in Nov of '56, that
supported by
Carter and his orchestra.
She was working at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village when she met
drummer, Max Roach [*].
Come
'That's Him!' on 28 Oct 1957, that LP supported by Roach,
Kenny Dorham (trumpet),
Sonny Rollins, (tenor sax),
Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers
(bass)
Max Roach (drums). March 29 of 1958 saw an appearance on 'Art Ford's
Jazz Party' with
Jimmy McPartland, et
al. Lincoln featured on a couple tracks of
Roach's 'Moon Faced and Starry Eyed'
in 1959. 1960 saw Lincoln featuring on all tracks of
Roach's 'We Insist!'. She sang
'Lonesome Lover' on Roach's 'It's Time' in 1961. In 1962 Lincoln married
Roach until 1970, the next decade
highlighted by a 1972 trip [most sources: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5] to Zaire (Democratic Republic of
the Congo) in which she was renamed Aminata Moseka. 1979 witnessed her issue
of 'People in Me'. Continuing a career of occasional album releases and
television appearances into the new millennium, Lincoln was made an NEA Jazz Master in 2003. Having issued more than twenty
albums, eight of them in the nineties, her last LP was 'Abbey Sings Abbey' in 2007.
She underwent open-heart surgery that year, after which her health collapsed
so rapidly as to require a nursing home. Lincoln died in Manhattan on 14 August
of 2010. Among others with whom she recorded were the Verve Christmas
All-Stars,
Mal Waldron,
Bob Moses and
Cedar Walton ('The Maestro' in 1981).
References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Sessionographies: Lord; Fitzgerald:
sessions personnel;
dates of multiple versions w composers.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Compilations: 'Through the Years' 1956-2007 by
Verve 2010.
Lincoln in visual media.
Criticism: music: 'We Insist' 1960,
'Over the Years' 2000;
film:
'For Love of Ivy' 1968.
Interviews: 1996
(pdf),
2001,
2003.
Further reading: Jazz Times.
Facebook tribute.
Collections: Rutgers.
Other profiles: Black Past.
Abbey Lincoln 1956 Debut LP Abbey Lincoln 1957 Composition: Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog Jr. Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe Music: Harold Arlen 1943 Lyrics: Yip Harburg For the film musical 'Cabin in the Sky' Music: Jimmy McHugh 1928 Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Abbey Lincoln 1958 From the LP 'It's Magic': Music: Jule Styne 1947 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Composition: Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane Max Roach 1960 'Freedom Now Suite' Album Drums: Max Roach Abbey Lincoln 1964 Filmed live with Max Roach Composition: Max Roach/Oscar Brown Filmed live with Max Roach Composition: Max Roach/Oscar Brown Abbey Lincoln 1973 From the LP 'People in Me': Composition: Abbey Lincoln/Max Roach Composition: Abbey Lincoln/John Rotella Abbey Lincoln 1983 From the LP 'Talking to the Sun': Composition: Abbey Lincoln Composition: Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer Composition: Stevie Wonder Composition: Sidney Clare/Jay Gorney Abbey Lincoln 1995 Composition: Abbey Lincoln Album: 'A Turtle's Dream' Composition: eden ahbez Album: 'A Turtle's Dream' What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life Music: Michel Legrand 1969 Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Abbey Lincoln 2007 Composition: Abbey Lincoln
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Abbey Lincoln Source: Napster |
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Nancy Wilson Source: Soul Tracks |
Nancy Wilson (not Nancy Wilson of the later rock band, Heart) was born in 1937 in Chillicothe, Ohio, to an iron foundry worker and a maid. She began her career in clubs at age fifteen, also winning a talent contest that put her on the 'Skyline Melodies' television show. Lord begins his account of Wilson in 1956 with the Rusty Bryant Carolyn Club Big Band to lay out 'Don't Tell Me' (Dot 15476). Those got her an audition which put her with Bryant's band for the next couple years. Wilson served her first dish, 'Guess Who I Saw Today'/'The Verdict' (Capitol 4647) in 1960. It was successful enough to follow with her debut album, 'Like in Love', the same year. From that time onward into the new millennium Wilson's was a highly productive career, issuing well above sixty albums. Songs that did especially well were 'Save Your Love for Me' ('62), '(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am' ('64), 'I Wanna Be With You' ('64), 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)' ('66) and 'You're As Right As Rain' ('74). Another highlight in the sixties was her joint issue of 'Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley' w Julian Adderley in 1962. Also an actress, Wilson began appearing in visual media in the sixties. IMDb has her singing 'Too Little Time' uncredited in the Revue Studios film, 'The Killers', as early as 1964. She appeared in the television series, 'Burke's Law', in the role of Chuchi Smith in '64 and '65. International tours included a session in Yugoslavia in 1978 resulting in 'Live in Europe'. 1981 saw her recording live in Japan with pianist, Hank Jones, and trumpeter, Art Farmer. Tours to Japan in 1982/83 resulted in 'Your Eyes', 'I'll Be a Song' and 'Godsend'. 'Winter Green and Summer Blue' was recorded in 1985 in Tokyo for the soundtrack to 'YaKsa', as well as the album, 'Keep You Satisfied'. Highlighting the latter eighties was her 1987 issue of 'Forbidden Lover' featuring duets w Carl Anderson on 'Forbidden Lover' and 'Too Good to Be True'. The nineties brought the worst year of her life when both her parents died in Nov 1998. Wilson was made an NEA Jazz Master in 2004. Her latest album, 'Turned to Blue', was released in 2006, after which she contributed a couple titles to Tom Scott's 'Cannon Re-Loaded'. She gave her last stage performance in September of 2011 at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Wilson succumbed to renal cancer on 13 Dec 2018 at her home in Pioneertown, California [1, 2, 3]. Among others with whom she had recorded were George Shearing, Sid Feller, the United States Air Force Airmen of Note [1, 2, 3], Oliver Nelson, Jimmy Jones, Grover Washington Jr, Ramsey Lewis, DIVA, Henry Johnson and John B Williams. