1914 Rosetta Howard*
1974 Rosetta Howard+
1984 Alberta Hunter+
Junior Watson*
R.I.P.
Alberta Hunter +17.10.1984
Alberta Hunter ging mit 12 Jahren nach Chicago; nach unterschiedlichen Quellen riss sie entweder von zu Hause aus, oder ihre Familie zog um. Sie hielt sich mit Jobs wie Kartoffelschälen über Wasser, war aber entschlossen, Sängerin zu werden. Nach Anfängen in billigen Etablissements erhielt sie eine Anstellung in einem der angesagtesten Clubs, dem Dreamland Café.
Die größten Erfolge ihrer Karriere als Sängerin und Songschreiberin erlebte sie vor allem in den 1920er und 1930er Jahren. Sie trat in Clubs und auf Bühnen in New York City und London auf. Zu ihren bekanntesten Songs gehört die schlüpfrige Ballade „(My Man is Such a) Handy Man“. Ihr einziger Charterfolg war W. C. Handys „Beale Street Blues“, bei dem sie Fats Waller an der Orgel begleitete; er erreichte #16 der Billboard Top 30.
Während des Zweiten Weltkriegs war Hunter als Freiwillige tätig. Nach dem Krieg geriet ihre musikalische Karriere ins Stocken. Anfang der 1950er Jahre, nach dem Tod ihrer Mutter, gab sie die Musik gänzlich auf. Mit falscher Altersangabe und einem gefälschten High School Diplom begann sie eine Ausbildung als Krankenschwester. Nach elf Jahren Studioabstinenz konnte der Produzent Chris Albertson sie 1961 zu neuen Aufnahmen überreden. Sie war unter anderem mit Lil Armstrong und Lovie Austin im Studio, mit denen sie bereits in den 1920ern aufgetreten war. Alberta Hunter genoss das Singen, wollte aber weiterhin als Krankenschwester arbeiten. 1977 wurde sie jedoch mit 81 Jahren in den Ruhestand geschickt.
1978 nahm sie im Alter von 83 Jahren das Album The Amtrak Blues auf und begann wieder aufzutreten. Ein zweiwöchiges Engagement im „The Cookery“, einem kleinen Club im New Yorker Greenwich Village, wurde wegen des unerwarteten Erfolgs auf unbestimmte Zeit verlängert. Es folgten neue Aufnahmen, Fernsehauftritte, Einladungen aus aller Welt (z. B. Berliner Jazztage 1982 mit TV-Liveübertragung der ARD), Tourneen und ein Auftritt im Weißen Haus. Für Robert Altman schrieb sie Musik zu dem Film Remember My Name.
Alberta Hunter trat bis kurz vor ihrem Tod am 17. Oktober 1984 auf. Ihr Leben war die Grundlage für das Musical Cookin’ in the Cookery. 2009 wurde ihr Album Amtrak Blues in die Blues Hall of Fame der Blues Foundation aufgenommen, 2011 die Künstlerin selbst.
Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984)[1][2] was an internationally known[3] American blues singer and songwriter who had a successful career from early 1920s to the late 1950s, was a contemporary of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith, and then decided to stop from performing to work as a nurse.[4] In 1977, after 20 years working as a nurse and having to retire, Hunter made a successful comeback and resumed her popular singing career in her 80s until the time of her death.[5]
Early life
Hunter was born in Memphis, Tennessee,[2][6] to Laura Peterson, who worked as a maid in a Memphis brothel, and Charles Hunter, a Pullman porter.[3] Hunter said she never knew her father. She went to Grant Elementary school, off Auction Street, which she called Auction School, in Memphis.[7]
Hunter came from a difficult background. Her father left when she was a child and to support the family Hunter’s mother worked as a servant in a whorehouse in Memphis. Although she married again in 1906, Hunter was not happy with her new family. Hunter left for Chicago around the age of 11, in the hopes of becoming a paid singer; she had heard that it paid ten dollars an hour. Instead of finding a job as a singer she had to earn money by working at a boardinghouse that paid six dollars a week as well as room and board. Hunter's mother left Memphis and moved in with her soon afterwards.[8]
She left home while still in her early teens and settled in Chicago, Illinois.[9]
Career
Early years: 1910s–1940s
Hunter began her career singing at Dago Frank's, a whorehouse. She then sang at Hugh Hoskin's saloon, eventually singing in many local Chicago bars. Her big break was when she got booked at Dreamland Cafe, singing with King Oliver and his band.[10]
She peeled potatoes by day and hounded club owners by night, determined to land a singing job. Her persistence paid off, and Hunter began a climb through some of the city's lowest dives to a headlining job at its most prestigious venue for black entertainers, the Dreamland ballroom. She had a five-year association with the Dreamland, beginning in 1917, and her salary rose to $35 a week.[11]
She first toured Europe in 1917, performing in Paris and London. The Europeans treated her as an artist, showing her respect and even reverence, which made a great impression on her.[11]
Her career as singer and songwriter flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, and she appeared in clubs and on stage in musicals in both New York and London. The songs she wrote include the critically acclaimed "Downhearted Blues" (1922).[12]
She recorded several records with Perry Bradford from 1922 to 1927.
