1907 Blind Boy Fuller*
1939 Mavis Staples*
1941 Jelly Roll Morton+
1958 Barrelhouse Chuck*
1972 Lovie Austin+
Happy Birthday
Barrelhouse Chuck *10.07.1958
Barrelhouse Chuck (born Charles Goering, July 10, 1958) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues pianist, keyboardist, singer, and songwriter.[1]
He claims to be the only Chicago blues pianist to have studied under Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Blind John Davis, Detroit Junior and Little Brother Montgomery.[2] To date, his work has appeared on fourteen albums.
He was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, United States, and learned to play the drums by the age of six.[4] He later graduated to the piano, and had relocated with his family to Gainesville, Florida, before he first heard a Muddy Waters record.[2] It was by listening to blues records that Barrelhouse Chuck learned the techniques of blues piano playing.[4] He formed his own bands including The Red Rooster Band and Red House plus Barrelhouse Chuck & The Blue Lights in his teenage years, and followed Muddy Waters around the Southern United States trying to pick up playing tips from his pianist Pinetop Perkins. In 1979, he drove from Florida to Chicago, Illinois, to introduce himself to Sunnyland Slim. Barrelhouse Chuck spent the next decade and a half studying his playing, along with other Chicago blues musicians including Blind John Davis, Little Brother Montgomery and Erwin Helfer. In the company of Montgomery for a long time, Barrelhouse Chuck later remarked "Little Brother was like a grandfather to me".[2]
Over the years, Barrelhouse Chuck has played or recorded with Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, and Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers.[2] For a time in the late 1990s he played with Mississippi Heat, and undertook a tour with Nick Moss and the Flip Tops.[4]
His debut album, Salute to Sunnyland Slim, was released on Blue Loon Records in 1999, and contained supporting work from S.P. Leary, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.[5] It was re-issued in 2005. The follow-up was Prescription for the Blues (2002), when Erwin Helfer appeared on three tracks.[6][3] Kim Wilson played the harmonica on Barrelhouse Chuck's 2006 offering, Got My Eyes on You.[7]
In February 2008, Wilson asked Barrelhouse Chuck to assist in recording the soundtrack for the film, Cadillac Records.[2] His other credits include numerous appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival.[2]
As of 2012, Barrelhouse Chuck maintains a full performance schedule in Chicago, around the United States, and occasionally abroad, including a regular solo appearance on Wednesday nights at The Barrelhouse Flat, a bar in Lincoln Park.[8]
On February 24, 2012, Barrelhouse Chuck played at the "Howlin' For Hubert" concert at The Apollo Theater.
In 2013 and 2014, Barrelhouse Chuck was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Pinetop Perkins Piano Player' category. In 2014 Drifting from Town to Town was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Traditional Blues Album Award Of The Year' category.
Blind Boy Fuller *10.07.1907
Blind Boy Fuller (eigentlich Fulton Allen; * 10. Juli 1907 in Wadesboro, North Carolina; † 13. Februar 1941 in Durham, North Carolina) war ein einflussreicher US-amerikanischer Blues-Musiker. Blind Boy Fuller, der Star des Piedmont Blues, wird bisweilen mit Robert Johnson, dem König des Delta Blues verglichen.
Über die frühen Jahre von Blind Boy Fuller ist wenig bekannt. Er ist wohl zwischen 1903 und 1908 in Wadesboro, North Carolina, geboren. Der Blues-Forscher Bruce Bastin legt sich auf den 10. Juli 1907 als Geburtstag fest.
Als Fullers Mutter starb, zog die Familie nach Rockingham, North Carolina. Hier lernte er Cora Mae Martin kennen, die er 1926 heiratete. Bei der Hochzeit war sie 14, er 18 Jahre alt. Wenig später erblindete Fuller vollständig; als Ursache wird ein Tumor vermutet. Eine unbestätigte Legende berichtet jedoch von einer eifersüchtigen Geliebten, die ihm Chemikalien in die Augen schüttete.
Das junge Paar zog nach Durham, North Carolina. Hier lernte Fuller Reverend Gary Davis kennen, der sein Lehrmeister wurde. Fuller verdiente seinen Lebensunterhalt als Straßenmusiker. Der Geschäftsmann und Talentsucher James Baxter Long ermöglichte ihm 1935 Aufnahmen in New York, zusammen mit Gary Davis und Bull City Red. Es folgten Soloaufnahmen 1936 und 1937, die sich recht gut verkauften.
Um diese Zeit begann Fuller, mit dem Mundharmonika-Virtuosen Sonny Terry aufzutreten, mit dem er einige gemeinsame Aufnahmen machte. 1938 wurde bei Fuller Syphilis diagnostiziert; sein Zustand verschlechterte sich zusehends. Anfang 1941 machte Fuller in Chicago seine letzten Aufnahmen zusammen mit Red und Terry. Er starb im Februar 1941 und wurde in Durham beigesetzt.
2004 wurde Blind Boy Fuller in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Boy_Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1907[1] – February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.
Life and career
Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States, to Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. He was one of a family of 10 children, but after his mother's death he moved with his father to Rockingham. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, and traditional songs and blues popular in poor, rural areas.
He married Cora Allen young and worked as a labourer, but began to lose his eyesight in his mid-teens. According to researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes, the original damage having been caused by some form of snow-blindness." Only the first part of this diagnosis was correct. A 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long-term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis.[2]
By 1928 he was completely blind, and turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and the "live" playing of Gary Davis, Allen became a formidable guitarist, and played on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, NC, Danville, VA, and then Durham, North Carolina. In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following which included guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, as well as harmonica player Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry, and washboard player/guitarist George Washington.
In 1935, Burlington record store manager and talent scout James Baxter Long secured him a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC). Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag". To promote the material, Long decided to rename Allen as "Blind Boy Fuller", and also named Washington Bull City Red.