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discographies: 1 (strike Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart), 2, 3, 4, 5. Wilson in visual media: 1, 2. Interviews: 2007, 2007, 2010, 2010, 2010 (pdf), 2011. Official website. See also *. Per 'Guess Who I Saw Today' in 1960 below, music for that had been written by Murray Grand w lyrics by Elisse Boyd. It was first performed by June Carroll in the Broadway revue 'New Faces of 1952'. Nancy Wilson 1956 With Rusty Bryant's Carolyn Club Band Composition: Rusty Brayant Nancy Wilson 1960 Composition: Bart Howard/Kaye Ballard 1954 Music: Murray Grand 1952 Lyrics: Elisse Boyd LP: 'Something Wonderful' Composition: Léo Chauliac/Charles Trenet/Albert Beach LP: 'Something Wonderful' Music: Gene De Paul 1953 Lyrics: Sammy Cahn LP: 'Something Wonderful' What a Little Moonlight Can Do Composition: Harry Woods LP: 'Something Wonderful' Composition: Irving Berlin Nancy Wilson 1967 Composition: Ann Ronell Album: 'Naturally' Composition: Carl Fischer/Bill Carey Nancy Wilson 1979 Composition: Carolyn Joyce Johns/Larry Farrow Nancy Wilson 1982 Live at Lake Tahoe With Woody Herman's Thundering Herd I'm Beginning to See the Light Live at Lake Tahoe With Woody Herman's Thundering Herd Composition: Don George/Duke Ellington Harry James/Johnny Hodges Nancy Wilson 1987 Filmed concert
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Pianist and vocalist Mose Allison was born in 1927 in Tippo, Mississippi. He attended the University of Mississippi, joined the Army for two years, then graduated from Louisiana with a bachelor's in English. Moving to New York City in 1956, Allison quickly found work with such as Gerry Mulligan. He recorded his first vinyl as a member of the Al Cohn Quintet in December of '56 toward the album, 'The Al Cohn Quintet Featuring Bobby Brookmeyer'. Allison would record with Brookmeyer again on October 27, 1959, as members of the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars, such as 'Adelaide' and 'I'll Know'. Allison recorded with Cohn again on March 27, 1957, in 1959-61 and, finally in April of 1976, Cohn supporting Allison on the latter's album, 'You Mind Is On Vacation'. A portion of Allison's professional circle in 1957 consisted of Stan Getz and Zoot Sims. His first tracks for Getz were per a Mutual radio broadcast at the Red Hill Inn in Pennsauken NJ on February 16, 1957, participating in such as 'Some Blues' and 'Feather Merchant'. Allison contributed to Getz' 'The Soft Swing' on July 12. Allison had by that time accomplished his first name session as a leader on March 7, 1957, that for 'Back Country Suite' with Taylor LaFargue on bass and Frank Isola on drums. Twenty days later on the 27th he recorded with Sims for the first time, they members of the Al Cohn Quintet for the album 'Al and Zoot'. They would record variously several more times together, also supporting each other's projects, until their last occasion in February of '61 for Cohn's 'Either Way'. It was during a session with Sims at the Half Note in NYC on February 7, 1959, that Allison first saw titles with alto saxophonist, Phil Woods: 'Wee Dot and 'After You've Gone'. Woods was also one of the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars per above with Brookmeyer in October. From 'Local Color' on November 8, 1957, to 'Autumn Song' on February 13, 1959, Allison released five albums, making for six in three years, a pace something kept until gradually relaxing into his latter career, recording only on occasion. In 2001 he performed 'City Home' and 'I'll Never Be Free' in the film, 'The Score'. Alison died at his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on November 15, 2016 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], having for some years retired from the music profession. His last tracks are thought to have been recorded in Pasadena, CA, in 2009, for 'The Way of the World'. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Partial list of compositions. Compilations: 'Allison Wonderland' 1957-89 by Rhino 1994, 'The Best of Mose Allsion' 1962-70 by Atlantic 1988. Criticism: 'Western Man'. Interviews: Myers 2010, Brewer 2010, Panken 2012 (pdf). Documentaries: 'Ever Since I Stole the Blues' by Paul Bernays 2017. Official website. Further reading: 'One Man's Blues' by Patti Jones (Quartet Books 1998). Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. More piano by Allison. All titles below were composed by Allison except as noted. Mose Allison 1957 Bass: Addison Farmer Drums: Nick Stabulas LP: 'Local Color' Mose Allison 1959 Composition: Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) Composition: Willie Dixon 1955 First issued: Willie Mabon Chess 1608 1955 Sse also the seventh son in concept Mose Allison 1962 Bass: Addison Farmer Drums: Osie Johnson LP: 'I Don't Worry About a Thing' Mose Allison 1975 Live performance Bass: Jack Hannah Drums: Jerry Granelli Mose Allison 1989 Live performance
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Mose Allison
Source: ABC Jazz
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Shirley Horn, a vocalist as well as pianist, formed her first band, a trio, in 1954. Born in Washington D.C. in 1934, Horn's first known recordings are thought to be with violinist Stuff Smith on August 7, 1959, in Washington DC, contributing piano and vocals to 'Cat on a Hot Fiddle' [Fitzgerald/ Lord]. She released her first album, 'Embers and Ashes', the next year. Among others supporting her on that were Joe Benjamin at upright bass and Herbie Lovelle on drums. Among highlights in the sixties was Horn's December 1963 recording of 'Shirley Horn with Horns' backed by Jimmy Cleveland (trombone), Jimmy Jones (piano) and Bobby Scott (piano) w Quincy Jones conducting et al. Horn spent the seventies performing in Washington DC while more withdrawing to family, issuing only two albums that decade: 'Where Are You Going' ('72) and 'A Lazy Afternoon'. ('78). Come the North Sea Jazz Festival in July of 1981 w Charles Ables on electric bass and Billy Hart at drums. Ables had first recorded w Horn back in 1966, supporting her w guitar on unknown titles at the Madison Club in