Lizzie Miles

Happy Birthday, Lizzie Miles 1895-1963...Born Elizabeth Landreaux on Bourbon Street, Miles was singing with Kid Ory, King Oliver and Bunk Johnson when she was just a teenager. She traveled the south performing in minstrel shows, vaudeville and the circus before moving to Chicago in the early 20's.

In Chicago she performed with Elgars Creole Orchestra, Freddie Keppard and King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band before moving to New York in 1922. She made her first recordings of blues songs in New York which made her popular but she did not like to be called a "blues singer" since she sang a range of music styles. She performed with the Sam Wooding Orchestra and Piron's New Orleans Orchestra in New York before taking off for Europe.

She toured Europe from 1924-1927, performing in Paris at Louis Mitchell's nightclub Chez Mitchell and other venues. She returned to New York where she performed in clubs with several acts including bands led by Fat's Waller and Paul Barbarin. She would also continue to make recordings, most with lesser known players but some with King Oliver, Louis Metcalf, Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton.

In the 1930's she suffered a serious illness, left the music business and returned to New Orleans in 1940. She was convinced to return to performing but she refused to stand on the stage, standing to the front or to the side of it because she had sworn in prayer that she would never perform on stage again if she recovered from her illness.

In the 1950's she lived in San Francisco, performing at local clubs, moving back to New Orleans to record with several Dixieland and traditional jazz bands and making regular radio broadcasts. In 1958 she appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival and in 1959 she quit singing anything that wasn't gospel music. She died of a heart attack at the age of 68.

This song is about as suggestive as it gets!