Happy Birthday, Billy Tipton...December 29, 1914-January 21 1989...It wasn't until his death at the age of 75 that the world learned that Billy Tipton had been born Dorothy Lucille Tipton. Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma but raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Billy spent the first years of his life with an aunt after his parents divorced. He saw very little of his father, William, but took his nickname "Billy" as his stage name when he went professional.
Tipton gained an interest in jazz while in high school, playing the piano and saxophone. At the age of 19, Tipton obtained documents listing him as a man, bound his breasts, padded his pants and embarked on a serious music career as a male jazz pianist. Initially he presented himself as a man only when he performed but by 1940 he was living as a man in his private life too. His deception lasted for fifty years through five common-law wives, children and a busy touring and recording schedule.
In 1936, Tipton was the leader of a band playing for a local radio station. Two years later he began touring the Midwest playing at taverns and dances, finally landing a 2 1/2 year long gig at Joplin, Missouri's Cotton Club playing with George Meyer's band. He toured the Pacific Northwest with Meyer in 1949 and eventually landed jobs backing the Ink Spots, The Delta Rhythm Boys and Billy Eckstine. He formed his own trio and landed his first recording contract when he was spotted by a talent scout while playing in Santa Barbara, California. The trio recorded two successful albums of jazz standards for Tops Records in 1957.
After the albums' success, Tipton's trio was offered a position as the house band at the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada and received an invitation from Tops to record four more albums. Tipton turned down both offers, possibly to avoid being exposed as a woman as the publicity heated up. Instead he moved to Spokane, Washington where the trio worked as the house band at Tin Pan Alley and Tipton began working as a talent broker. By 1970 Tipton retired from music due to arthritis.
Tipton's personal life seemed to dictate many of his life choices. All but the first of his five common-law wives believed he was a man. He told them all that he was in a car accident that damaged his ribs and genitals which required having to bind his chest at all times. His three sons were all adopted and believed him to be a man too, until the day the paramedics were called in as he was dying and the truth was exposed when the bindings were necessarily cut. Tipton was a very talented musician but he avoided the limelight in order to live life his way and as a result, never gained the appreciation he deserved as a musician.
Happy Birthday, Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan...November 2, 1908-June 2, 1942...Bunny Berigan's talent and fame rose like a meteor and burned out just as quickly but the music he left continues to inspire. Raised in Wisconsin, Berigan was a natural musician, playing both violin and trumpet and joining his Grandfather's youth band at the age of 12. By 14 he was playing in local bands and in 1928 he auditioned for Hal Kemp's orchestra. He was turned away for having too thin a tone. Two years later, in 1930, he auditioned again and Kemp took him on a European tour and gave Berigan his first recorded solos.
When he returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1930, Berigan became a much sought after studio musician. In 1931 he joined the staff of the illustrious CBS radio network musicians which included players like Artie Shaw. When he wasn't working for CBS he was freelancing on sessions at various recording studios around New York City and playing in pit orchestras on Broadway. His output was prodigious and his talent and star kept rising. From late 1932 to 1934 he joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra, leaving in 1934 for a short stint with Abe Lyman.
His reputation as a strong soloist kept him in demand, playing with the Boswell Sisters, Glenn Miller and the Dorsey Brothers among many. It seemed whatever he lent his clear, beautiful tone and wide range to turned to gold. From 1935-1939 he stood with Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge as one of the top trumpeters in jazz. When asked about other players in 1941, Louis Armstrong replied, "About the trumpet players I admire...first I would name my boy Bunny Berigan. Now there's a boy I've always admired for his tone, soul, technique, His sense of phrasing and all. To me, Bunny can't do no wrong in music."
In 1935 Berigan joined Benny Goodman's band and became part of the tour out West and the broadcast from the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles that some say launched the Swing Era. He recorded major solos with Goodman on classics like "King Porter Stomp", "Sometimes I'm Happy" and "Blue Skies". After the tour, Berigan left Goodman and went back to freelancing as a recording and radio musician and recorded under his own name for the first time. He was a popular player for singers of the era and backed Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey and Bing Crosby among others. He also joined Tommy Dorsey's band from 1936-1937 and gave the Dorsey recordings of "Marie" and "Song of India" their distinct sound.
It took three tries, but Berigan was able to form his own band in 1937. He played trumpet on nearly every number and conducted at the same time. He chose "I Can't Get Started" by Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke as his theme song and made the tune a smash hit that is still included in jazz compilations and in movie scores today. But Berigan was an alcoholic and the stresses of leading a band only made things worse. Despite his drinking, other musicians respected him as a leader and he was able to attract top talent for his band but that wasn't enough. By 1939 he declared bankruptcy and briefly joined Tommy Dorsey's as a sideman in 1940 but he wasn't happy and the drinking increased. He tried forming his own band again in 1941 but his health had already made a steep decline. He died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 33.
Happy Birthday Ford Lee "Buck" Washington...October 16, 1903-January 1, 1955..."Buck" Washington was one half of the famous dancing duo "Buck and Bubbles" as well as an accomplished musician, singer and comedian. Washington and John Sublett (Bubbles) were orphans when they teamed up as pre-teens, winning local amature contests in Louisville, Kentucky. They went on to join the vaudeville circuit, traveling to Detroit and New York with an act that included dancing, singing, antics at the piano and a big dose of comedy.
Their routine never varied much in the many years they performed together but it was a formula that made them some of the best loved performers of their day. They broke the color barrier in the 20's by playing in white vaudeville houses as well as black ones. They appeared in several Broadway revues in the 20's and 30's, then made their way to Hollywood to appear in movies such as "Varsity Show" and "A Song is Born." The pair performed together until shortly before Washington died at the age of 51.
Happy Birthday, Victoria Spivey...October 15, 1906-October 3, 1976...Victoria Spivey got her start in her native Houston, Texas performing with her family's string band. By the age of 19 she was playing piano for local silent film theaters and singing and performing in local bars, brothels and clubs, sometimes accompanied by Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1926, at the age of 20 she made her way to St. Louis to try her luck.