Baltimore [Fitzgerald]. Fitzgerald finds them together again for an NPR radio broadcast from the American Theatre in Washington DC in 1973, he now supporting her w electric bass on titles like 'Autumn Leaves' and 'A Song for You'. Ables was Horn's main man on bass from the early eighties into the new millennium. Another of Horn's more important partners was drummer, Steve Williams, who first joined Horn and Ables for a live session at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London on 5 October 1983 for titles like 'There Is No Greater Love' and 'Lover Man'. Williams, Horn and Ables remained a partnership into the new millennium. Highlighting the nineties were Horn's 1990 summer sessions to result in 'You Won't Forget Me', she backed on that by Toots Thielemans, Buck Hill, Branford Marsalis, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Buster Williams and Billy Hart in addition to Ables and Williams. More than two thirds of Horn's 90 sessions in Lord had been her own as a leader. She released her last album, 'May the Music Never End', in 2003. Her final recordings are thought to have been live at Le Jazz Au Bar in NYC in January 2005: 'Jelly Jelly', 'Loads of Love' and 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was'. Those were with Williams, et al. Ables had died 8 Oct 2001 after participating in Horn's 'You're My Thrill' (Verve) at Schnee Studios in Los Angeles in June of 2000. Horn had lost a foot to diabetes in 2001 [most sources: 1, 2, 3, 4], dying of the same on 20 October 2005 [1, 2]. Although Horn was a capable pianist she never recorded any piano solos [*]. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Sessions: Fitzgerald: w composers, multiple versions, personnel; Lord. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Interview w Katie Stitt 1996 (pdf). Horn in visual media. Further reading: Harrington/ 'Washington Post'. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. More keyboard by Horn. Shirley Horn 1961 Album Shirley Horn 1962 Composition: Cole Porter 1930 Shirley Horn 1989 Composition: Cole Porter 1930 Johnny Green/Edward Heyman/Billy Rose Composition: Antonio Carlos Jobim Vinicius DeMoraes Ray Gilbert Composition: Carroll Coates Shirley Horn 1991 Composition: Sacha Distel/Jack Reardon Shirley Horn 1992 Composition: Hoagy Carmichael/Stuart Gorrell Concert filmed live Shirley Horn 1993 Green (It's Not Easy Being Green) Composition: Joe Raposo Shirley Horn 1998 Composition: Bill Evans/Miles Davis/Al Jarreau Album: 'I Remember Miles' Shirley Horn 1999 Filmed live Heineken Concert São Paulo Composition: Antônio Carlos Jobim Norman Gimbel Vinicius de Moraes
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Shirley Horn
Photo: John O'Hara
Source: SF Gate
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Nina Simone
Source: Sound Projections |
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina,
composer,
pianist and vocalist, Nina Simone
began playing piano at age three. Her early influences were classical and
gospel. One incident as a child illustrates her
later involvement in civil rights: At one recital her parents, who had sat
in the front row, were moved to the rear of the hall to make room for white
folk. Simone refused to play until her parents were moved back up front.
Simone later studied at Julliard. Among her first jobs was at the Midtown
Bar & Grill in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where, upon the owner's request,
she added singing to piano performances. About that time she changed her
name from Eunice Waymon to Nina Simone. "Niña" is Spanish for little girl.
"Simone" was in honor of the French actress, Simone Signoret. Mauro Boscarol has
her recording live w unknown personnel possibly as early as 1954 in his
sessionography [*]. He has those recorded in 1955 in his more recent
timeline [*] which agrees w Lord. The latter includes Simone on only
nine of the thirteen recordings listed by Boscarol, such as another take of
'The Thrill Is Gone' being an instrumental. Among other titles never issued
were 'Baubles, Bangles and Beads' and 'You Don't Know What Love Is'. Among
titles eventually released on 'Gifted & Black' in 1970 were 'Black Is the
Color of My True Love's Hair' and 'The Thrill Is Gone'. 'Baubles, Bangles and Beads' got recorded again in Atlantic City in
1956 [1,
2].
The later release of that and other titles without Simone's knowledge in
1964 on 'Starring Simone' (Spinorama M 130) saw the record pulled upon
Simone bringing lawsuit against Spinorama in Dec of '64. They were eventually issued
again
in 2016 on 'Strange Fruit' by Essential Jazz Classics.
It was sometime toward
December 1957
that Simone recorded her first titles to see issue
[1,
2].
Two of those were released at an unknown time as 'My Baby Just Cares For
Me'/'He Needs Me' (Bethlehem 03031). Boscarol has the first known issue from
that session more than a year later in Feb 1959 on the album, 'Little Girl
Blue', missing its scheduled issue of Sep '58 per 'Billboard'. Also issued
from that session was 'I Loves You Porgy'/'Love Me or Leave Me' (Bethlehem
11021) in June of 1959. RateYourMusic has the first of a Bethlehem EP
series, 'Volumes 1-4' (BEP 134-137) issued in 1959 as well [See also Discogs].
During the year between recording and releasing those, Simone married one
Don Ross in latter 1958 to divorce about a year later. More notably, not having the wherewithal to wait
for royalties, Simone had sold her rights to 'I Loves You Porgy' for $3000, after which she lost an
estimated one million dollars from that record's sales when it mounted
Billboard's R&B chart at #2, its Pop chart at #18, in August of '59. Other
strong early titles were 'Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out' in 1960
followed by 'Trouble in Mind' in '61. Simone began addressing racial inequality with song in 1964, upon the
release of the live album, 'Nina Simone In Concert'. During that period she
advocated violent revolution, Martin Luther King's strategy of protest too
slow. Among such songs was her 1965 cover of Billie Holiday's 1939 recording
of 'Strange Fruit', concerning the lynching of blacks. Her first of several Bob
Dylan covers arrived in 1965 per 'The Ballad of Hollis Brown'.
