Billed alternately in the ads as “Sepia Prima Donna”, “The Sepian Nightingale”, “Siren of Songs”, “Songbird of the South”, “Bundle of Blues”, “Popular and petite songbird”, “The aristocrat of song”, “The Broadway Favorite and Singing Sensation”, “Second to Marian Anderson” or “Greatest colored soprano” (sic). Still: if we had to rely on Cab Calloway’s autobiography to find out a little more about this singer who was the canary for the orchestra for more than 7 years, we wouldn’t get very far! The Hi De Ho Blog invistigated and tells you almost everything about a great singer (cousin of the singer and TV star Leslie Uggams) admired then and forgotten today. Read the full story →
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The Lady With The Fan
The song about the Cotton Club chorus line girl, Amy Spencer. Naughty, naughty song...
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Clarification: Cootie Williams joined the band at some date between 16 Jan 1929 and 1 March 1929 (these being dates of Ellington recording sessions; Cootie was on the second date but not the first). Juan Tizol was, according to his recollection (NEA Jazz Oral History Project interview with Patricia Williard, tape held at IJS/Rutgers), hired just as the band began work on the Broadway musical "Show Girl" for which rehearsals began 3 June 1929.The photo of the Ellington band with Harry White was thus taken sometime after Williams joined, and sometime before Tizol joined. The exact dates White worked with Ellington's band aren't known, but since he was fired and then replaced by Tizol, I suppose it must have been circa May 1929. Per Joe Nanton (interview with Inez Cavanaugh, Metronome, Feb 1945, p. 26, reprinted in Mark Tucker's "The Duke Ellington Reader," p. 467): ..."around 1929. Harry White came into the band for four or five weeks. [....] Father's jitters got everyone jittery and he was replaced by Juan Tizol."
Posté par steven_lasker -
Je suis une amie de Jean Claude Ferrand qui m'a beaucoup parlé de Gilles Pétard , de leur jeunesse, et de leur intérêt commun de ce genre de musique.
Posté par jeanneperquis -
What a shame that segregation robbed these beautiful African American performers of great visibility on larger stages and on film throughout entertainment history. Very few glimpses of their enormous talent was provided during a brief nightclub scene during a song or dane routine in major Hollywood productions. Shameful racism at play then, and sadly has much really changed?
Posté par rmarkdesjardins