She was signed by Okeh records and her original composition, "Black Snake Blues", was a huge success. That was followed by "Dirty Woman Blues" and for two years after that, the red hot Spivey recorded nearly one record a month, often accompanied by talent such as Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence Williams and many others. Her biggest influence was another red hot Blues Woman, Ida Cox, and the topics of the songs Spivey wrote were often of the same raw nature, covering subjects like drug addiction, poverty, crime, health issues and sex.
As the Depression set in and most ladies of the blues left the circuit, Spivey found a new outlet for her talents, first in King Vidor's first sound film "Halleluyah" as Miss Rosie, and later in other films and stage shows, including the acclaimed "Hellzapoppin"" review in New York. She was able to continue to record and perform through the 1940's.
In the 1950's. Spivey retired from show business, playing a pipe organ in her church and leading the choir. But the early 60's blues revival would bring her out of retirement and back into the limelight. As one of the few surviving original Ladies of the Blues, Spivey was in big demand at folk and blues festivals. Her sexually suggestive song lyrics resonated with the sexual revolution of the 60's and 70's. Spivey created her own record company, Spivey Records, and Bob Dylan joined her on her first recording for the label. Her album "Songs We Taught Your Mother" featured Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegiman and brought women in the blues back to the forefront. Spivey continued to perform, record and preserve the blues of her heyday until her death just shy of her 70th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates...October 11, 1907-December 8, 1998...Dancing was intrinsic to Bates who remembered always wanting to dance from the age of five. While working in a cotton seed gin mill at the age of 12 in his hometown of Fountain Inn, South Carolina, Bates became caught up in the machinery and his left leg was mangled. It was amputated below the knee on his kitchen table at home. Bates was confined to crutches to get around but in his words, "At first I was walking around on crutches and, I started making musical rhythm with them. See, I did not realize the importance of losing a leg. I thought it was just like stubbing my toe and knocking off a toenail that was going to grow back." When his uncle Wit came home from WW1 and found his nephew handicapped, he created Bate's first crude wooden leg.
Bates continued dancing, "It somehow grew in my mind that I wanted to be as good a dancer as any two-legged dancer. It hurt me that the boys pitied me. I was pretty popular before, and I still wanted to be popular. I told them not to be sorry for me." Bates was true to his word. With enormous effort he learned to copy the rhythms steps of the popular tappers of his day, adding his own unique acrobatics and novelty steps. By the age of 15 he was traveling the minstrel show and vaudeville circuits becoming the undisputed king of one-legged dancers. His appearance in Paris in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1929 gave him the boost to return to New York in 1930 as a featured tap dancer at the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn and Club Zanzibar.
With his deep toned-toned left leg peg and his higher-pitched metallic right foot tap he rhythmically reinvented popular tap steps like the Shim Sham, Susie-Q and Truckin'. He would perform dive bombing type maneuvers, landing balanced on his peg leg. He owned 13 of them; one to match each of his suits.Unlike many tap dancers, he didn't focus on one style. "Well, I'm into rhythm and I'm into novelty. I'm into doing things that looks almost impossible to do.", he explained. He mastered the styles to surpass two-legged dancers, and he often did. Many tappers became associated with certain big bands as part of the general entertainment. Bates topped them all, dancing with the bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnett, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Claude Hopkins, Billy Eckstine and Louis Armstrong.
Bates tackled the budding television industry full on, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show 21 times, more than any other tap dancer. He often used the show to dance tap-offs with other well known tap dancers. He also traveled extensively and performed for royalty. In 1951, Bates and his wife Alice bought a turkey farm in the Catskill Mountains and turned it into the largest black-owned-and-operated resort in the country. The Peg Leg Country Club catered to a primarily black clientele in a predominantly Jewish resort area, presenting some of the finest jazz musicians and entertainers of it's day. "At first the natives were resentful," Bates told the N.Y. Times in 1969, "But now everything is kosher, beautiful." He ran the resort until his wife died in 1987 and sold it in 1989.
In retirement, Bates spent a good deal of his time performing, teaching and speaking to youth groups, senior citizens and the handicapped, spreading his philosophy of being involved no matter what life brought your way. "Life means, do the best you can with what you've got, with all your mind and heart. You can do anything in this world if you want to do it bad enough." He died at the age of 91 in his home town, just a mile and a half from the place he lost his leg.
Happy Birthday, Rosetta Reitz...September 28, 1924-November 1, 2008...Without the tireless, diligent work of Rosetta Reitz, much of the music and history of many female jazz artists would be lost to us. Throughout her lifetime Reitz enjoyed a varied career which included working as a stockbroker, a food columnist for the Village Voice, a college professor, owning a greeting card company and the Four Seasons bookstore and writing a groundbreaking book on women's menopause. She was an outspoken feminist and the co-founder of the Older Women's Liberation (OWL). She also founded Rosetta Records which focused on the female recording artists who had been forgotten and ignored by mainstream labels.
Reitz's introduction to jazz was through her ex-husband and other male friends but over time she began to realize that women's music was missing from what she was listening to. She began collecting old 78 recordings of musicians like trumpeter and vocalist Valaida Snow, pianist and singer Georgia White and a host of forgotten blues singers. She also discovered many lost recordings by better known performers including Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Mae West. Her collection covered music from the 1920's to the 1960's with an emphasis on the music of the Blues Queens of the 20's.
Reitz was quoted in the 1980's, "In that decade in the 1920's, when jazz was really being formulated and changing from an entertainment music into an art form, these women were extraordinarily important and instrumental in accomplishing that. Louis Armstrong was a sideman on records in the '20's with singers like Sippie Wallace, Eva Taylor, Hociel Thomas, Virginia Liston and Margaret Johnson. These women's records were made as their records, but when they come out now they are reissued as Louis Armstrong records, when actually he's not that important on them."
"These women had the power. They hired the musicians and the chorus line, a lot of them wrote the music themselves and they produced their own shows. They were more than just singers; they were symbols of success."
With $10,000 she borrowed from friends, Reitz founded Rosetta Records in 1979. Most of the music she released was already in the public domain but she made a point of tracking down the rights to some of the songs and paying royalties to the artists when she could. She supervised the remastering of the often damaged original records, researched the backgrounds of the artists, wrote the liner notes, designed the album graphics and found vintage photographs for the albums. Originally sold through mail order, the label was eventually picked up by several record stores. As recording technology progressed, the albums were converted to tapes and then CD's. Reitz released 17 compilations of vintage jazz and blues, most of them centered around a theme but she also recorded retrospectives of The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Valaida Snow and Mae West.