Highlighting the latter sixties was her issue of 'Nina Simone and Piano!' in
1969 before moving to
Barbados in 1970. She intended to quit the music industry in 1974 with the
release of the album, 'It Is Finished', but started to record again in 1978,
issuing the album, 'Baltimore'. During the eighties she worked at
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. She lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands
before calling France home in 1992, the year Simone published her memoirs,
'I Put a Spell On You' ('91 in the UK). She released her last album, 'A Single Woman', in
1993. Simone died in her sleep in Carry-le-Rouet, France, on the
Mediterranean coast on 21 April 2003. Among her longest musical associations through
the decades were with guitarist and musical director, Al Schackman, and
percussionist, Leopoldo Fleming. Among her awards were the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2000 and honorary degrees from three schools. A statue
was erected in her honor in 2010 in her birthplace, Tryon, North Carolina.
Simone was mother to actress, Lisa Simone, born in 1962 [1,
2,
3].
References for Nina Simone encyclopedic: 1,
2,
3;
musical: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8;
timeline.
Synopses: 1,
2.
Important associates. Sessions:
Boscarol,
Lord.
Discographies: Boscarol: 1,
2;
45 Worlds,
Discogs,
RYM,
Wikipedia.
Reviews: concerts;
songs: 1,
2,
3.
Interviews.
Documentaries: 'The Amazing Nina Simone' by Jeff Lieberman (Re-Emerging Films 2015);
'What Happened, Miss Simone?' by Liz Garbus (Netflix 2015):
1,
2,
3;
'Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula' by Laura Mvula (BBC 2016).
Further reading: New Yorker,
Seeing Black,
archives.
Nina Simone Foundation. Other profiles: *.
Titles below are alphabetical by year. Nina Simone 1959 Album Debut LP Album Nina Simone 1964 Composition: Bennie Benjamin/Horace Ott/Sol Marcus Composition: Dimitri Tiomkin/Ned Washington 1957 For the film 'Wild Is the Wind' Sung by Johnny Mathis Nina Simone 1965 Composition: Screamin' Jay Hawkins Filmed live in Holland Composition; Simone Album Originally 'Sinner Man' Composition; Possibly traditional Credited to Les Baxter/Will Holt 1956 From 'On the Judgment Day' 1954 Credited to Ernest James/Julius Cheeks Nina Simone 1968 Filmed live in London Composition: James Rado Gerome Ragni Galt MacDermot Nina Simone 1969 Filmed live at Harlem Cultural Festival Composition; Simone 1965 Filmed live in Antibes Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb 1967 Nina Simone 1971 Composition; George Harrison 1969 Nina Simone 1976 Filmed live at Montreux: Composition; Langston Hughes/Simone Music: From 'Pour Toi' by Louis Gasté 1957 Lyrics: Morris Albert 1974 Composition; Billy Taylor/Dick Dallas Composition; Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart 1935 Originally 'Sinner Man' Composition; Possibly traditional Credited to Les Baxter/Will Holt 1956 From 'On the Judgement Day' 1954 Credited to Ernest James/Julius Cheeks
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Born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in 1938 in
Abeokuta, Nigeria, multi-instrumentalist,
Fela Kuti (Olufela Ransome-Kuti),
had grown up in a Nigeria of about 150 million people, Lagos its capital
upon acquiring independence in 1960. The West African culture of Ransom-Kuti's
youth included the palm-wine folk music
[1,
2] of the Kru people in Liberia and
Sierra Leone. Guitar, brought by sailors from Portugal and the homes of
calypso, Tobago and Trinidad, was a prominent instrument in palm-wine. (Palm
wine was, is, an alcoholic beverage.) The other musical climate was
highlife [1,
2,
3,
4,
5], African music wedded to European influences, originating in Ghana
(nationhood in 1957). The latter was the music of the upper classes, heard
at official functions like funerals, weddings and holiday celebrations. Ransome-Kuti's father was a Reverend and school principle. His mother was a
feminist activist. Ransom-Kuti headed for London to study medicine in 1958, but
matriculated into Trinity College to pursue music instead, trumpet his
preferred instrument. He married his first wife, Remilekun
Taylor, in 1960. Among his first recordings were 'Fela's Special' and 'Aigana'
in 1960. Both are thought to have been released, presumably that year.
Ransom-Kuti was
going by Fela Ransome - Kuti & the Highlife Rakers at that time. 'Fela's
Special' can be found on 'Highlife on the Move: Selected Nigerian and
Ghanaian Recordings from London and Lagos – 1954-66', released in 2015.
Recordings by Ransom-Kuti from 1963 to 1969 can be found on 'Highlife-Jazz and Afro
Soul (1963-1969)', released in 2005 and 'Koola Lobitos 64–68', issued in
2006. 'Live at the AfroSpot' went down at Kuti's club, the Afro Spot, in
1966 for issue that year on Polydor PLP 001 R. 'Koola Labitos' includes 'The '69 Los Angeles Sessions' first issued
in 2001. 'Highlife' is virtually the same as the CD box set, 'Lagos Baby',
released in 2008 by Vampi Soul. Ransom-Kuti formed his band, Africa '70 (previously
Nigeria '70) to release the album, 'Fela Fela Fela', recorded in Nigeria for
HMV (His Master's Voice, an EMI imprint as of 1931). It was also 1970 that
he formed his commune/recording studio, the Kalakuta Republic
[1,
2,
3,
4]. He then
opened his nightclub,
the Afrika Shrine [1,
2,
3]. He would drop Ransome from his name due its slave origins about that time. Kuti released several albums in
1971, one with drummer, Ginger Baker,
titled 'Live'. It was
during the seventies that Kuti began posting political columns in newspapers
such as The Daily Times and The Punch. He had learned of the Black Power
movement while traveling to the States (there recording 'The '69 Los Angeles
Sessions'). "Black Power" is a broad term for the civil rights movement that
would include such as the Black Panther Party. Kuti's '77 album, 'Zombie', was
in reference to the Nigerian military. That was a popular album, but with a
price. The Nigerian government thought overwhelming force an appropriate
reply and sent a battalion of a thousand soldiers to burn down his commune
and recording studio, including the Shrine nightclub. He was nearly beaten
to death in the process and hos mother thrown from a window, proving fatal. Kuti's response was to establish a residence at the Crossroads Hotel and
marry 27 women in 1978, his retinue, basically. Kuti was a polygamist for
reason of variety. He was to adopt a rotation system of twelve at a time. Kuti was also a Pan-African socialist. He formed his own party, Movement of
the People [MOP: 1,
2,
3], but his candidacy in 1979 for the Nigerian presidency was refused.