Hunter recorded prolifically during the 1920s, starting with sessions for Black Swan in 1921,[13] Paramount in 1922–1924, Gennett in 1924, OKeh in 1925–26, Victor in 1927 and Columbia in 1929.
Hunter wrote "Downhearted Blues" with Lovie Austin and recorded the track for Ink Williams at Paramount Records. Hunter received only $368 in royalties. Williams had secretly sold the recording rights to Columbia Records in a deal where all royalties were paid to Williams. The song became a big hit for Columbia, with Bessie Smith as the vocalist. Hunter learned what Williams had done and stopped recording for him.[10][11]
In 1928, Hunter played "Queenie" opposite Paul Robeson in the first London production of Show Boat at Drury Lane. She subsequently performed in nightclubs throughout Europe and appeared for the 1934 winter season with Jack Jackson's society orchestra at London's Dorchester Hotel. One of her recordings with Jackson is "Miss Otis Regrets".[14]
While at the Dorchester, she made several HMV recordings with the orchestra and appeared in Radio Parade of 1935 (1934),[14] the first British theatrical film to feature the short-lived Dufaycolor, but only Hunter's segment was in color. She spent the late 1930s fulfilling engagements on both sides of the Atlantic and the early 1940s performing at home.
Hunter eventually moved to New York City. She performed with Bricktop and recorded with Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. She continued to perform on both sides of the Atlantic, and as the head of the U.S.O.'s first black show, until her mother's death.
In 1944, she took a U.S.O. troupe to Casablanca and continued entertaining troops in both theatres of war for the duration of World War II and into the early postwar period.[14] In the 1950s, she led U.S.O. troupes in Korea, but her mother's death in 1957 led her to her seek a radical career change.
Retirement: late 1950s–1970s
Hunter said that when her mother died in 1957, because they had been partners and were so close, the appeal of performing ended for her.[15] She reduced her age, "invented" a high school diploma, and enrolled in nursing school, embarking on a career in healthcare, working for 20 years at Roosevelt Island's Goldwater Memorial Hospital.
Goldwater Memorial Hospital made Hunter retire because they believed she was 70 years old. Hunter—who was actually 82 years old—decided to return to singing. She had already made a brief return by appearing on two albums in the early 1960s, but now she was a regular engagement at a Greenwich Village club, becoming an attraction there until her death in October 1984.
Comeback: 1970s–1980s
Hunter was still working at New York's Goldwater Memorial Hospital in 1961 when record producer Chris Albertson asked her to break an 11-year absence from the recording studio. The result was her participation (four songs) on a Prestige Bluesville Records album, entitled Songs We Taught Your Mother. The following month, Albertson recorded her again, this time for the Riverside Records label, reuniting her with Lil Armstrong and Lovie Austin, both of whom she had performed with in the 1920s. Hunter enjoyed these outings, but had no plans to return to singing. She was prepared to devote the rest of her life to nursing, but the hospital retired her in 1977, when they believed her to have reached retirement age (she was aged over 80).
In the summer of 1976, Hunter attended a party for long-time friend Mabel Mercer that Bobby Short was hosting. Music public relations guru Charles Bourgeois asked Hunter to sing and connected Hunter with legendary Cafe Society club-owner, Barney Josephson.[5][16] Josephson offered Hunter a limited engagement at his Greenwich Village club, The Cookery. She accepted and a two-week gig proved was a huge success, turning into a six-year engagement and a career resurgence.[5]
Impressed with the attention paid her by the press, John Hammond signed Hunter to Columbia Records. He had not previously shown interest in Hunter, but he had been a close associate of Barney Josephson decades earlier, when the latter ran the Café Society Uptown and Downtown clubs. Her Columbia albums, The Glory of Alberta Hunter, Amtrak Blues (where she sang the jazz classic "The Darktown Strutters' Ball"), and Look For the Silver Lining, did not do as well as expected, but sales were nevertheless healthy. There were also numerous television appearances, including on To Tell The Truth (in which panelist Kitty Carlisle had to recuse herself, the two having known each other in Hunter's heyday). There was also a walk-on role in Remember My Name, a 1978 film produced by film director Robert Altman, for which he commissioned her to write and to perform the soundtrack music.[12]
As capacity audiences continued to fill The Cookery nightly, concert offers came from Brazil to Berlin, and there was an invitation for her to sing at the White House. At first, she turned it down, because, she explained, "they wanted me there on my day off," but the White House amended its schedule to suit the veteran artist. During that time, there was also a visit from former First Lady turned book editor Jackie Onassis, who wanted to sign her up for an autobiography but was unhappy with the co-author assigned to the project. The book was eventually done for another publisher, with the help of writer Frank Taylor.