Over the next five years Fuller made over 120 sides, and his recordings appeared on several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics explicit and uninhibited as he drew from every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind Black person on the streets—pawnshops, jailhouses, sickness, death—with an honesty that lacked sentimentality. Although he was not sophisticated, his artistry as a folk singer lay in the honesty and integrity of his self-expression. His songs contained desire, love, jealousy, disappointment, menace and humor.[3]
In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances, and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. The following year, after auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for the Decca label, but then reverted to ARC. Later in 1937, he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry. In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper,[citation needed] was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg, causing him to miss out on John Hammond's "From Spirituals to Swing" concert in NYC that year. While Fuller was eventually released, it was Sonny Terry who went in his stead, the beginning of a long "folk music" career. Fuller's last two recording sessions took place in New York City during 1940.
Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double entendre "hokum" songs such as "I Want Some Of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (the origin of the phrase "keep on truckin'"), and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (adapted as "Get Your Ya-Yas Out" for the origin of a later Rolling Stones album title), together with the autobiographical "Big House Bound" dedicated to his time spent in jail. Though much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues numbers, he possessed a formidable finger-picking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar.[4] He was criticised by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of other traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them into his own performances, attracted a broad audience.[citation needed] He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player, best remembered for his uptempo ragtime hits including "Step It Up and Go". At the same time he was capable of deeper material, and his versions of "Lost Lover Blues", "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" and "Mamie" are as deep as most Delta blues. Because of his popularity, he may have been overexposed on records, yet most of his songs remained close to tradition and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day.
Death
Fuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940 (probably an outcome of excessive drinking) but continued to require medical treatment. He died at his home in Durham, North Carolina on February 13, 1941 at 5 p.m. of pyemia due to an infected bladder, gastrointestinal tract and perineum, plus kidney failure.
He was so popular when he died that his protégé Brownie McGhee recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for the Okeh label, and then reluctantly began a short lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2 so that Columbia Records could cash in on his popularity.
Burial location
Blind Boy Fuller's final resting place is Grove Hill Cemetery, located on private property in Durham, North Carolina. State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. The only remaining headstone is that of Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, North Carolina, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941.[5]
Blind Boy Fuller has been recognized on two different plaques in the City of Durham. The North Carolina Division of Archives and History plaque is located a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. in Durham. The City of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, and the commemorating plaque is located along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property where Fuller's unmarked grave is located (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St.).
Life and career
Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States, to Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. He was one of a family of 10 children, but after his mother's death he moved with his father to Rockingham. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, and traditional songs and blues popular in poor, rural areas.
He married Cora Allen young and worked as a labourer, but began to lose his eyesight in his mid-teens. According to researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes, the original damage having been caused by some form of snow-blindness." Only the first part of this diagnosis was correct. A 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long-term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis.[2]
By 1928 he was completely blind, and turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and the "live" playing of Gary Davis, Allen became a formidable guitarist, and played on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, NC, Danville, VA, and then Durham, North Carolina. In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following which included guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, as well as harmonica player Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry, and washboard player/guitarist George Washington.
In 1935, Burlington record store manager and talent scout James Baxter Long secured him a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC). Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag". To promote the material, Long decided to rename Allen as "Blind Boy Fuller", and also named Washington Bull City Red.
Over the next five years Fuller made over 120 sides, and his recordings appeared on several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics explicit and uninhibited as he drew from every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind Black person on the streets—pawnshops, jailhouses, sickness, death—with an honesty that lacked sentimentality. Although he was not sophisticated, his artistry as a folk singer lay in the honesty and integrity of his self-expression. His songs contained desire, love, jealousy, disappointment, menace and humor.[3]
In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances, and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. The following year, after auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for the Decca label, but then reverted to ARC. Later in 1937, he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry. In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper,[citation needed] was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg, causing him to miss out on John Hammond's "From Spirituals to Swing" concert in NYC that year. While Fuller was eventually released, it was Sonny Terry who went in his stead, the beginning of a long "folk music" career. Fuller's last two recording sessions took place in New York City during 1940.
Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double entendre "hokum" songs such as "I Want Some Of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (the origin of the phrase "keep on truckin'"), and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (adapted as "Get Your Ya-Yas Out" for the origin of a later Rolling Stones album title), together with the autobiographical "Big House Bound" dedicated to his time spent in jail. Though much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues numbers, he possessed a formidable finger-picking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar.[4] He was criticised by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of other traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them into his own performances, attracted a broad audience.[citation needed] He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player, best remembered for his uptempo ragtime hits including "Step It Up and Go". At the same time he was capable of deeper material, and his versions of "Lost Lover Blues", "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" and "Mamie" are as deep as most Delta blues. Because of his popularity, he may have been overexposed on records, yet most of his songs remained close to tradition and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day.
Death
Fuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940 (probably an outcome of excessive drinking) but continued to require medical treatment. He died at his home in Durham, North Carolina on February 13, 1941 at 5 p.m. of pyemia due to an infected bladder, gastrointestinal tract and perineum, plus kidney failure.
He was so popular when he died that his protégé Brownie McGhee recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for the Okeh label, and then reluctantly began a short lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2 so that Columbia Records could cash in on his popularity.
Burial location
Blind Boy Fuller's final resting place is Grove Hill Cemetery, located on private property in Durham, North Carolina. State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. The only remaining headstone is that of Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, North Carolina, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941.[5]
Blind Boy Fuller has been recognized on two different plaques in the City of Durham. The North Carolina Division of Archives and History plaque is located a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. in Durham. The City of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, and the commemorating plaque is located along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property where Fuller's unmarked grave is located (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St.).
Mavis Staples *10.07.1939
Mavis Staples (* 10. Juli 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) ist eine US-amerikanische Blues- und Soulsängerin sowie Grammy-Preisträgerin.Staples ist eine Tochter von Pops Staples, mit dem sie seit 1951 zunächst im Gospelgenre auftrat. Erste Erfolge feierte sie als Mitglied der Staple Singers, die sich in der Bürgerrechtsbewegung engagierten und bis heute bestehen. Seit 1969 hat sie außerdem eine Solokarriere gestartet. Sie arbeitete auch mit Prince zusammen.
Staples ist in Filmen wie The Last Waltz, Wattstax, New York Undercover und in der The Cosby Show aufgetreten.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Staples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZmZ1Pt6C0#t=19
Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.
Biography
Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from what is now Paul Robeson High School in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Purvis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."