He then formed the band, Egypt '80. In 1984 he was jailed for currency
smuggling [1,
2,
3] a political maneuver by then President, Muhammadu Buhari. Kuti was
released 20 months later by General Ibrahim Babangida, after which he
divorced his twelve wives. Important in 1986 was Kuti's performance at the
Giants Stadium in New Jersey at the Amnesty International concert,
'Conspiracy of Hope'. Kuti was a prolific composer, also releasing nearly
seventy albums. Kuti's death of Kaposi's sarcoma, a tumor wrought by AIDS,
was announced in August 1997. He was buried in Lagos, Nigeria [obit]. The greater
majority of Kuti's children entered into the music profession in some
capacity, most notably Femi [1,
2,
3,
4],
Seun [1,
2,
3] and
Yeni [1,
2] Kuti.
References for Fela Anikulapo Kuti: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
References for Afrobeat: 1,
2.
Kuti Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4;
Highlife Rakers;
Koola Lobitos;
Nigeria 70;
Africa 70;
Egypt 80;
MOP.
Cursory album guide.
Reviews: songs,
1979-92.
Kuti in visual media.
Official website hub.
Official YouTube channel.
Further reading: David Corio,
Peter Culshaw,
Janet Fargion,
Daniel Howden,
Carlos Moore,
Lola Ogunnaike,
Tejumola Olaniyan,
Neil Spencer,
Derek Stanovsky.
Other profiles: 1,
2,
3. See Hugh Masekela for jazz vs South
Africa and
Víctor Jara for jazz vs
Chile, both in the same general decades that Bossa Nova developed into the
popular music of Brazil (MPB) counter to its government. Uncredited titles
below were authored by Kuti who did his own composing. Fela Kuti 1960 Fela Kuti 1966 Fela Kuti 1969 Not released until 1993 Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos Album recorded 1965 Fela Kuti 1971 With Ginger Baker Fela Kuti 1972 Album: 'Shakara' Album Fela Kuti 1973 Album Album Fela Kuti 1975 Expensive Shit/Water No Get Enemy Album Album Album Fela Kuti 1977 Album Album Fela Kuti 1978 Concert filmed live Africa '70 Fela Kuti 1987 Arsenal TV3 Catalonia Egypt '80
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 Fela Kuti Source: FELA! |
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Born in 1939 in New York City,
Jeanne Lee
attended Bard College in Red Hook, New York, where she studied child
psychology, literature and dance. The year she graduated with a bachelor's
in the arts, 1961, she also first performed with pianist,
Ran Blake. They won the Amateur
Night Contest at the Apollo Theater together. Each their debut recordings
were together as well, 'The Newest Sound Around' (RCA Victor LSP-2500) released in 1962 [sessions
Nov 61 in NYC per Lord]. Lee then
expanded her horizons as she explored sound poetry, happenings and Fluxus.
During the seventies
Gunter Hampel was prominent among the musicians with
whom she recorded, their first together, 'Gunter Hampel Group + Jeanne Lee',
gone down in April 1968 for issue in 1969.
Hampel and Lee collaborated to
as late as 1985, reuniting in the early nineties, their last title together
thought to have been 'Journey to Edaneres' for
Lee's 'Natural Affinities' issued in 1992. Lee had
acquired her master's in the arts in 1972 from New York University. She
taught at institutions in Europe and the United States. During the nineties
she and pianist,
Mal Waldron, collaborated numerously,
among such their 1994 release of 'After Hours'. Lee died of cancer in
Tijuana, Mexico, ion October 25, 2000
[obit].
She had recorded as recently as
January that year with the Orchestre National de Jazz: 'Duke Ellington's
Sound of Love' and 'A Part of Me' on 'Deep Feelings'. Among other bands with
which she had recorded along a path of 93 sessions in Lord were
Marion Brown's, Reggie
Workman's, Archie Shepp's and
Bob Moses'. References: 1,
2.
Synopsis.
Sessions: Tom Lord (leading 17 of 96); George Scala.
Discos: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Compilations: 'The Newest Sound You Never Heard' 1966-67 in Belgium w
Ran Blake by
A-Side 2018.
Criticism: Da Gama,
Porter. Per 1962 below, each track is from Lee's first LP
with
Ran Blake: 'The Newest Sound
Around'. More Jeanne Lee under
Ran Blake and
Gunter Hampel. Jeanne Lee 1962 Composition; David Raksin/Johnny Mercer 1944 Composition; Ornette Coleman Jeanne Lee 1963 Filmed live with Ran Blake Composition; Joe Greene Jeanne Lee 1966 Piano: Ran Blake Composition; Cole Porter Album: 'Free Standards - Stockholm 1966' Jeanne Lee 1974 Composition; Lee Album: 'Conspiracy' Composition; Gunter Hampel Album: 'Conspiracy' Jeanne Lee 1990 Bass: Peter Kowald Composition; Gunter Hampel/Jack Gregg Lee/Sam Rivers/Steve McCall
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 Jeanne Lee Source: Modo de Usar |
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 Frank Sinatra Jr Source: American Daily News |
Frank Sinatra Jr
[1,
2,
3]
came to not the same renown as his father, Frank Sinatra,
nor his older sister,
Nancy Sinatra. Recording
largely took a back seat to performing for Sinatra Jr, especially in Las
Vegas. Born in Jersey City, NJ, in 1944, Sinatra Jr. released his first
plate in 1962: 'You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You'/'In the Valley of the
Sun' (Reprise R-20,130). But he became better known the next year upon his
kidnapping at age nineteen.