In 1980 and 1981, Reitz produced a tribute to "Women of Jazz" at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. It was called "The Blues is a Woman" and featured Adelaide Hall, Big Mama Thornton, Nell Carter and Koko Taylor with narration by Carmen McRae. She also lobbied for a postage stamp in Bessie Smith's honor. Reitz planned to release 26 albums and write a book on women in jazz but she died at the age of 84 of heart disease before she could fully realize her dream. Her albums have not been reissued but renewed interest in many of the artists Rietz promoted have been re-discovered by the greater recording industry.
Happy Birthday, Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart...September 21, 1914-December 10, 1987...Slam Stewart was an excellent swing bassist with a unique sound which he created by humming along an octave higher than his bowing. He started playing violin but switched permanently to the bass at age 20 while attending the Boston Conservatory. It was there that he got his idea of humming along with his instrument after hearing Ray Perry singing along with his violin.
In 1937, Stewart teamed up with singer, guitar player, comedian "Slam" Gaillard to form the novelty act "Slim and "Slam". "Flat Foot Floogie" was their first big hit in 1938 and it cemented their popularity until the act broke up in the early 40's. Stewart worked regularly throughout the 40's doing session work with Art Tatum, Lester Young, Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo (which featured a famous session with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker) and the Benny Goodman Sextet, among others. He also headed his own group which at one point included Erroll Garner on piano.
Later in his career he worked with other groups headed by Billy Taylor and Roy Eldridge. He also recorded a couple of albums with another "Humming" bassist, Major Holley. His unique and solid bass style kept him working regularly when he wasn't busy teaching at the University of New York in Binghamton, New York or at Yale University. He died in Binghamton at the age of 73.
Happy Birthday, Lovie Austin...September 19, 1887-July 10, 1972...Another Lost Lady of Jazz, Lovie Austin was a groundbreaking bandleader, session musician, composer and arranger during the classic blues era in the 1920's. Austin studied music in college in Nashville, Tennessee and then in 1923, headed for Chicago, the town she would make her permanent home. Austin was a fun loving woman, often seen riding around town in her Stutz Bearcat with leopard upholstery, dressed to the teeth. Her joie de vivre made her a popular vaudeville performer and accompanying blues singers was her specialty.
Austin backed many of the famous blues artists of her time including Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, Ethel Waters and Alberta Hunter and her artistry can be heard on their recordings. She also lead her own band, the Blues Serenaders, which included Tommy Ladnier, Shirley Clay, Kid Ory and Johnny Dodds among others. She also worked with other prominent jazz musicians of the 20's, including Louis Armstrong and worked as a session musician for Paramount Records. She co-wrote "Down Hearted Blues" with Alberta Hunter which became a huge hit for Bessie Smith in 1923.
After 1926, Austin's recording career ended and she became the musical director of the Monogram Theater in Chicago which featured T.O.B.A. acts. She worked there for 20 years. After WW2 she played piano and taught music at a school of dance and occasionally performed in clubs. In 1961, Austin returned to recording, making an album with Alberta Hunter as part of Riverside records "Living Legends" series.
Pianist Mary Lou Williams called Lovie Austin her biggest inspiration. In 1977 she described seeing her for the first time," When I was between 8 or 10 years of age (1918-1920), my step-father and my brother-in-law, Hugh Floyd, often took me to dances and theaters to listen to musicians. Well, there was this T.O.B.A. theater in Pittsburgh where all of the black entertainers came. I remember seeing this great woman sitting in the pit and conducting five or six men , her legs crossed, a cigarette in her mouth, playing the show with her left hand and writing music with her right. Wow! I never forgot this episode...My entire concept was based on the few times I was around Lovie Austin. She was a fabulous woman and a fabulous musician too. I don't believe there is a woman around now who could compete with her. She was a greater talent than many of the men of this era."
Happy Birthday, William McKinney...September 17, 1895-October 14, 1969...McKinney got his start as a circus drummer, traveling around the south. After a stint in the military during WW1, he took over the leadership of the Synco Jazz Band in Springfield, Ohio in 1922, turning over his drumsticks to Cuba Austin to take on the full time managing and leadership of the group. The band toured the Midwest and California, finally finding a steady gig in Detroit's Greystone Hotel Ballroom in 1926, where they changed the name to McKinney's Cotton Pickers.
By 1929 the band had moved to Harlem. Don Redman did most of the arranging for the band which featured mainly hot numbers written by Redman or other members of the band. The band members fluctuated, like many bands of that size, but many excellent players passed through the ranks including Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Lonnie Johnson, James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. When the band signed with Victor Records they were required to play more commercial music but never failed to give the pieces a special twist of their own.
In the early 30's there were several bands touring as McKinney's Cotton Pickers. McKinney spent most of the 40's managing several of his bands, retiring from the business at the end of the decade. He also ran the Cozy Cafe in Detroit in the late 30's. He spent the 50's working in an auto factory before retiring and returning to his childhood hometown of Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Remembering Trixie Smith...1895-September 21, 1943...One of the Lost Women of Jazz, Smith had a clear, warm delivery and a talent for finding excellent musicians to back her. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Smith studied at Selma University in Alabama before moving to New York in 1915 to enter show business. At first she worked in minstrel shows and on the TOBP vaudeville circuit where she became a featured vocalist. In 1922 she made her first recording for the Black Swan label including "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)". That song would turn out to be the first secular recording that would mention "rock and roll" and would spawn other records by blues singers of the era with "rock" and "roll" in the lyrics.
That same year she won a blues singing contest judged by Vernon and Irene Castle singing her song "Trixie's Blues". Her most famous song, "Railroad Blues" was recorded in 1925 with Louis Armstrong on coronet. She recorded with James P. Johnson and Freddy Keppard as well as Fletcher Henderson's band and the all-white band "The Original Memphis Five", both of which were billed as Trixie Smith and her Down Home Syncopators. Although she made some excellent recordings with an all-star band which included Sidney Bechet in 1938-39, her recording career was pretty much over by 1925.