With Mavis' voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops' close friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth."
During a December 20, 2008 appearance on National Public Radio's news show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me," when Staples was asked about her past personal relationship with Dylan, she admitted they "were good friends, yes indeed" and that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage.[1]
The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," and a No. 2 single "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?"
Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960s.[2] The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.
Staples made a major national return with the release of the album Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.
In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez. A new album for Anti- Records entitled We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[3]
Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend, Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.
In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews,[who?] with 225 of the academy's students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.
Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.[4]
In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.[5]
On October 30, 2010, Staples performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear alongside singer Jeff Tweedy. In 2011 she was joined on-stage at the Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival by Arcade Fire singer Win Butler. The two performed a version of "The Weight" by the Band.[6]
Staples also performed at the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors, singing in a tribute to Paul McCartney, an honoree.
On February 13, 2011, Mavis Staples won her first Grammy award in the category for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone. In her acceptance speech, a shocked and crying Staples said "This has been a long time coming."[7]
On May 7, 2011, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
On May 6, 2012, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate, and performed "I'll Take You There" with current and graduating students at Columbia College Chicago's 2012 Commencement Exercise in Chicago, Illinois at the historic Chicago Theatre.
Mavis headlined on June 10, 2012 at Chicago's Annual Blues Festival in Grant Park.
Film and television
During her career Staples has appeared in many films and television shows, including The Last Waltz, Graffiti Bridge, Wattstax, New York Undercover, Songs of Praise, Soul Train, Soul to Soul, The Psychiatrist, and The Cosby Show.
In January 2015, it was announced that a feature documentary, Mavis!, about Staples and her family group directed by filmmaker Jessica Edwards, would have its World Premiere at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Biography
Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from what is now Paul Robeson High School in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Purvis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."
With Mavis' voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops' close friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth."
During a December 20, 2008 appearance on National Public Radio's news show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me," when Staples was asked about her past personal relationship with Dylan, she admitted they "were good friends, yes indeed" and that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage.[1]
The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," and a No. 2 single "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?"
Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960s.[2] The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.
Staples made a major national return with the release of the album Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.
In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez. A new album for Anti- Records entitled We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[3]
Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend, Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.
In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews,[who?] with 225 of the academy's students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.
Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.[4]
In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.[5]
On October 30, 2010, Staples performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear alongside singer Jeff Tweedy. In 2011 she was joined on-stage at the Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival by Arcade Fire singer Win Butler. The two performed a version of "The Weight" by the Band.[6]
Staples also performed at the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors, singing in a tribute to Paul McCartney, an honoree.
On February 13, 2011, Mavis Staples won her first Grammy award in the category for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone. In her acceptance speech, a shocked and crying Staples said "This has been a long time coming."[7]
On May 7, 2011, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
On May 6, 2012, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate, and performed "I'll Take You There" with current and graduating students at Columbia College Chicago's 2012 Commencement Exercise in Chicago, Illinois at the historic Chicago Theatre.
Mavis headlined on June 10, 2012 at Chicago's Annual Blues Festival in Grant Park.
Film and television
During her career Staples has appeared in many films and television shows, including The Last Waltz, Graffiti Bridge, Wattstax, New York Undercover, Songs of Praise, Soul Train, Soul to Soul, The Psychiatrist, and The Cosby Show.
In January 2015, it was announced that a feature documentary, Mavis!, about Staples and her family group directed by filmmaker Jessica Edwards, would have its World Premiere at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZmZ1Pt6C0#t=19
R.I.P.
Jelly Roll Morton +10.07.1941
„Jelly Roll“ Morton (* 20. September 1885[1] in Gulfport/Mississippi als Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe; † 10. Juli 1941 in Los Angeles) war ein US-amerikanischer Pianist, Komponist und Bandleader. Er gilt als einer der einflussreichen Jazzmusiker seiner Zeit.
Jelly Roll Morton wurde in Gulfport (Mississippi) geboren und wuchs in New Orleans (Louisiana) auf. Seine Mutter Laura La Menthe, geborene Monette, verließ ihren Ehemann F. P. „Ed“ La Menthe, den Vater Jelly Rolls, zu einer Zeit, als dieser noch ein Kind war. Sie heiratete daraufhin Willie Morton. Neben den Eltern spielten seine Großmutter Laura „Mimi“ Monette, geborene Baudoin, seine jüngeren Halbschwestern, von denen eine den Vornamen Amède trug, sein Cousin Dink Johnson sowie seine Patin Laura Hunter, von der in der Regel als Eulalie Echo berichtet wird, eine prägende Rolle im Leben von Jelly Roll Morton.
Sein Spitzname „Jelly Roll“ hatte einen sexuellen Hintersinn, der (zumindest) damals allgemein verstanden wurde, nach der herrschenden puritanischen Sprachnorm aber als unsittlich galt, und diente ursprünglich als Anspielung auf Mortons zahlreiche Affairen. Aus demselben Grunde gilt seine Interpretation des „Winin' Boy Blues“ als eine Art Erkennungsmelodie. Diese Komposition mit alternativem Text ist auch als „I'm Alabama Bound“ veröffentlicht.
Mortons Geburtsdatum ist umstritten. Eine Geburtsurkunde existiert nicht; die Angaben schwanken zwischen 1884 und 1890:
Seine Musterungspapiere für den Ersten Weltkrieg nennen den 13. September 1884.
Morton selbst gab den 20. September 1885 an.
Seine erste Ehefrau Anita Gonzales und seine elf Jahre jüngere Halbschwester Amède gaben 1886 als Geburtsjahr an.
Eine Versicherungspolice nennt das Jahr 1888.
Seine Todesurkunde weist 1889 als Geburtsjahr aus.
Eine Taufbescheinigung von 1894 gibt als Geburtstag den 20. Oktober 1890 an.