The year was 1963 when his father
paid a ransom of $240,000 to three men for his release two days later.
The kidnappers were soon convicted to long prison terms, and Sinatra Jr
moved on to perform under the considerable shadow of his father. Sinatra Jr
had performed in clubs in his early teens. Around the time of his
kidnapping he was working with such as Sam Donahue and Duke
Ellington. He released his first of only eight albums, including two
with Pat Longo and His Super Big Band, in 1965: 'Young Love for Sale',
thereafter touring the nation and appearing on various television broadcasts.
Per above, the major portion of Frank Jr's career consisted of keeping the
tradition of jazz crooning in Las Vegas alive, performing there just as
his father had. He there filled
seats for his stage show for decades while otherwise never arriving to a lot
of
national acclaim.
Sinatra Jr issued his final album, 'That Face!', in 2006. He died on March
16, 2016, of cardiac arrest while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida [obits 1,
2].
Discographies: 45 Worlds;
Discogs;
RYM; Sinatra website:
singles,
albums.
Sinatra Jr. in visual media.
Further reading: *. Frank Sinatra Jr 1965 Composition: George Weiss/Jerry Bock/Lawrence Holofcener Composition: Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown Frank Sinatra Jr 1969 Filmed with Frank Sinatra Music: Arthur Altman 1939 Lyrics: Jack Lawrence Frank Sinatra Jr 1971 Film Composition: Frank Sinatra Jr Frank Sinatra Jr 2006 Composition: Alan Bergman/Lew Spence LP: 'That Face!'
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Born in 1943 in Straconka, Poland, vocalist,
Urszula Dudziak
[1,
2] was among a field of Polish jazz artists emerging in the sixties who would
put Poland on the map of jazz as a notable producer of fine talent. Dudziak
played piano as a child, but records by
Ella Fitzgerald persuaded her
to take up singing in the latter fifties. Add
Fitzgerald's scat singing,
Yoko Ono, Manhattan Transfer and Laurie
Anderson's later electronic experiments to blends of jazz-rock fusion and
one comes to a loose approximation of Dudziak's approach to music. Lord's disco estimates she
recorded the song, 'Ulice Wielkich Miast' ('Big City Streets'), per Polskie Radio as early as 1963 with the Hybrydy
(Hybryans, Hypbrids) [see also Polskie Radio 1,
2].
The Hybrydy were the band of the Student Hybrid Club
founded by attendees of Warsaw University. That is thought to have been the
first student nightclub to manifest after World War II. An anthology of the
Hybrid Club and the Hybryans was issued in 2002 on 4 CDs packaged as 'Hybrydy
1957-2002', 'Ulice Wielkich Miast' included. On May 27, 1964, Dudziak recorded a coupe duets with vocalist,
Frederic Elkana, presumed issued that year on an EP per Muza N-0317: 'Bei
mir bist du schon' and 'Too close for comfort'. Those are thought her first
with future husband,
violinist,
Michał Urbaniak, in 1965.
They performed in Scandinavia in
Urbaniak's electric jazz
bands, Dudziak later appearing on 'Urbaniak's Orchestra' in 1968,
contributing voice. Dudziak performed percussion and/or vocals on six
Urbaniak releases from 'Paratyphus B' to 'Super
Constellation' before they left
for the United States in September 1973. In the meantime Dudziak's first name album
had appeared in 1972, a suite of duets with
Adam Makowicz: 'Newborn
Light'. Dudziak's first recordings upon arrival to New York City were
on October 17 for Arif Mardin's 'Journey': 'A Sunday Afternoon Feeling' and
'Theme from Bang the Drum Slowly'. 'Strollin' and 'Forms' were added from
sessions in May of 1974. From 'Atma' in June of 1974 to 'Milky Way' in 1987
Urbaniak employed Dudziak on no less than fourteen albums
(including 'Smiles Ahead' in '12 compiled from titles in '76 and '77).
Urbaniak supported Dudziak on titles from 1974 to 1982
toward six of her albums. First issued was 'Urszula' in 1975. The last was
'And Life Goes On...' in 2002, a Dudziak compilation. 1980 had witnessed
them starring in the documentary film, 'Papaya: czyli skąd się biorą
dziewczynki'. (Dudziak would appear in twelve more documentaries into the
new millennium.) 1984 saw Dudziak with
Urbaniak contributing titles to Randy Bermen's 'Music For
Planets, People and Washing Machines'. July of 1988 found them participating
in 'Tribute to Gil' with the
Gil Evans ghost orchestra. Dudziak and
Urbaniak divorced on an unknown date thought no later than
1989. She remarried in 1993 to one Captain Benght Dahllof. Two daughters had
resulted of her wedding to
Urbaniak: Mika, a (rap) singer, and Kasia, a sculptress. 'Życie Pisane Na
Orkiestrę' ('01) was a tripartite enterprise between Dudziak,
Urbaniak and Mika. Dudziak and
Urbaniak also contributed to Wojtek Goral's 'Acid Duck'
2001. (Dudziak also participated in Goral's 'No Exit' in 2005,
Urbaniak out.) Six of
Urbaniak's compositions were used on Dudziak's 'Live: Super
Band at Jazz Cafe' gone down in May of 2008, no less than three of those
arranged by Jan Smoczyński.
Urbaniak further appeared as late as 2013 on Dudziak's
latest album, 'Wszystko Gra', session date unknown for 'Let's Have a Good
Time'. Having led or co-led about twenty albums, among her most popular
songs was 'Papaya' co-written with
Urbaniak, renditions appearing on 'Urszula' ('75), 'Ulla'
('82), 'Magic Lady' ('89), 'Forever Green - Zawsze Zielona' ('08) and 'Live:
Super Band at Jazz Cafe' ('09). 2009 saw Dudziak honored with
Poland's Knight's Cross, Order of Polonia Restituta. March of 2011 saw the
issue of her memoir, 'Wyśpiewam wam wszystko' ('I'll sing everything for
you'). Others unmentioned with whom Dudziak recorded through the years
include
Larry Coryell, Bob Kindred, Walk
Away, Chico Freeman, the Vienna Art Orchestra, Grazyna Auguscik and
Christoph Spendel. Dudziak has otherwise done enormously well for herself
over the years, success bringing ownership of apartment buildings in
Manhattan, Sweden and Warsaw. Having been based in NYC most of her career,
she currently continues her career in Warsaw since her return there by at
least 2008. Discographies: 1,
2,
3.
Dudziak website (inaccessible without
Flash). Further reading:
Brorowski. Urszula Dudziak 1963 'Big City Streets' Transcription recorded 1963 Issued 2002 Music: Jan Wróblewski Lyrics: Agnieszka Osiecka Urszula Dudziak 1972 Composition: Dudziak LP: 'Newborn Light' With Adam Makowicz Urszula Dudziak 1975 Also issued on 'Urszula' Composition: Michael Urbaniak/Dudziak Urszula Dudziak 1977 Composition: Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie LP: 'Midnight Rain' Urszula Dudziak 1978 Album by Fusion (Michal Urbaniak) Album by Fusion (Michal Urbaniak) Urszula Dudziak 1991 Filmed live Urszula Dudziak 1998 Filmed live at Best of Jazz Open Urszula Dudziak 2013 Music: Jan Smoczyński Lyrics: Kasia Urbaniak LP: 'Wszystko Gra' Filmed live Composition: Jan Smoczyński Composition: Jan Smoczyński Music video Urszula Dudziak 2014 Filmed live With the Ula Dudziak Superband Composition: Michael Urbaniak/Dudziak
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 Urszula Dudziak Source: Kayax Music |
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Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1942, Jewish vocalist,
Flora Purim, recorded the bossa nova
album, 'Flora é M.P.M.', in 1964. She would leave Brazil with her husband, percussionist,
Airto Moreira, in 1967. The pair
had met in 1965 and, like not a few Brazilian musicians, found the military
regime, resultant of the coup of '64, oppressive. Unlike other Brazilian
musicians, they didn't return to Brazil except in concert. They had first
headed to
New York City, moving to Los Angeles the next year in 1968. Though Purim and
Moreira both led their own
careers they were largely a partnership such that to say the one was oft to
include
the other. Purim's initial recordings in the States were four titles with
Stan Getz on February 12, 1969, to be
included on 'Major Generals. It was pianist,
Duke Pearson, on 'How Insensitive' per
May of 1969, thought to be Moreira's first vinyl with her as well. On April 10 of 1970
she recorded tracks included on
Pearson's 'It Could Only Happen With
You' (Moreira out). She then toured Europe with
Gil Evans and appeared
on the 1970 releases of
Hermeto Pascoal's 'Hermeto'
and Moreira's
'Natural Feelings'. 1971 saw the birth of Purim's daughter, Diana Booker.
She also recorded on unknown dates that year with Gil Evans
('Where Flamingos Fly' '81) and Moreira ('Seeds On the Ground - The Natural Sounds of
Airto'). We skip ahead through sessions with
Moreira and Chick Corea to Purim's participation in
Cannonball Adderley's 'The
Happy People', that with pianist, George Duke, among Purim's more important
associates through the years. Duke would support Purim on nine albums from
her second, 'Butterfly Dreams', laid out in December of 1973 to 'Midnight
Sun' in 1988. Purim contributed to vocals on four Duke issues from 'Feel' in
1974 to 'If You Will' on Duke's 'Cool' in 2000. Returning to
Adderley in 1972, we fly past
Corea's 'Light As a Feather' and
Moreira's 'Fingers' to Purim's 'Butterfly Dreams' again in 1973,
Moreira participating. Between the two of them,
Moreira and Purim led and co-led some 22 more albums together
to as late as Purim's 'Speak No Evil' in 2003 with their daughter, Diana
Booker. Among those were with their ensemble, Fourth World, formed in
England in 1992 with guitarist and vocalist, Jose Neto. Latter 1992 saw
'Recorded Live at Ronnie Scott's Club' with daughter, Diana, prior to her
marriage to Krishna Booker. 'Fourth World' ensued shortly thereafter that
year. 'Encounters of the Fourth World' went down in 1996 and 'Last Journey'
in 1999 ('Return Journey' a remix). Lord's disco has
Moreira and Purim together as late as 2008 for 'La Brezza:
The Music of Faye Miravite'. We return to 1973 for Purim's appearance on
Santana's 'Welcome', 1974 for
Santana's 'Borboletta'. Carlos Santana
also backed Purim on 'Silver Word', found on her album, 'Stories to Tell'. Purim spent latter '74 to early '76 in prison at Terminal
Island, Los Angeles, for cocaine possession. 1981 saw her contributing to
the soundtrack of 'Sharkey's Machine'. 1982/83 witnessed participation in
'Däfos' with
Moreira and
Grateful Dead drummer, Micky Hart. June of 1989
found Purim participating in 'Live
at the Royal Festival Hall' with Dizzy
Gillespie and the United Nation
Orchestra. That won a Grammy. It was
Gillespie's 'Rhythmstick' the same
month back in New Jersey for CTI. Come
Gillespie's 'Strangers in Paradise' in October 1990 in Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. The next year she surfaced Micky Hart's
'Planet Drum' which also scored a Grammy. Purim has
been four-time recipient of 'Down Beat' magazine's Best Female Jazz
Vocalist, as well as the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco in 2002. A
practitioner of the Bahá'í Faith (as was
Gillespie), an interview with 'Americas' magazine in 2001 finds Purim
commenting that her favorite albums were 'Miles Ahead' (Miles
Davis/Gil Evans) and 'Blow by
Blow' (Jeff Beck). Among Purim's most recent issues in the
21st century were 'Speak No Evil' in 2003 and 'Flora's Song' in 2005.