As the era of great female jazz singers came to an end, Smith kept her career going by performing in cabarets and in musical revues at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem. She appeared in a few movies including "God's Stepchildren" and "Swing!" in 1938. That same year she also appeared in the famous Carnegie Hall concert, "From Spirituals to Swing". When she died five years later after a brief illness at the age of 48, Smith was already a largely forgotten artist.
Happy Birthday, Ella Mae Morse...September 12, 1924-October 16, 1999...Morse's musical style blended jazz, blues and country and some critics have called her one of the first rock-and-roll singers. Her recordings were popular on both the U.S. pop and Rhythm and Blues charts but her versatility may have kept her from being a bigger star in an era when promoters didn't know what to do with a white singer whose "hip" style made listeners think she was black.
Morse was first exposed to blues style guitar in her native Paris, Texas when she heard a local blues player, "Uncle Joe," practicing in the back of the local grocery store. Uncle Joe as well as her music loving mother encouraged her natural talent for the blues. She soon got a spot singing on a local radio station. In 1939 she and her mother moved to Dallas, Texas where she got another radio gig after winning a talent contest.
In 1938, Morse auditioned for Jimmy Dorsey who hired her on the spot. Morse had told him she was 19 but when the Dallas School Board informed him he would be responsible for his 14 year old singer's education she was fired. She was remembered by Dorsey's pianist at the time, Freddy Slack, and when Morse and her mother moved to San Diego, Slack offered her a job with his new band.
In 1942 at the age of 17, Morse had her first hit with Slack's band, "Cow-Cow Boogie". It was the first hit Record for Capitol Records as well. "Mr. Five by Five" came next . A year later in 1943, Morse began recording solo, making a splash with "Shoo-Shoo Baby" which reached number one on the R&B charts. In 1946 Morse and Slack had another big hit with "House of Blue Lights" and in 1952 her version of "Love Me Or Leave Me" featured her biggest hit, "Blacksmith Blues" on the flip side, selling over a million copies and earning her a gold record.
Morse stopped recording in 1956 but she kept working until the early 90's, performing at Michael's Pub in New York and several venues in Los Angeles including Disney Land on a regular basis. She died in 1999 at the age of 75.
Happy Birthday, Adele Astaire...September 10, 1896-January 25, 1981...When Astaire's mother was told by a teacher that her children might have a chance in show business, the stagestruck Ann Austerlitz packed up her family and moved them from Omaha, Nebraska to New York. By the time she was 8, Astaire and her younger brother Fred, had an established career on the vaudeville circuit. From all accounts, Adele Astaire out-shined her brother in both stage presence and dance skills. Initially, Fred was just a foil for her talents.
From vaudeville they made the leap to Broadway in 1917 in "Over the Top" becoming popular performers overnight. Fred did most of the choreography for their dances but it was Adele's easy charm and mobile face that entranced the audiences. In 1923 the Astaire's began a long engagement on the London stage, becoming even bigger stars than they were in the States.
The Astaires returned to New York to star in George and Ira Gershwin's first Broadway play, "Lady Be Good" followed by "Funny Face." The plays were a big success in New York and in London. The British were especially fond of Adele whose high- spirited, prankster nature was a contrast to her more reserved brother. Never-the-less, the siblings were very close.
Both of the Astaires were celebrated in high society in New York and in London and at one point, Adele caught the eye of Lord Charles Francis Cavendish, the second son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire. After a successful run on Broadway in the "Band Wagon" in 1931, Adele retired from show business and married Lord Cavendish, moving to Ireland to live at Lismore castle. She had three children but all died shortly after childbirth. Lord Cavendish was an acute alcoholic and died at the age of 38 in 1944.
Fred continued his career and was making a splash in Hollywood. Although Adele made a visit to California to test the waters, she was intimidated by her brother's success and withdrew from show business permanently. From what has been written by critics and others who had the pleasure to see her perform, she was an exceptional talent. Sadly, there is no footage of any of her performances, only a few recorded duets with her brother, George Vollaire and Bernard Clifton. She died in Scottsdale, Arizona after a stroke at the age of 84.
Happy Birthday, Meade Lux Lewis...September 4, 1905-June 7, 1964...(birthdate is variously recorded).. Born in Chicago, Lewis was a popular performer there in the 20's but he wasn't well known outside of the area. He made his living running a taxi cab company with fellow Boogie-Woogie pianist Albert Ammons until a recording of his classic, "Honky Tonk Train Blues" made it into the hands of impresario John Hammond. The record had been made in 1927 but didn't come to Hammond's attention until 6 years later.
Under Hammond's guidance, the record was remade and released to great acclaim. Hammond next booked Lewis, Ammons and Pete Johnson into his legendary "From Spirituals to Swing" concert which boosted the popularity of all three players. The trio performed often together, rising to become the top Boogie-Woogie pianists of the day with Lewis leading the pack. They had an extended run at the Cafe' Society, toured as a trio and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records. Their popularity spurred on the Boogie-Woogie craze which lasted for nearly a decade.
As Boogie-Woogie popularity began to wane, Lewis experimented on the celeste and the harpsichord and explored playing old rags and pop songs. He also appeared in the movies "New Orleans" and "Nightmare" and had an uncredited part in "It's A Wonderful Life" playing piano in a scene where George Bailey gets thrown out of a bar. He continued playing in Chicago and California up until his death in a car accident at the age of 58.
Happy Birthday, Memphis Slim...September 3, 1915-February 24, 1988...His father played piano and guitar and operated juke joints and in his honor, John Len Chatman would first record under his father's name, Peter Chatman. He soon changed his name to Memphis Slim but would continue to publish some of his 500 songs under his father's name. Memphis Slim got his start in the 1930's in the honky-tonks and dance halls around Arkansas and Missouri, moving up to Chicago in 1939 to work with Big Bill Broonzy as his piano player. In 1940 Slim recorded his first sides for Blue Bird records, "Beer Drinking Woman" and "Grinder Man Blues" which would remain on his song list for decades.