Er interessierte sich seit frühester Kindheit für Musik, was vermutlich darauf zurückzuführen ist, dass in seiner Familie große Begeisterung für amerikanische Volksmusik sowie für Opern und Operetten geherrscht hat. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist dann auch seine musikalische Anspielung auf die Verdi-Oper „Der Troubadour“ während der „Library of Congress Recordings“ („The Miserere“) zu sehen und zu verstehen. Als aktiver Musiker (Posaune) war bislang aber einzig Mortons Vater F. P. La Menthe in Erscheinung getreten. Darüber hinaus ist zu berücksichtigen, dass die kulturelle Vielfalt in New Orleans dem jungen Ferdinand Morton den Einblick in ein sehr breites Spektrum an musikalischen Strömungen ermöglicht haben dürfte. Als er im Alter von etwa zehn Jahren einen Pianisten in der französischen Oper in New Orleans spielen hörte, war er so fasziniert, dass er begann, Klavierunterricht zu nehmen. Belegt ist, dass er ab 1895 von dem angesehenen Lehrer Professor Nickerson in New Orleans unterrichtet wurde.
Zunächst fiel Morton als talentierter Gitarrist, Sänger und Harmonikaspieler auf. In seinen Erinnerungen nannte er Lieder wie „Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight“, „Wearing My Heart for You“, „Old Oaden Bucket“, „Bird in a Gilded Cage“, „Mr Johnson Turn Me Loose“ als Beispiele aus seinem Repertoire dieser Zeit. Als Beleg für seine Qualitäten sowohl auf der Gitarre als auch als Sänger dienen vor allem jene späten Aufnahmen, die Morton gemeinsam mit seinem Biographen Alan Lomax im Jahre 1938 in der Library of Congress in Washington D.C. getätigt hat.
1902 begann Morton, in der Öffentlichkeit, insbesondere im Vergnügungs- und Rotlichtviertel rund um die Basin Street in New Orleans, auf Paraden sowie auf Volksfesten in den vornehmen Vororten dieser Stadt (beispielhaft dafür die Aufnahmen „Milenberg Joys“ und „New Orleans Blues“), zeitgenössische Ragtimes, Lieder und Tänze zu spielen. Als seine streng gläubige Großmutter, bei der er nach dem Tod der Mutter gemeinsam mit seinen jüngeren Schwestern lebte, von der „unseriösen“ Tätigkeit ihres Enkels erfuhr, zwang sie ihn, auszuziehen. Nachdem er übergangsweise bei seiner Patin Laura Hunter / Eulalie Echo unterkommen konnte, reiste er durch viele Städte der Südstaaten der USA (Gulfport/Mississippi, Mobile/Alabama, Memphis/Tennessee, St. Louis/Missouri, Kansas City/Kansas) sowie durch Kalifornien und nach Chicago/Illinois. Überall dort trat er als Pianist auf.
weiterlesen: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (October 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941),[1] known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer who started his career in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton is perhaps most notable as jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential spirit and characteristics when notated.[2] His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition, in 1915. Morton is also notable for naming and popularizing the "Spanish Tinge" (habanera rhythm and tresillo), and for writing such standards as "King Porter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say", the last a tribute to New Orleans musicians from the turn of the 19th century to 20th century.
Reputed for his arrogance and self-promotion as often as recognized in his day for his musical talents, Morton claimed to have invented jazz outright in 1902—much to the derision of later musicians and critics.[3] The jazz historian, musician, and composer Gunther Schuller says of Morton's "hyperbolic assertions" that there is "no proof to the contrary" and that Morton's "considerable accomplishments in themselves provide reasonable substantiation".[4] However, the scholar Katy Martin has argued that Morton's bragging was exaggerated by Alan Lomax in the book Mister Jelly Roll, and this portrayal has influenced public opinion and scholarship on Morton since.[5]
Biography
Early life and education
Morton was born into a creole of color family in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Sources differ as to his birth date: a baptismal certificate issued in 1894 lists his date of birth as October 20, 1890; Morton and his half-sisters claimed he was born on September 20, 1885.[citation needed] His World War I draft registration card showed September 13, 1884, but his California death certificate listed his birth as September 20, 1889. He was born to F. P. Lamothe and Louise Monette (written as Lemott and Monett on his baptismal certificate). Eulaley Haco (Eulalie Hécaud) was the godparent. Hécaud helped choose his christening name of Ferdinand. His parents lived in a common-law marriage and were not legally married. No birth certificate has been found to date.
Ferdinand started playing music as a child, showing early talent. After his parents separated, his mother married a man named Mouton. Ferdinand took his stepfather's name and anglicized it as "Morton".
Musical career
At the age of fourteen, Morton began working as a piano player in a brothel (or, as it was referred to then, a sporting house). While working there, he was living with his religious, church-going great-grandmother; he had her convinced that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory.
In that atmosphere, he often sang smutty lyrics; he took the nickname "Jelly Roll",[6] which was black slang for female genitalia.[7]
After Morton's grandmother found out that he was playing jazz in a local brothel, she kicked him out of her house.
He said:
When my grandmother found out that I was playing jazz in one of the sporting houses in the District, she told me that I had disgraced the family and forbade me to live at the house... She told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall, but I just couldn't put it behind me.[8]
Tony Jackson, also a pianist at brothels and an accomplished guitar player, was a major influence on Morton's music. Jelly Roll said that Jackson was the only pianist better than he was.
Touring
Around 1904, Morton also started touring in the American South, working with minstrel shows, gambling and composing. His works "Jelly Roll Blues", "New Orleans Blues", "Frog-I-More Rag", "Animule Dance", and "King Porter Stomp" were composed during this period. He got to Chicago in 1910 and New York City in 1911, where future stride greats James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith caught his act, years before the blues were widely played in the North.[9]
In 1912–1914, Morton toured with his girlfriend Rosa Brown as a vaudeville act before settling in Chicago for three years. By 1914, he had started writing down his compositions. In 1915, his "Jelly Roll Blues" was arguably the first jazz composition ever published, recording as sheet music the New Orleans traditions that had been jealously guarded by the musicians. In 1917, he followed bandleader William Manuel Johnson and Johnson's sister Anita Gonzalez to California, where Morton's tango, "The Crave", made a sensation in Hollywood.[10]
Vancouver
Morton was invited to play a new Vancouver, British Columbia, nightclub called The Patricia, on East Hastings Street. The jazz historian Mark Miller described his arrival as "an extended period of itinerancy as a pianist, vaudeville performer, gambler, hustler, and, as legend would have it, pimp".[11]
Chicago
Morton returned to Chicago in 1923 to claim authorship of his recently published rag, "The Wolverines", which had become a hit as "Wolverine Blues" in the Windy City. He released the first of his commercial recordings, first as piano rolls, then on record, both as a piano soloist and with various jazz bands.[12]
In 1926, Morton succeeded in getting a contract to record for the largest and most prestigious company in the United States, Victor. This gave him a chance to bring a well-rehearsed band to play his arrangements in Victor's Chicago recording studios. These recordings by Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers are regarded as classics of 1920s jazz. The Red Hot Peppers featured such other New Orleans jazz luminaries as Kid Ory, Omer Simeon, George Mitchell, Johnny St. Cyr, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds, Baby Dodds, and Andrew Hilaire. Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers were one of the first acts booked on tours by MCA.[13]
Marriage and family
In November 1928, Morton married the showgirl Mabel Bertrand in Gary, Indiana.
New York City
They moved that year to New York City, where Morton continued to record for Victor. His piano solos and trio recordings are well regarded, but his band recordings suffer in comparison with the Chicago sides, where Morton could draw on many great New Orleans musicians for sidemen.[14] Although he recorded with the noted musicians clarinetists Omer Simeon, George Baquet, Albert Nicholas, Wilton Crawley, Barney Bigard, Russell Procope, Lorenzo Tio and Artie Shaw, trumpeters Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn and Henry "Red" Allen, saxophonists Sidney Bechet, Paul Barnes and Bud Freeman, bassist Pops Foster, and drummers Paul Barbarin, Cozy Cole and Zutty Singleton, Morton generally had trouble finding musicians who wanted to play his style of jazz. His New York sessions failed to produce a hit.[15]
With the Great Depression and the near collapse of the record industry, Victor did not renew Morton's recording contract for 1931. Morton continued playing in New York, but struggled financially. He briefly had a radio show in 1934, then took on touring in the band of a traveling burlesque act for some steady income. In 1935, Morton's 30-year-old composition King Porter Stomp, as arranged by Fletcher Henderson, became Benny Goodman's first hit and a swing standard, but Morton received no royalties from its recordings.[16]
Washington, D.C.
In 1935, Morton moved to Washington, D.C., to become the manager/piano player of a bar called, at various times, the "Music Box", "Blue Moon Inn", and "Jungle Inn" in the African-American neighborhood of Shaw. (The building that hosted the nightclub stands at 1211 U Street NW.) Morton was also the master of ceremonies, bouncer, and bartender of the club. He lived in Washington for a few years; the club owner allowed all her friends free admission and drinks, which prevented Morton from making the business a success.[17]
In 1938, Morton was stabbed by a friend of the owner and suffered wounds to the head and chest. After this incident, his wife Mabel demanded that they leave Washington.[17]
During Morton's brief residency at the Music Box, the folklorist Alan Lomax heard the pianist playing in the bar. In May 1938, Lomax invited Morton to record music and interviews for the Library of Congress. The sessions, originally intended as a short interview with musical examples for use by music researchers in the Library of Congress, soon expanded to record more than eight hours of Morton talking and playing piano. Lomax also conducted longer interviews during which he took notes but did not record. Despite the low fidelity of these non-commercial recordings, their musical and historical importance have attracted numerous jazz fans, and they have helped to ensure Morton's place in jazz history.[18]
Lomax was very interested in Morton's Storyville days in New Orleans and the ribald songs of the time. Although reluctant to recount and record these, Morton eventually obliged Lomax. Because of the suggestive nature of the songs, some of the Library of Congress recordings were not released until 2005.[18]
In his interviews, Morton claimed to have been born in 1885. He was aware that if he had been born in 1890, he would have been slightly too young to make a good case as the inventor of jazz. He said in the interview that Buddy Bolden played ragtime but not jazz; this is not accepted by the consensus of Bolden's other New Orleans contemporaries. The contradictions may stem from different definitions for the terms ragtime and jazz. These interviews, released in different forms over the years, were released on an eight-CD boxed set in 2005, The Complete Library of Congress Recordings. This collection won two Grammy Awards.[18] The same year, Morton was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Later years
When Morton was stabbed and wounded, a nearby whites-only hospital refused to treat him, as the city had racially segregated facilities. He was transported to a black hospital farther away.[citation needed] When he was in the hospital, the doctors left ice on his wounds for several hours before attending to his eventually fatal injury. His recovery from his wounds was incomplete, and thereafter he was often ill and easily became short of breath. Morton made a new series of commercial recordings in New York, several recounting tunes from his early years that he discussed in his Library of Congress interviews.[citation needed]
Worsening asthma sent him to a New York hospital for three months at one point. He continued to suffer from respiratory problems when visiting Los Angeles with a series of manuscripts of new tunes and arrangements, planning to form a new band and restart his career. Morton died on July 10, 1941, after an eleven-day stay in Los Angeles County General Hospital.
According to the jazz historian David Gelly in 2000, Morton's arrogance and "bumptious" persona alienated so many musicians over the years that no colleagues or admirers attended his funeral.[19] But, a contemporary news account of the funeral in the August 1, 1941, issue of Downbeat says that fellow musicians Kid Ory, Mutt Carey, Fred Washington and Ed Garland were among his pall bearers. The story notes the absence of Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford, both of whom were appearing in Los Angeles at the time. (The article is reproduced in Alan Lomax's biography of Morton, Mister Jelly Roll, University of California Press, 1950.)
Piano style
Morton's piano style was formed from early secondary ragtime and "shout",[citation needed] which also evolved separately into the New York school of stride piano. Morton's playing was also close to barrelhouse, which produced boogie woogie.[citation needed]
Morton often played the melody of a tune with his right thumb, while sounding a harmony above these notes with other fingers of the right hand. This added a rustic or "out-of-tune" sound (due to the playing of a diminished 5th above the melody). This may still be recognized as belonging to New Orleans. Morton also walked in major and minor sixths in the bass, instead of tenths or octaves. He played basic swing rhythms in both the left and right hand.
Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton is perhaps most notable as jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential spirit and characteristics when notated.[2] His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition, in 1915. Morton is also notable for naming and popularizing the "Spanish Tinge" (habanera rhythm and tresillo), and for writing such standards as "King Porter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say", the last a tribute to New Orleans musicians from the turn of the 19th century to 20th century.
Reputed for his arrogance and self-promotion as often as recognized in his day for his musical talents, Morton claimed to have invented jazz outright in 1902—much to the derision of later musicians and critics.[3] The jazz historian, musician, and composer Gunther Schuller says of Morton's "hyperbolic assertions" that there is "no proof to the contrary" and that Morton's "considerable accomplishments in themselves provide reasonable substantiation".[4] However, the scholar Katy Martin has argued that Morton's bragging was exaggerated by Alan Lomax in the book Mister Jelly Roll, and this portrayal has influenced public opinion and scholarship on Morton since.[5]
Biography
Early life and education
Morton was born into a creole of color family in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Sources differ as to his birth date: a baptismal certificate issued in 1894 lists his date of birth as October 20, 1890; Morton and his half-sisters claimed he was born on September 20, 1885.[citation needed] His World War I draft registration card showed September 13, 1884, but his California death certificate listed his birth as September 20, 1889. He was born to F. P. Lamothe and Louise Monette (written as Lemott and Monett on his baptismal certificate). Eulaley Haco (Eulalie Hécaud) was the godparent. Hécaud helped choose his christening name of Ferdinand. His parents lived in a common-law marriage and were not legally married. No birth certificate has been found to date.
Ferdinand started playing music as a child, showing early talent. After his parents separated, his mother married a man named Mouton. Ferdinand took his stepfather's name and anglicized it as "Morton".
Musical career
At the age of fourteen, Morton began working as a piano player in a brothel (or, as it was referred to then, a sporting house). While working there, he was living with his religious, church-going great-grandmother; he had her convinced that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory.
In that atmosphere, he often sang smutty lyrics; he took the nickname "Jelly Roll",[6] which was black slang for female genitalia.[7]
After Morton's grandmother found out that he was playing jazz in a local brothel, she kicked him out of her house.
He said:
When my grandmother found out that I was playing jazz in one of the sporting houses in the District, she told me that I had disgraced the family and forbade me to live at the house... She told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall, but I just couldn't put it behind me.[8]
Tony Jackson, also a pianist at brothels and an accomplished guitar player, was a major influence on Morton's music. Jelly Roll said that Jackson was the only pianist better than he was.
Touring
Around 1904, Morton also started touring in the American South, working with minstrel shows, gambling and composing. His works "Jelly Roll Blues", "New Orleans Blues", "Frog-I-More Rag", "Animule Dance", and "King Porter Stomp" were composed during this period. He got to Chicago in 1910 and New York City in 1911, where future stride greats James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith caught his act, years before the blues were widely played in the North.[9]
In 1912–1914, Morton toured with his girlfriend Rosa Brown as a vaudeville act before settling in Chicago for three years. By 1914, he had started writing down his compositions. In 1915, his "Jelly Roll Blues" was arguably the first jazz composition ever published, recording as sheet music the New Orleans traditions that had been jealously guarded by the musicians. In 1917, he followed bandleader William Manuel Johnson and Johnson's sister Anita Gonzalez to California, where Morton's tango, "The Crave", made a sensation in Hollywood.[10]
Vancouver
Morton was invited to play a new Vancouver, British Columbia, nightclub called The Patricia, on East Hastings Street. The jazz historian Mark Miller described his arrival as "an extended period of itinerancy as a pianist, vaudeville performer, gambler, hustler, and, as legend would have it, pimp".[11]
Chicago
Morton returned to Chicago in 1923 to claim authorship of his recently published rag, "The Wolverines", which had become a hit as "Wolverine Blues" in the Windy City. He released the first of his commercial recordings, first as piano rolls, then on record, both as a piano soloist and with various jazz bands.[12]
In 1926, Morton succeeded in getting a contract to record for the largest and most prestigious company in the United States, Victor. This gave him a chance to bring a well-rehearsed band to play his arrangements in Victor's Chicago recording studios. These recordings by Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers are regarded as classics of 1920s jazz. The Red Hot Peppers featured such other New Orleans jazz luminaries as Kid Ory, Omer Simeon, George Mitchell, Johnny St. Cyr, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds, Baby Dodds, and Andrew Hilaire. Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers were one of the first acts booked on tours by MCA.[13]
Marriage and family
In November 1928, Morton married the showgirl Mabel Bertrand in Gary, Indiana.
New York City
They moved that year to New York City, where Morton continued to record for Victor. His piano solos and trio recordings are well regarded, but his band recordings suffer in comparison with the Chicago sides, where Morton could draw on many great New Orleans musicians for sidemen.[14] Although he recorded with the noted musicians clarinetists Omer Simeon, George Baquet, Albert Nicholas, Wilton Crawley, Barney Bigard, Russell Procope, Lorenzo Tio and Artie Shaw, trumpeters Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn and Henry "Red" Allen, saxophonists Sidney Bechet, Paul Barnes and Bud Freeman, bassist Pops Foster, and drummers Paul Barbarin, Cozy Cole and Zutty Singleton, Morton generally had trouble finding musicians who wanted to play his style of jazz. His New York sessions failed to produce a hit.[15]
With the Great Depression and the near collapse of the record industry, Victor did not renew Morton's recording contract for 1931. Morton continued playing in New York, but struggled financially. He briefly had a radio show in 1934, then took on touring in the band of a traveling burlesque act for some steady income. In 1935, Morton's 30-year-old composition King Porter Stomp, as arranged by Fletcher Henderson, became Benny Goodman's first hit and a swing standard, but Morton received no royalties from its recordings.[16]
Washington, D.C.
In 1935, Morton moved to Washington, D.C., to become the manager/piano player of a bar called, at various times, the "Music Box", "Blue Moon Inn", and "Jungle Inn" in the African-American neighborhood of Shaw. (The building that hosted the nightclub stands at 1211 U Street NW.) Morton was also the master of ceremonies, bouncer, and bartender of the club. He lived in Washington for a few years; the club owner allowed all her friends free admission and drinks, which prevented Morton from making the business a success.[17]
In 1938, Morton was stabbed by a friend of the owner and suffered wounds to the head and chest. After this incident, his wife Mabel demanded that they leave Washington.[17]
During Morton's brief residency at the Music Box, the folklorist Alan Lomax heard the pianist playing in the bar. In May 1938, Lomax invited Morton to record music and interviews for the Library of Congress. The sessions, originally intended as a short interview with musical examples for use by music researchers in the Library of Congress, soon expanded to record more than eight hours of Morton talking and playing piano. Lomax also conducted longer interviews during which he took notes but did not record. Despite the low fidelity of these non-commercial recordings, their musical and historical importance have attracted numerous jazz fans, and they have helped to ensure Morton's place in jazz history.[18]
Lomax was very interested in Morton's Storyville days in New Orleans and the ribald songs of the time. Although reluctant to recount and record these, Morton eventually obliged Lomax. Because of the suggestive nature of the songs, some of the Library of Congress recordings were not released until 2005.[18]
In his interviews, Morton claimed to have been born in 1885. He was aware that if he had been born in 1890, he would have been slightly too young to make a good case as the inventor of jazz. He said in the interview that Buddy Bolden played ragtime but not jazz; this is not accepted by the consensus of Bolden's other New Orleans contemporaries. The contradictions may stem from different definitions for the terms ragtime and jazz. These interviews, released in different forms over the years, were released on an eight-CD boxed set in 2005, The Complete Library of Congress Recordings. This collection won two Grammy Awards.[18] The same year, Morton was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Later years
When Morton was stabbed and wounded, a nearby whites-only hospital refused to treat him, as the city had racially segregated facilities. He was transported to a black hospital farther away.[citation needed] When he was in the hospital, the doctors left ice on his wounds for several hours before attending to his eventually fatal injury. His recovery from his wounds was incomplete, and thereafter he was often ill and easily became short of breath. Morton made a new series of commercial recordings in New York, several recounting tunes from his early years that he discussed in his Library of Congress interviews.[citation needed]
Worsening asthma sent him to a New York hospital for three months at one point. He continued to suffer from respiratory problems when visiting Los Angeles with a series of manuscripts of new tunes and arrangements, planning to form a new band and restart his career. Morton died on July 10, 1941, after an eleven-day stay in Los Angeles County General Hospital.
According to the jazz historian David Gelly in 2000, Morton's arrogance and "bumptious" persona alienated so many musicians over the years that no colleagues or admirers attended his funeral.[19] But, a contemporary news account of the funeral in the August 1, 1941, issue of Downbeat says that fellow musicians Kid Ory, Mutt Carey, Fred Washington and Ed Garland were among his pall bearers. The story notes the absence of Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford, both of whom were appearing in Los Angeles at the time. (The article is reproduced in Alan Lomax's biography of Morton, Mister Jelly Roll, University of California Press, 1950.)
Piano style
Morton's piano style was formed from early secondary ragtime and "shout",[citation needed] which also evolved separately into the New York school of stride piano. Morton's playing was also close to barrelhouse, which produced boogie woogie.[citation needed]
Morton often played the melody of a tune with his right thumb, while sounding a harmony above these notes with other fingers of the right hand. This added a rustic or "out-of-tune" sound (due to the playing of a diminished 5th above the melody). This may still be recognized as belonging to New Orleans. Morton also walked in major and minor sixths in the bass, instead of tenths or octaves. He played basic swing rhythms in both the left and right hand.
Lovie Austin +10.07.1972
Lovie
Austin (* 19. September 1887 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, als Cora
Calhoun; † 10. Juli 1972 in Chicago) war eine US-amerikanische Blues und
Jazz-Pianistin, Arrangeurin und Komponistin während der klassischen
Blues-Ära der 1920er Jahre.
Lovie Austin war während der klassischen Blues-Ära der 1920er Jahre eine populäre Chicagoer Bandleaderin, Sessionmusikerin, Komponistin und Arrangeurin. Sie und Lil Hardin werden oft als die wichtigsten Jazz/Blues-Pianistinnen dieser Periode bezeichnet.[1] Mary Lou Williams zählte Lovie Austin zu ihrem wichtigsten Einfluss.[2]
Austin studierte Musiktheorie an der Roger Williams University und dem Knoxville College in Nashville, Tennessee. Im Jahr 1923 zog Lovie Austin nach Chicago, wo sie für den Rest ihres Lebens lebte und arbeitete. Zu Beginn ihrer Karriere arbeitete sie in Vaudeville Shows als Pianistin und Schauspielerin. [3] Sie begleitete später viele Bluessängerinnen und ist unter anderem auf Aufnahmen von Ma Rainey („Moonshine Blues“), Ida Cox („Wild Women Don't Have The Blues“), Ethel Waters („Craving Blues“) and Alberta Hunter („Sad 'n' Lonely Blues“) zu hören.[4] Austin hatte auch eine eigene Band, die Blues Serenaders, in der die Trompeter Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, oder Shirley Clay am Kornett, Posaunist Kid Ory oder Albert Wynn an der Posaune, und Jimmy O’Bryant oder Johnny Dodds an der Klarinette mitwirkten.
Austin arbeitete auch mit Jazzmusikern der 1920er Jahre wie mit Louis Armstrong. Austins Talent als Songwriterin ist zu hören in ihrer klassischen Komposition „Down Hearted Blues“, ein Stück, das sie mit Alberta Hunter schrieb. Die Sängerin Bessie Smith machte es 1923 zu einem Hit.[5] Austin war auch Sessionmusikerin bei Paramount Records.
In den frühen 1930er Jahren war Lovie Austin musikalische Direktorin im Monogram Theater, in Chicago, wo sie die nächsten 20 Jahre arbeitete. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg war sie Pianistin in Jimmy Paynes Tanzschule in den Penthouse Studios und trat nur noch gelegentlich auf. 1961 entstand das Album Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, als Teil der Reihe Riverside's Living Legends. Ihre bekanntesten Songs waren „Sweet Georgia Brown“, „C Jam Blues“ und „Gallon Stomp“.