Per above, Faye Miravite's 'La Brezza' followed as late as 2008 with
Moreira. Others with whom Purim has recorded include Joe
Sample, Patrice Fisher, Mark Egan, David Friesen, Ivo Perelman, Ricardo Silveira, Juan Martin and Gary Meek. Purim's career heavy with international
dates, she yet actively tours as of this
writing. References: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Discographies: 1,
2,
3,
4.
Criticism: Purim's Brazilian influence on jazz by Masterson/ Booker. Per below, all tracks are collaborations with
Airto Moreira except for years
1964 and 1989. More Purim under
Moreira. Flora Purim 1964 Album Flora Purim 1976 Two tracks Reprise at 3:31 Composition: Al McKay/Phillip Bailey Album: 'Nothing Will Be As It Was...Tomorrow' Composition: Milton Nascimento/Renne Vince/Ronaldo Bastos Album: 'Nothing Will Be As It Was...Tomorrow' Album Album Flora Purim 1979 Album Album Flora Purim 1982 Filmed live Flora Purim 1986 Television broadcast Album Flora Purim 1988 Filmed concert Flora Purim 1989 Music: Toninho Horta Lyrics: Lisa Ono Album: 'Rhythm Stick'
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 Flora Purim Source: Discogs |
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Sixty Years of 'Cry Me a River'Composition: Arthur Hamilton Published 1953 Julie London 1955 Dexter Gordon 1955 Julie London 1956 JJ Johnson 1957 Davy Graham 1959 Dinah Washington 1961 Maria Azarskaia 1961 Ella Fitzgerald 1961 Sam Cooke 1963 Lesley Gore 1963 Barbra Streisand 1963 Ray Charles 1964 Sam Taylor 1964 Marie Knight 1965 Art Van Damme 1966 Hu & the Hilltops 1966 Steampacket 1966 Joe Cocker & Leon Russell 1970 Patty Pravo 1970 Claudine Longet 1971 Cher 1975 Sonny Criss 1975 Joan Baez 1977 Crystal Gayle 1978 Blue Mitchell 1980 Tania Maria 1981 Aerosmith 1982 Mari Wilson 1983 Ray Brown Trio 1984 Viktor Lazlo 1987 The Swans 1987 Patti Austin 1988 Leata Galloway 1988 Diane Shuur 1988 George Adams Quartet 1989 Bjork 1990 Rita Lee 1991 Mina 1992 Elkie Brooks 1992 Natalie Cole 1993 Anne Murray 1993 Combustible Edison 1994 Barney Wilen 1994 Lisa Ekdahl 1995 Barbara Manning 1995 Aaron Neville 1995 Archie Shepp Quartet 1996 Alexia Vassiliou 1996 John Hicks Trio 1996 Jai 1997 Ian Moss 1998 Susan Boyle 1999 Harry Connick Junior 1999 Brad Mehldau 2000 Etta James 2001 Alison Moyet 2001 Bonnie Bramlett 2002 Diana Krall 2002 René Froger 2004 Olivia Newton-John 2004 Linda Ronstadt 2004 Rick Astley 2004 Caetano Veloso 2004 Susan Wong 2005 Frank Sinatra Junior 2006 Judith Owen 2007 High Contrast 2007 Cathy Segal-Garcia 2007 Cote de Pablo & Roberto Pitre 2007 Jessica Trantham 2008 Sara Bettens 2008 Sylvia Brooks 2008 Linda Carter 2009 Terry Clary 2009 Jordane Labrie 2009 Mariza 2009 Jaimee Paul 2009 Cynthia Basinet 2010 Jeff Beck 2010 Michael Bublé 2010 David Nathan (Nefer Davis) 2010 Liam Payne 2010 Smithills School Senior Brass Band 2010 Isobel Daws 2011 Alfonso Gugliucci 2011 China Moses 2011 Colin Tribe 2011 Jerry Vezza Quartet 2011 Tina Arena 2012 Captain Flashback 2012 Sarah Hillyard 2012 Michaela Husárová 2012 Christophe Robert 2012 Angie Miller 2013
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We pause this history of modern jazz vocalists with Frank Sinatra Jr as of 1965. We may make additions as such occur. |
Early Blues 2: Vocal - Other Instruments
Modern Blues 2: Vocal - Other Instruments
Romantic: Composers born 1770 to 1840
Modern: Composers born 1900 to 1950
Early Jazz 1: Ragtime - Bands - Horn
Early Jazz 2: Ragtime - Other Instrumentation
Modern 4: Guitar - Other String
Modern 5: Percussion - Other Orchestration
Modern 7: Latin Jazz - Latin Recording
Modern 8: United States 1960 - 1970
Modern 9: International 1960 - 1970
Latin
Latin Recording 2: The Caribbean
Latin Recording 3: South America
Total War - Sixties American Rock
Classical - Medieval to Renaissance
Classical - Baroque to Classical
Classical - Romantic to Modern
Jazz Early - Ragtime - Swing Jazz
Jazz Modern- Percussion - Latin - Song - Other
Boogie Woogie - Doo Wop - R&B - Rock & Roll - Soul - Disco
Sixties American Rock - Popular
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