The comeback lasted six years, and Hunter toured in Europe and South America, made more television appearances, and enjoyed her renewed recording career as well as the fact that record catalogs now once again contained her old recordings, going back to her 1921 debut on the Black Swan label.
Personal life
In 1919, Hunter married Willard Saxby Townsend, a former soldier[17] who later became a labor leader for baggage handlers via the International Brotherhood of Red Caps, was short-lived.[5][18][19] They separated within months, as Hunter did not want to quit her career—and officially divorced in 1923.[20]
Hunter was a lesbian, though she kept her sexuality relatively private.[20] In August 1927, she sailed for France, accompanied by Lottie Tyler, the niece of well known comedian Bert Williams. Hunter and Tyler had met in Chicago a few years earlier. Their relationship lasted until Ms. Tyler's death, many years later.[21]
Hunter is buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum located in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York (Elmwood section; plot 1411), the location of many celebrity burials.[22][23]
Hunter's life was documented in Alberta Hunter: My Castle's Rockin' (1988 TV Movie), a documentary written by Chris Albertson and narrated by pianist Billy Taylor, and in Cookin' at the Cookery, a biographical musical by Marion J. Caffey that has toured the United States in recent years with Ernestine Jackson as Hunter.
Hunter was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.[24] Hunter's comeback album, Amtrak Blues, was honored by the Blues Hall of Fame in 2009.
Rosetta Howard *1914 +1974
Die genauen Daten sind dem Autor nicht bekannt
http://dgjury.blogspot.de/2011/12/track-5-delta-bound.html
Rosetta Howard (* 1914 in Chicago, Illinois; † 1974 in Chicago, Illinois) war eine US-amerikanische Blues- und Jazz-Sängerin.
Die aus Chicago stammende Rosetta Howard war vor allem in den 1930er und 1940er Jahren aktiv.[2] Zu singen begann sie, als sie zu Jukebox-Stücken in dem Club auftrat, in dem sie als Bedienung arbeitete; ab 1932 dann als professionelle Sängerin mit Jimmy Noone und weiteren Bandleadern. Ab 1937 nahm sie eine Reihe von Stücken mit den Harlem Hamfats auf, darunter ihr Lobgesang auf Marihuana, „If You're A Viper“ für Decca und der obszöne Song „Let Your Linen Hang Low“. Weitere Aufnahmen entstanden mit Herb Morand and Odell Rand, die beide Mitglieder der Harlem Hamfats waren. 1939 spielte sie weitere Nummern mit den Harlem Blues Serenaders ein, zu denen Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Lil Armstrong, Red Allen und Barney Bigard gehörten.
In den 1940ern trat sie weiterhin in Chicago auf und nahm mit Sax Mallard auf; 1947 war sie an Aufnahmen der Big Three beteiligt, zu denen Willie Dixon und Big Bill Broonzy gehörten. Da der kommerzielle Erfolg dieser Schallplatten ausblieb, nahm sie seitdem nicht mehr auf. In den 1950er Jahren sang sie bei Thomas A. Dorsey in der Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago.
http://www.juniorwatson.com/gallery?lightbox=image1cg7
Junior
Watson - Great Guitar!!!
Rosetta Howard (* 1914 in Chicago, Illinois; † 1974 in Chicago, Illinois) war eine US-amerikanische Blues- und Jazz-Sängerin.