Lovie Austin war während der klassischen Blues-Ära der 1920er Jahre eine populäre Chicagoer Bandleaderin, Sessionmusikerin, Komponistin und Arrangeurin. Sie und Lil Hardin werden oft als die wichtigsten Jazz/Blues-Pianistinnen dieser Periode bezeichnet.[1] Mary Lou Williams zählte Lovie Austin zu ihrem wichtigsten Einfluss.[2]
Austin studierte Musiktheorie an der Roger Williams University und dem Knoxville College in Nashville, Tennessee. Im Jahr 1923 zog Lovie Austin nach Chicago, wo sie für den Rest ihres Lebens lebte und arbeitete. Zu Beginn ihrer Karriere arbeitete sie in Vaudeville Shows als Pianistin und Schauspielerin. [3] Sie begleitete später viele Bluessängerinnen und ist unter anderem auf Aufnahmen von Ma Rainey („Moonshine Blues“), Ida Cox („Wild Women Don't Have The Blues“), Ethel Waters („Craving Blues“) and Alberta Hunter („Sad 'n' Lonely Blues“) zu hören.[4] Austin hatte auch eine eigene Band, die Blues Serenaders, in der die Trompeter Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, oder Shirley Clay am Kornett, Posaunist Kid Ory oder Albert Wynn an der Posaune, und Jimmy O’Bryant oder Johnny Dodds an der Klarinette mitwirkten.
Austin arbeitete auch mit Jazzmusikern der 1920er Jahre wie mit Louis Armstrong. Austins Talent als Songwriterin ist zu hören in ihrer klassischen Komposition „Down Hearted Blues“, ein Stück, das sie mit Alberta Hunter schrieb. Die Sängerin Bessie Smith machte es 1923 zu einem Hit.[5] Austin war auch Sessionmusikerin bei Paramount Records.
In den frühen 1930er Jahren war Lovie Austin musikalische Direktorin im Monogram Theater, in Chicago, wo sie die nächsten 20 Jahre arbeitete. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg war sie Pianistin in Jimmy Paynes Tanzschule in den Penthouse Studios und trat nur noch gelegentlich auf. 1961 entstand das Album Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, als Teil der Reihe Riverside's Living Legends. Ihre bekanntesten Songs waren „Sweet Georgia Brown“, „C Jam Blues“ und „Gallon Stomp“.
Lovie Austin (September 19, 1887 – July 10, 1972)[1] was an American Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer, and arranger during the 1920s classic blues era. She and Lil Hardin Armstrong are often ranked as two of the best female jazz blues piano players of the period.[2] Mary Lou Williams cited Austin as her greatest influence.[3]
Life and career
Born Cora Calhoun in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she studied music theory at Roger Williams University and Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] In 1923, Lovie Austin decided to make Chicago her home, and she lived and worked there for the rest of her life. She was often seen racing around town in her Stutz Bearcat with leopard skin upholstery, dressed to the teeth. Her early career was in vaudeville where she played piano and performed in variety acts.[4] Accompanying blues singers was Lovie's specialty, and can be heard on recordings by Ma Rainey ("Moonshine Blues), Ida Cox ("Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"), Ethel Waters ("Craving Blues"), and Alberta Hunter ("Sad 'n' Lonely Blues").[5]
She led her own band, the Blues Serenaders, which usually included trumpeters Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, or Shirley Clay on cornet, Kid Ory or Albert Wynn on trombone, and Jimmy O'Bryant or Johnny Dodds on clarinet, along with banjo and occasional drums. Austin worked with many other top jazz musicians of the 1920s, including Louis Armstrong. Austin's skills as songwriter can be heard in the classic "Down Hearted Blues," a tune she co-wrote with Alberta Hunter. Singer Bessie Smith turned the song into a hit in 1923.[6] Austin was also a session musician for Paramount Records.
When the classic blues craze began to wither in the early 1930s, Austin settled into the position of musical director for the Monogram Theater, at 3453 South State Street in Chicago where all the T.O.B.A. acts played. She worked there for 20 years. After World War II she became a pianist at Jimmy Payne's Dancing School at Penthouse Studios, and performed and recorded occasionally. In 1961 she recorded Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, as part of Riverside's Living Legends series. Austin's songs included "Sweet Georgia Brown", "C Jam Blues" and "Gallon Stomp".[citation needed]
Austin died on July 10, 1972 in Chicago.
Life and career
Born Cora Calhoun in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she studied music theory at Roger Williams University and Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] In 1923, Lovie Austin decided to make Chicago her home, and she lived and worked there for the rest of her life. She was often seen racing around town in her Stutz Bearcat with leopard skin upholstery, dressed to the teeth. Her early career was in vaudeville where she played piano and performed in variety acts.[4] Accompanying blues singers was Lovie's specialty, and can be heard on recordings by Ma Rainey ("Moonshine Blues), Ida Cox ("Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"), Ethel Waters ("Craving Blues"), and Alberta Hunter ("Sad 'n' Lonely Blues").[5]
She led her own band, the Blues Serenaders, which usually included trumpeters Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, or Shirley Clay on cornet, Kid Ory or Albert Wynn on trombone, and Jimmy O'Bryant or Johnny Dodds on clarinet, along with banjo and occasional drums. Austin worked with many other top jazz musicians of the 1920s, including Louis Armstrong. Austin's skills as songwriter can be heard in the classic "Down Hearted Blues," a tune she co-wrote with Alberta Hunter. Singer Bessie Smith turned the song into a hit in 1923.[6] Austin was also a session musician for Paramount Records.
When the classic blues craze began to wither in the early 1930s, Austin settled into the position of musical director for the Monogram Theater, at 3453 South State Street in Chicago where all the T.O.B.A. acts played. She worked there for 20 years. After World War II she became a pianist at Jimmy Payne's Dancing School at Penthouse Studios, and performed and recorded occasionally. In 1961 she recorded Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, as part of Riverside's Living Legends series. Austin's songs included "Sweet Georgia Brown", "C Jam Blues" and "Gallon Stomp".[citation needed]
Austin died on July 10, 1972 in Chicago.
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