Slim became a regular session musician for Blue Bird, playing piano for Sonny Boy Williamson, Washboard Sam, Jazz Gillum as well as Broonzy. Slim was influenced by the style of Roosevelt Sykes early on, but Broonzy encouraged him to develop a style of his own. After WW2, Slim went about creating a sound for himself that would become one of the major influences of jump-blues. He put together his own band, the "House Rockers" and cut two classics in 1947, "Lend Me Your Love" and "Rockin' The House." The next year he recorded his biggest hit, "Nobody Loves Me," later covered by dozens of others including Joe Williams, Lou Rawls, Natalie Cole, Eric Clapton and B.B. King as "Every Day I Have The Blues."
Slim tended to jump around on record labels but what he recorded was solid. "The Come Back", Sassy Mae" and "Memphis Slim U.S.A" all made the charts toward the end of the 50's. In all he recorded more than 20 albums under his name and appeared on many more as a side man. Like many other African American artists of the time, Slim tired of the difficulties of being black and on the road in the segregated Unites States. When an offer came to play in Europe, he jumped at the chance and never came back.
In 1960, Slim made his first trip out of the U.S. on a tour of Europe. In 1962, Dixon put together the first of a series of American Folk Festival concerts with Memphis Slim as a featured artist. Slim found the more open environment invigorating and moved to Paris permanently. His engaging personality, and fine tuned playing style, story and history telling of the blues made him a popular entertainer. He was one of the most popular blues players in Europe for almost thirty years.
He died of renal failure at the age of 72.
Happy Birthday, Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly...August 23, 1912-February 2, 1996...Born to a working class family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly never lost his sense of belonging to the streets. He brought dance into real life situations in his movies, performing most of the time in street clothes and everyday settings. "All of my dancing came out of the idea of the common man," he explained. His dancing had a casual grace, exciting athleticism and an earthy masculinity that had not been seen in films before. Besides a dancer, he was a singer, actor, film director, producer, choreographer and a major innovator of the musical on film.
Kelly was 8 when his mother enrolled him and his older brother in dance classes which led to a great deal of teasing by the neighborhood boys. Both brothers rebelled and Kelly used his natural athletic ability playing sports and dreaming of playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates instead. He returned to dance on his own initiative because in his words, "At 14 I discovered girls. At that time dancing was the only way you could put your arm around a girl. Dancing was courtship. Only later did I discover you dance joy, you dance love, you dance dreams."
While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Kelly taught dance classes at the two dance schools opened by his parents. In 1937 he decided to quit law school and head for New York to work as an entertainer and choreographer. He got his first part on Broadway in 1938 in the Cole Porter musical "Leave It To Me". Other small parts followed until his big breakthrough in 1939 in "The Time Of Your Life" where he danced to his own choreography for the first time. His leading role in "Pal Joey" in 1940 made him a star. In an effort to describe his style of dance to reporters he put it this way, "I don't believe in conformity to any school of dancing. I create what the drama and the music demand. While I am 100 percent for ballet technique, I use only what I can adapt to my own use. I never let technique get in the way of meed or continuity."
In 1941 Hollywood came knocking and Kelly made his first film with Judy Garland. "For Me and My Gal" was a popular movie and Kelly remained a big Judy Garland fan, calling her, "The finest all-round performer we ever had in America...There was no limit to her talent. She was the quickest, brightest person I ever worked with." Two more popular movies followed, "DuBarry Was A Lady" and "Thousands Cheer" where he got to dance with a mop in his own choreography for the first time on film.
In 1944 he created an innovative choreography, dancing with himself, in "Cover Girl" which lead to "Anchors Aweigh", a movie filled with a range of his own choreographed routines including a now iconic dance with the cartoon Jerry Mouse. The movie was the most successful film of 1945 and earned him his only Academy Award nomination for best actor. In 1946 Kelly teamed up with the other male dance icon of the era, Fred Astaire, in the film "Zeigfeld Follies". The two men got along well together. Kelly explained their dance differences this way, "It wasn't a battle of the dancers, but our different styles were purposefully made apparent. My style is strong, wide open; Fred's is intimate, cool, easy. He can give an audience pleasure just by walking across a dance floor. Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat."
At the end of 1944 Kelly enlisted in the U.S. Navel Air Service and was sent to Washington, D.C. where he worked writing and directing documentaries; sparking his interest in working in the production side of film making. His first film after returning from duty was a flop but contained two innovative dance scenes, one with a very well trained dog and the other an exciting play on children's games that showed off Kelly's grace and athletic prowess. "The Pirate" followed, another disappointment at the box office, but it did contain a stunning routine with the Nicholas Brothers. Kelly worked steadily through the latter part of the 40's, always struggling to get his ideas about dance into his films. His big opportunity came when he was given the green light for "On The Town".
"On The Town" took dance out of the studio and integrated it with the story line and the place. Kelly directed the film and was the co-choreographer with Stanley Donen. "The film was a milestone," Kelly explained in 1977, "It was the first musical to be shot on location. We took the musical off the sound stage and showed that it could be realistic. The idea of doing such a thing was anathema to the studio moguls. We shot a lot of it in New York and showed sailors getting off their ship in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and singing and dancing through the streets of New York. You can't imagine how crazy everyone thought this was at the time, but it changed the face of musicals. The picture has dated a bit, but it's the closest to my heart." His next big films would secure Kelly's name in the pantheon of major figures in movie musicals.
"An American In Paris", made in 1951, won six Academy Awards, including best picture, and Kelly was given a special award for his contribution to film musicals and choreography. The film introduced Leslie Caron and the 17 minute ballet scene she danced with Kelly was the most expensive production number filmed up until that time and was hailed as a masterpiece. "Singing In the Rain" came next in 1951, and although it was extremely popular upon release, it's gain in popularity came over time, eventually becoming the most beloved movie musical of all time. During the iconic "Singing in the Rain" sequence, Kelly was suffering from the flu with a 101 temperature. Two blocks of a back lot had to be covered with black tarps to achieve the desired effect of nighttime and when it was set up Kelly insisted on doing the scene. It was done in one take with most of it improvised.
In an effort to help the general public understand the importance of dance, Kelly directed and choreographed two projects. "Invitation to the Dance", in 1956, was a plot-less, three part dance film that went nowhere in the box office. Movie musicals were on the wain and the timing was wrong. In 1958, "Dancing Is a Man's Game" was shown on NBC television as a way to introduce the sheer physicality, manliness and athleticism of male athletes as dancers to counter the effeminate connotations the art had for men in society in the 50's.
Kelly continued to make films through the 60's and 70's but spent more and more time behind the camera instead of in front of it, directing "Hello Dolly" and "The Cheyenne Social Club". He also spent time working in television and returned to Broadway. In his last performance onscreen he danced in roller skates in the movie "Xanadu" in 1980. Kelly's health declined precipitously during the 1980's. He died from complications of two strokes at the age of 83 in 1996.
Betsy Blair, Kelly's first wife described Kelly's impact on the male performer in dance this way, "A sailor suit or his white socks and loafers, or the t-shirts on his muscular torso, gave everyone the feeling that he was a regular guy, and perhaps they too could express love and joy by dancing in the street or stomping through puddles...he democratized the dance in movies."
Happy Birthday, William "Count" Basie...August 21, 1904-April 26, 1984...Basie was one of the most important bandleaders of swing. He didn't compose like Ellington or lead as a soloist like Benny Goodman, his instrument was his tight, swinging band which had a profound effect on swing and jazz in general. Born in Red Bank, N.J., the young Basie soon surpassed what his piano playing mother could teach him. He had a knack for playing by ear all of the tunes he would hear at the local theater but his first love was the drums. When he realized his fellow Red Bank native, Sonny Greer, could best him on the drum set, Basie renewed his interest in the piano.
At age 16 he began playing at local parties and venues, moving on to Harlem in 1924 where he studied stride piano with some of the Harlem greats and organ with Fats Waller. Basie began his dream of a traveling life by joining the T.O.B.P. vaudeville circuit and later the Gonzelle White vaudeville show which eventually left him stranded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1927. After a brief stint playing piano in silent movie houses, Basie joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1928 where he met the blues shouter Jimmy Rushing, who would later play a big role in the early Basie orchestra. The Blue Devils were a snappy, bluesy band that mainly covered the Texas and Oklahoma territories. Basie stayed with the band until 1929 then join Benny Moten's band.
Moten's band played in the "Kansas City Stomp" style which had a preference for a 4/4 beat over the usual 2/4 beat of the time, resulting in a smoother sound, and played from head-memory rather than sight reading which also contributed to more improvisation. Basie stayed with the band until Moten's untimely death in 1935. Basie then formed his own band with many of the Moten players with the addition of Lester Young, playing in local Kansas City clubs and on the radio. In the fall of 1936 "Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm" moved to Chicago and took up residence at the Grand Terrace Room. John Hammond heard the group over the radio and hired them to make recordings of four sides which included "Shoe Shine Boy", "Evening", "Boogie Woogie" and "Oh, Lady Be Good". Hammond called the session, "the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I've ever had anything to do with."
New York was the next stop for the group in 1937 where they appeared at the Roseland Ballroom, the Apollo and the Savoy where they famously battled Chick Webb's band. Basie had Billie Holiday as his vocalist, Webb had Ella Fitzgerald and Metronome magazine described the outcome this way, "Basie's Brilliant Band Conquers Chick's". The band gained fan momentum and moved into a spot at The Famous Door, a mid-town club with a CBS radio feed. In 1939 they made a cross-country tour which included their first West Coast appearances. The movies came next.
From 1942-1943 Basie and the band made guest appearances in several films and shorts. They also began recording with RCA but the musician strike of 1942-44 and the constant over-turn of musicians because of the war took it's toll. The band was as swinging as ever but musical tastes were changing, the big band sound was no longer in vogue and crooners were taking over the popular music scene. Basie broke up the group in 1950, continuing to perform in smaller group settings.
Prompted by singer Billy Eckstine, Basie reformed a 16 piece band in 1952 and with the help of Norman Ganz, got bookings at Birdland and recorded on several record labels. Although he added some bebop to his arrangements he insisted that it "all had to have feeling". The band kept it's strong rhythmic pulse and Basie noted that, "...it doesn't matter what they do up front; the audience gets the beat." The band soon began touring again and made it's first trip to Europe in 1958. European cities were hungry for the sound of American jazz and many African American musicians and singers were happy to be away from the racial segregation they suffered at home. Europe became a viable alternative for many outstanding American jazz stars. The band also released several hit recordings during this time.
In the 60's Basie and band members were featured on numerous television shows and continued to tour and record. Las Vegas shows were especially popular and the band began playing on cruises. It was during that time that Basie adopted his trademark yachting cap. He made a few more movie appearances in the 70's, most notably in "Blazing Saddles" and continued the band up until the early 80's. He died at the age of 79 from pancreatic cancer.
During his tenure as a band leader, Basie nurtured the talent of of legends of young musicians and singers. As a musician, his heart was always with the blues but he was also fond of a smooth driving rhythm, "If you play a tune and the person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune." For nearly fifty years he remained consistent in his vision creating one of the unique and iconic voices of jazz.
Happy birthday, Mae West...August 17, 1893-November 22, 1980...Little Mary Jane West spent her formative years visiting vaudeville and plays with her mother Tillie, reveling in the bright lights, dazzling costumes and make-believe world. It would be the famous Bert Williams who would influence her the most with his skill with double entendre and innuendo. Tillie had unrequited dreams of becoming an actress and she threw her energy into her precocious daughter who by the age of 7 was winning prizes in amateur shows. At 14, West was performing in vaudeville shows and when those bookings were scarce, she worked the burlesque circuit. She made a few small but memorable performances on Broadway before getting her first big break in a show called "Sometime" opposite Ed Wynn. Her character Mayme danced the brazen Shimmy and West was such a hit that her image appeared on the sheet music.
More plays followed but West was not content to play it straight and often rewrote and changed her characters to suit her own persona. She had her first starring role on Broadway in 1926 in a play she wrote, produced and directed entitled "Sex". It was a hit with the Broadway audiences but the more conservative critics called it obscene. The show was raided and West was arrested, along with most of the cast, convicted on morals charges and spent 10 days in jail. It was the best publicity she could have asked for.
Her next production was called "Drag", which dealt with homosexuality, got rave reviews on the road but when she announced it would open on Broadway the Society for the Prevention of Vice vowed to ban it. Not wanting to tempt fate again, the play did not open in New York. West continued to write plays for the next several years, always involving adult subject matter and always skirting just outside what was considered acceptable. On several occasions the actors learned two scripts, one for general audiences and one for when the vice squad was rumored to be in the house.