Die aus Chicago stammende Rosetta Howard war vor allem in den 1930er und 1940er Jahren aktiv.[2] Zu singen begann sie, als sie zu Jukebox-Stücken in dem Club auftrat, in dem sie als Bedienung arbeitete; ab 1932 dann als professionelle Sängerin mit Jimmy Noone und weiteren Bandleadern. Ab 1937 nahm sie eine Reihe von Stücken mit den Harlem Hamfats auf, darunter ihr Lobgesang auf Marihuana, „If You're A Viper“ für Decca und der obszöne Song „Let Your Linen Hang Low“. Weitere Aufnahmen entstanden mit Herb Morand and Odell Rand, die beide Mitglieder der Harlem Hamfats waren. 1939 spielte sie weitere Nummern mit den Harlem Blues Serenaders ein, zu denen Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Lil Armstrong, Red Allen und Barney Bigard gehörten.
In den 1940ern trat sie weiterhin in Chicago auf und nahm mit Sax Mallard auf; 1947 war sie an Aufnahmen der Big Three beteiligt, zu denen Willie Dixon und Big Bill Broonzy gehörten. Da der kommerzielle Erfolg dieser Schallplatten ausblieb, nahm sie seitdem nicht mehr auf. In den 1950er Jahren sang sie bei Thomas A. Dorsey in der Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago.
Rosetta Howard (1914 – 1974)[1] was an American blues singer, who recorded in the 1930s and 1940s.
Little is known of her life. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States,[1] and moved into singing by joining in with jukebox selections at the club where she worked. Around 1932 she began singing professionally with Jimmie Noone and other bandleaders. From 1937 she made a number of recordings with The Harlem Hamfats, including her paean to marijuana, "If You're a Viper", and the ribald "Let Your Linen Hang Low". The latter was noted by one music journalist as "Howard engaging Kansas Joe McCoy in sexy banter".[2] She also recorded with Herb Morand and Odell Rand who were both members of the group. In 1939 she recorded with the Harlem Blues Serenaders, who included Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Lil Armstrong, Henry "Red" Allen and Barney Bigard.
She continued to perform in Chicago in the 1940s, and in 1947 featured on recordings with the Big Three, including Willie Dixon, and Big Bill Broonzy. However, the records were unsuccessful and she did not record again. In the 1950s she sang with Thomas A. Dorsey at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago.
Howard died in Chicago in 1974.
Little is known of her life. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States,[1] and moved into singing by joining in with jukebox selections at the club where she worked. Around 1932 she began singing professionally with Jimmie Noone and other bandleaders. From 1937 she made a number of recordings with The Harlem Hamfats, including her paean to marijuana, "If You're a Viper", and the ribald "Let Your Linen Hang Low". The latter was noted by one music journalist as "Howard engaging Kansas Joe McCoy in sexy banter".[2] She also recorded with Herb Morand and Odell Rand who were both members of the group. In 1939 she recorded with the Harlem Blues Serenaders, who included Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Lil Armstrong, Henry "Red" Allen and Barney Bigard.
She continued to perform in Chicago in the 1940s, and in 1947 featured on recordings with the Big Three, including Willie Dixon, and Big Bill Broonzy. However, the records were unsuccessful and she did not record again. In the 1950s she sang with Thomas A. Dorsey at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago.
Howard died in Chicago in 1974.
Rosetta Howard Harlem Hamfats - Rosetta Blues (1937)
Happy Birthday
Junior Watson *17.10.
Junior Watson war und ist einer der musikalisch einflussreichsten Blues-Musiker seiner Generation. Der Sound, den er mit alten halbakustischen Kaufhausgitarren hervorbringt, hat eine ganze Generation junger Gitarristen beeinflusst (und darüber hinaus die Preise für diese Gitarren explodieren lassen). Seine Virtuosität beeindruckte sogar Hollywood Fats, der vor einem gemeinsamen Auftritt einem Freund gestand, Junior Watson sei der einzige Gitarrist, der ihm Angst einjagen würde.
Junior Watsons künstlerischer Werdegang ist beeindruckend: Nachdem dem Start zusammen mit dem Mundharmonikaspieler Gary Smith in den frühen 70ern in Nordkalifornien gründete er zusammen mit Rod Piazza die Mighty Flyers. Nach elf Jahren verließ er die Band und schloss sich Canned Heat an. Während der gesamten Zeit spielte er im Studio und auf Tourneen mit dem Who-is-Who des Blues zusammen, er begleitete u.a. Big Mama Thornton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson und William Clarke.
normal 9N1A4852Nach mehr als 30 Jahren „On the Road“ genießt Michael „Junior“ Watson inzwischen Kult-Status. Einflüsse so unterschiedlicher Gitarristen wie Tiny Grimes, Bill Jennings, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Guitar Slim, Earl Hooker, ... werden von Junior zu einem einzigartigen Gitarrensound verschmolzen, in dem neben Blues und Swing oft auch eine gehörige Portion Surf-Music zu finden ist.