In 1932 Hollywood came knocking. At 38 she was well passed the age when most new film actresses could command a starring role but West's beauty and persona convinced the studio otherwise. In 1933 she played the leading female character Lady Lou in "She Done Him Wrong" based on a play she had written earlier and starring a young Cary Grant. In the film she spoke her famous line, "Why don't you come up sometime and see me." The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture and helped save Paramount Studios from bankruptcy. Her next film "I'm No Angel" was also a huge success and by 1935, West was the second highest paid person in the U.S. behind William Randolph Hearst.
West's steamy productions caught the attention of not only the adoring public but the Motion Picture Production Code. Her scripts began to be meticulously checked for "inappropriate" material which made her even more creative with how she manipulated dialog and delivery. For the most part she got away with it but it became a struggle to maintain her own creative integrity. The movies that West made toward the end of the 30's were not as popular and an appearance as herself on Edgar Bergen's radio show further enraged the censors. Moral groups went after the show's sponsors and West was banned from further NBC productions.
In 1939, West was approached by Universal Pictures to do a remake of "Destry Rides Again" costarring W.C. Fields. West demanded creative control, wrote the script and despite tension between the stars (West was a tee-totaler while Fields was famously not) the movie was a comeback for both of them. Her last film of that era in 1943 when she was 50 did poorly in the box office and West did not make another until the 1970's when she appeared in Gore Vidal's "Myra Breckenridge" and, in 1979, her own film "Sextette".
In the 50's West went on the road with a variation of her stage act which featured hunky men fawning over her, song and dance numbers and her usual racy dialog. The show was a great success and ran for three years. She also appeared in Las Vegas and made made several record albums, among them a Christmas album which was not one of religious celebration. West went into retirement and wrote her autobiography, "Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It" recounting her experiences in show business. A year after her last film appearance in "Sextette" West died from complications of a stroke at the age of 87. When asked about all of the censorship she endured throughout her career, West replied in her usual witty way, "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."
Happy Birthday, Jeni Le Gon...August 14, 1916-December 7, 2012..."I danced like a boy-I did flips and knee drops and toe stands and all that kind of business. That Michael (Jackson) fella, they say he invented toe stands. All the girls from my era did that." Jeni Le Gon was one of the first African-American women to develop a solo career in tap dancing. She distinguished herself by wearing pants and low-heeled shoes which allowed her to showcase her acrobatic, energetic style, performing mule kicks and flying splits with excellent rhythm and precision. Growing up in Chicago, she learned the fundamentals in her neighborhood, getting her first job at the age of 13 in musical theater then moving on to be a chorus girl for Count Basie's orchestra when she was 16.
Shortly after, Le Gon joined the Whitman Sisters, the most successful act on the TBOA circuit. The all-black, women owned company gave a start to hundreds of young female dancers and Le Gon was a stand out. In 1935, while in Los Angeles performing with the company, Le Gon was offered her first role in a film in "Hooray for Love" appearing along side Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Fats Waller. Waller was so taken by her talent that he hired her as a vocalist and dancer with his band. In 1936 she traveled to Britain to perform in the review "Follow the Sun" and appeared as a cabaret dancer in the British film "Dishonor Bright" later that year. It was an eye-opening experience for a young woman who was used to the injustices of segregated America. "I experienced being a real person for the first time. On board the ship and in Europe I was referred to as Miss Le Gon and that had never happened to me before."
Le Gon went on to make 20 films for Hollywood, most of them cast as a maid. She played a maid in the Fred Astaire vehicle "Easter Parade" and remained angry with him for decades after he refused to acknowledge her on the set even though they shared a rehearsal studio a few years before. "I played every kind of maid, that's all I ever did," she stated, "I was an East Indian, West Indian, African, Caribbean and black American." Eventually the roles dried up by the early 50's.
She appeared on Broadway periodically and made guest appearances on the television show "Amos and Andy". In 1953 she quit Hollywood and began a serious study of African and Caribbean percussion instruments. She formed her own band, playing her own style of music she called Jazz Caribe. While on tour in Canada in 1969, she found the enthusiastic fans and community a welcome change from her struggles in the States and moved there permanently. Her work with Toronto's Pelican Players Neighborhood Theater as a dancer and choreographer brought her back to Britain in 1985 for theater and television appearances. Her last stage appearances in the United States came after a 20 year absence in the review "Jazz Tap!" with the Nicholas Brothers in 1989 at the age of 73. "I made a living as a tap dancers as a youngster. And now it looks like I'm going to be making my living again at tap. It's come full circle."
In 1999, The National Film Board of Canada released the documentary "Jeni Le Gon: Living in a Great Big Way." Le Gon continued to teach tap dance in Canada. She died in Vancouver at the age of 96.
Happy Birthday, Oscar Peterson...August 15, 1925-December 23, 1997...Duke Ellington called him the "Maharajah of the keyboard" and many others call him one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Born in Montreal, Canada, Peterson's father insisted that all of his five children learn a musical instrument and at age 5 Oscar began to learn trumpet. A bout of tuberculosis fortuitously sent Peterson to the piano instead and he quickly surpassed what his father and older sister Daisy could teach him. Under the tutelage of classical pianist Paul de Marky, Peterson's skills blossomed, as well as his interest in other music forms. His interest in rag-time and boogie-woogie earned him the childhood nickname "Brown Bomber of Boogie-Woogie".
In 1940, at the age of fourteen, he won the national music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and dropped out of school to become a full time musician. He spent a few years with the Johnny Holms orchestra and then formed his own trio, gaining him popularity throughout Canada through live radio broadcasts from the Alberta Lounge in Montreal. It was the radio broadcasts that brought him to the attention of impresario Norman Grantz who presented his new found talent at a Carnegie Hall concert of "Jazz at the Philharmonic" in 1949. The relationship would continue throughout both of their lives.
Peterson joined Jazz at the Philharmonic as a full time touring member in 1950 at the age of 25 and was voted "Jazz Pianist of the Year" by the Downbeat Readers poll that same year, a title he would hold for the next consecutive 12 years. He toured the world with JATP as well as with his own trio. Peterson played with the best jazz musicians of his time, recording with Ray Brown, Joe Pass, Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Clark Terry and Louis Armstrong to name a few. His beautiful understated recordings with Ella Fitzgerald and Roy Eldridge are regarded as some of his best.
Although he worked in duo, trio, quartet, small band and big band settings, he preferred his famous trio with Herb Brown and Ray Ellis, a group he called the "most stimulating". When popular solo albums by pianists Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner hit the scene in the late 50's, Peterson responded with solo efforts of his own which proved so popular that he continued to record solo throughout his career. He was also an excellent singer with a warm baritone voice in the vein of Nat King Cole.
Peterson was also active as a teacher, composer, discographer and and a firm defender of the rights of Canada's multicultural community. His activism on the part of racial minorities earned him the Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor. His music awards and honors were numerous and included 8 Grammys and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1993, Peterson suffered a stroke which severely affected his left hand. That coupled with the arthritis he had suffered since youth restricted his playing at the end of his life but he continued to play, tour and record. He died quietly at home at the age of 82.
Happy Birthday, Hezekiah Leroy Gordon "Stuff Smith"...August 14, 1909-September 25, 1967...One of the preeminent jazz violinists of the swing era, Smith was also a hard drinking character, often wearing a tattered top hat and a stuffed parrot during his performances. Smith understood the value of showmanship as well as musicianship when it came to entertaining his audiences. His risk-taking playing style also helped to elevate the violin as a formidable jazz instrument.
Smith first learned violin as a child in Ohio from his violinist/boxer father. At age 15 he won a scholarship to study classical violin at Johnson. C. Smith University but according to Smith, once he heard Louis Armstrong play he set his sights on jazz. By the mid-20's he left school to tour with the Aunt Jemima Revue. In 1926 he joined Alphonse Trent's band as a singer and violinist. He took a side job with Jelly Roll Morton's band but left because he feel the band drowned out his sound. In 1930 he formed his own band with hopes of breaking into the New York City scene.
His big break came when his band was booked into the Onyx Club on the strength of their novelty song "I's a-Muggin". Stuff Smith and His Onyx Club Boys had a regular gig at the club until 1938. Along the way they made several recordings including "Muggin", "Here Comes the Man With the Jive" and "You'se a Viper" which was also a hit for Fats Waller in 1943. Trying to find a way to amplify the violin was always a struggle. While at the Onyx Club, the National Dobro Company custom made the "Vio-Lectric" for Smith making him one of the first to use electric amplification techniques on the instrument.
In 1939, Smith left for the West Coast with the intent of making it into films but the opportunity never materialized and he found himself back at the Onyx Club in 1944, moving on to Chicago by 1945. Smith was a heavy drinker and found himself at odds with club owners, musicians, bookers and managers which had a major impact on his career. In 1950 he appeared regularly on broadcasts by Chicago DJ Al Benson but he was fired for getting into a fist fight with his host on the air. In 1951 he toured with Dizzy Gillespie and in 1953 made a recording with Herman Poole Blount who would later be known as Sun Ra. In 1956 he joined Nat King Cole on his hit album "After Midnight".
Although Smith was not a fan of Be-bop his playing style complemented many of the musicians of that era. His wide vibrato, the ability to create sharp tones as well as bluesy wails and his harmonious adventurousness garnered him a good deal of admiration from many of the Be-bop musicians. His tours with Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and collaborations with violinists Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappellie were very successful. In 1965 Smith relocated to Copenhagen, Denmark to further tour Europe but with half of his liver and stomach already removed as a consequence of his heavy drinking he would only last another two years before his death in Munich at the age of 58.
Happy Birthday, Anna Mae Winburn...August 13, 1913-September 30, 1999...Ana Mae Winburn was a triple threat; Bandleader, singer and drop-dead gorgeous. As a bandleader, she had an eye for talent and a dogged determination to overcome racial and gender prejudices to lift her talented players into the jazz pantheon where they belonged.
Born in Tennessee but raised in Indiana, Winburn entered a talent contest in her teens and won a spot on a local radio station singing for a white band. From there she moved to Nebraska where she sang and played guitar in several territory bands lead by Red Perkins. She moved on to lead Lloyd Hunters Serenaders but the draft during WW2 decimated their ranks and they were disbanded. The Kansas City Blue Devils, which included among them the amazing Charlie Christian, were looking for a leader and Winburn took over the job, changing the name to Anna Mae Winburn and her Cotton Boys. The band was touring successfully throughout the Midwest when once again, Winburn found herself adrift. As she told it, "We were a tremendous hit, packing in crowds everywhere until one night in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when jazz producer and entrepreneur, John Hammond, came through town with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra. They were playing a benefit and some of my musicians asked me if they could sit in and show them what they could do. I told them they could as long as they didn't disrupt the dance." Hammond was so impressed that he hired them on the spot and took them back to New York.
It was at that time she was approached by the owner of the Dreamland Ballroom, Jimmie Jewel, to lead the all-female orchestra The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. At the time the band was made up primarily of 18 young female musicians from the Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi and Winburn was reluctant. Winburn said of her first meeting, "What a bunch of cute little girls, but I don't know if I can get along with that many women or not." But she soon changed her mind, "When I first saw those girls I was really amazed. They were very young and composed of many different races and nationalities. Some of them were mulattoes and some were part Italian or Chinese. When they came onstage in their colorful gowns they looked like a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers." And with the addition of some new professional players, they could also swing as hard or harder than their male competition.
Much of their touring took place throughout the South and Midwest where the good-old-boy network keep their exposure to a minimum. Audiences in the Northeast were in mostly black venues and ballrooms which also kept their profile low. That, and the fact that bookings dried up after the war when the male players returned, closed the chapter on possibly the greatest all-female band of all time. "We never got the recognition we deserved. Men would say. 'Oh, they're a bunch of cute girls but they really can't play.' They were wrong. I'd put put some of those girls up against any man. People are now just realizing how good those girls really were."
Winburn retired from jazz in the 50's. "The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were way ahead of their time and they did a lot to break down racial and sexual prejudice in this country," Winburn said. "We were a close knit family of 18 girls who helped bring people together through the International language of jazz."