Der Auftritt von Junior Watson in der Großenheerser Mühle ist eine der seltenen Gelegenheiten, diesen Ausnahmemusiker nicht als Begleiter, sondern mit seiner eigenen Band zu erleben.
Junior Watsons künstlerischer Werdegang ist beeindruckend: Nachdem dem Start zusammen mit dem Mundharmonikaspieler Gary Smith in den frühen 70ern in Nordkalifornien gründete er zusammen mit Rod Piazza die Mighty Flyers. Nach elf Jahren verließ er die Band und schloss sich Canned Heat an. Während der gesamten Zeit spielte er im Studio und auf Tourneen mit dem Who-is-Who des Blues zusammen, er begleitete u.a. Big Mama Thornton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson und William Clarke.
normal 9N1A4852Nach mehr als 30 Jahren „On the Road“ genießt Michael „Junior“ Watson inzwischen Kult-Status. Einflüsse so unterschiedlicher Gitarristen wie Tiny Grimes, Bill Jennings, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Guitar Slim, Earl Hooker, ... werden von Junior zu einem einzigartigen Gitarrensound verschmolzen, in dem neben Blues und Swing oft auch eine gehörige Portion Surf-Music zu finden ist.
Der Auftritt von Junior Watson in der Großenheerser Mühle ist eine der seltenen Gelegenheiten, diesen Ausnahmemusiker nicht als Begleiter, sondern mit seiner eigenen Band zu erleben.
Junior Watson (born Michael Watson) is an American jump blues guitarist and singer.
Watson is a West Coast blues guitarist. He was a founding member of the blues band The Mighty Flyers and, starting in the early 1980s, he performed with the band for a decade.[2] He also performed with Canned Heat throughout the 1990s.[2] Watson has performed as a backing musician in performances and recordings for a number of blues musicians, including Big Mama Thornton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Luther Tucker, Charlie Musselwhite, John Németh, and Kim Wilson.
Watson is a West Coast blues guitarist. He was a founding member of the blues band The Mighty Flyers and, starting in the early 1980s, he performed with the band for a decade.[2] He also performed with Canned Heat throughout the 1990s.[2] Watson has performed as a backing musician in performances and recordings for a number of blues musicians, including Big Mama Thornton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Luther Tucker, Charlie Musselwhite, John Németh, and Kim Wilson.
With nearly thirty years of experience, Junior Watson has reached cult status. Junior has done what all great artists have done: melting diverse styles to create a style all his own. With influences as diverse as Tiny Grimes, Oscar Moore, Bill Jennings, Rene Hall, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Guitar Slim, Earl Hooker and others he has truly created one of the most unique and original guitar voices to come along in years. Besides his mastery of blues and swing he often adds his own cartoon-like twist to everything he plays. You'll never know what he will do and when asked he doesn't know himself. His energy and playing gives you a feeling of reckless abandonment. As he was once quoted "like a train off the tracks".
His artist resume is as large as it is impressive. A founding member of The Mighty Flyers he stayed with the band for ten years. He then left to join Canned Heat for ten years. He then toured for a while with LA-based harmonica player/vocalist Lynwood Slim. All along the way he has backed up and recorded with the who's-who of the blues. His list of musical endeavors include backing up and recording with Big Mama Thorton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Shakey Jake, Luther Tucker, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, William Clark and there's more. Suffice to say the list is very extensive.
In the past Junior has always been the sideman or featured artist. For the first time in his career he has a band that is taking the back seat and having Junior do all the driving. For the first time you can hear this amazing, original artist wail all night long. This fact alone is exciting and when unleashed, Junior will prove to the rest of the blues community what his cult status is all about.
His artist resume is as large as it is impressive. A founding member of The Mighty Flyers he stayed with the band for ten years. He then left to join Canned Heat for ten years. He then toured for a while with LA-based harmonica player/vocalist Lynwood Slim. All along the way he has backed up and recorded with the who's-who of the blues. His list of musical endeavors include backing up and recording with Big Mama Thorton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Shakey Jake, Luther Tucker, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, William Clark and there's more. Suffice to say the list is very extensive.
In the past Junior has always been the sideman or featured artist. For the first time in his career he has a band that is taking the back seat and having Junior do all the driving. For the first time you can hear this amazing, original artist wail all night long. This fact alone is exciting and when unleashed, Junior will prove to the rest of the blues community what his cult status is all about.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen