SPOTLIGHT for JULY 23RD....
BIRTHDAYS
1942 Madeline Bell, vocals, b. UK. Member: Blue Mink.
AMG BIO:
Biography by Andrew Hamilton
Madeline Bell was born July 23, 1942, in Newark, NJ, and was strongly influenced by her grandmother, who had been a singer. Bell was raised by her grandmother after her parents divorced. Showing a bent toward creative arts, Bell first took piano lessons at 50 cents a pop, but couldn't master the complexities of the keyboard. Next, her grandmother paid for dancing lessons and discovered Madeline would never be confused with Ginger Rogers or Josephine Baker, so the lessons stopped. By the fifth grade, Bell found her calling -- singing -- and she regularly appeared in school shows. At age 11, she pantomimed "Santa Baby," a tune popularized by Eartha Kitt. Bell regularly attended church and sang in the choir. She later joined a group called Four Jacks & a Jill, who sung on street corners. Madeline Bell was the Jill. At 16, she joined the Glovertones, a gospel group, who sang gospel on weekends, often traveling hundreds of miles in an old dilapidated station wagon, to gigs that paid five dollars a member. The station wagon often broke down and many times Bell showed up for work (in a supermarket as a meat wrapper) on Monday mornings both frustrated and dead tired. Luckily, she had an understanding boss, and besides, she could wrap 75 chickens in an hour, which easily made her the fastest chicken wrapper in the house. Her productivity was helped by the R&B music coming from the radio her boss graciously let her play while working.
Her first big break occurred when she met Alex Bradford around 1961 and was invited to join his group after successfully passing an audition. She stayed with Bradford for two years, criss-crossing the United States, playing in too many cities to mention. At the time, Bradford was considered one of the top male gospel vocalists. Toward the end of Bell's first year with the Bradford Singers, they were asked to appear in Black Nativity, a traveling musical that toured all over America and Europe. It was in Britain that she befriended the late Dusty Springfield and performed on many of her background sessions. She also worked in the studio behind Kiki Dee, Doris Troy, Joe Brown, Lesley Duncan, and Kenny Lynch, to name a few. By that time, she had left the Bradford Singers and settled in England. In 1968, six years after settling in England, a bigshot at the United Kingdoms' Philips Records heard her working in a studio and offered a contract. She first released "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," which had previously been recorded by Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne's sister and a fellow native of Newark. Phillips initially released the record in the States on their Mod label, then switched it to Philips when it began to catch fire. It eventually went to number 26 in the United States. A year later she joined Blue Mink, Roger Cook's group, and stayed for four years, scoring on "Melting Pot" (number three, U.K.), and "Our World" (which climbed to number 64 in the States in 1970). Other sides did well in England, "Randy" (number nine), "Banner Man" (number three), and "Stay With Me" (number 11).
Leaving Blue Mink, she returned to both the lucrative world of session singing and soloing in the Netherlands. Bell made a name for herself by contributing with Tom Parker on some CD productions that were popular arrangements of classical compositions. The discs sold quite well. She appeared in the London stage production, Space, hitting the charts again at number 60 with "My Love Is Music," on which she was the featured vocalist. She also toured with the Swingmates throughout the Netherlands and had a leading part in A Night at the Cotton Club. With the Swingmates, she recorded a CD, Have You Met Miss Bell. Still singing, she appears in England clubs like Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with her group Madeline Bell & her Musicians. She visits the States occasionally, but England has been home to the Jerseyite since 1962.
******************************************
1915 Emmett Berry, Trumpet, b. Macon, GA, USA.
AMG BIO:
Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
He's there in the classic Great Day in Harlem photograph, but it would have been hard to take many photos of happening jazz bands or Harlem scenes from the '30s and '40s without Emmett Berry's smiling face. Not that he would be smiling, actually he would probably be too busy playing trumpet. Jazz fans have enjoyed this blowing, sometimes without knowing his name. There is no doubt about the former assertion, since Berry was both a key member of the Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson big bands, as well as one of the prize sidemen and horn soloists assembled to record singer Bille Holiday's most enduring sides. Berry came to New York City from Georgia when he was 18, and within a year was playing in the Henderson band. Not bad for a southern boy in the big city, since this was one of the most popular groups of that jazz-crazy period. The assignment of replacing Roy Eldridge must have been daunting but perhaps also natural since all the trumpet players of that era were finding their own voice through close examination of the Eldridge style, if not simply engaging in outright mimickry of the man. Berry hung with the Henderson band for three years, then changed Hendersons, joining a rival band led by brother, Horace Henderson.
As the '40s began the trumpeter was beginning to keep company of great status in the jazz world. He played with a Teddy Wilson sextet, the rowdy Lionel Hampton band, the complex composer and saxophonist Benny Carter and even with the master himself as a member of Roy Eldridge's Little Jazz Trumpet Ensemble. In the mid '40s the call came from Basie, beginning 10 years spent almost completely on that band's bus. As the rock and roll era dawned, Berry continued gigging with stellar veterans of the jazz days, including swaggering singer Jimmy Rushing, scintillating saxophonist Johnny Hodges, burbling brass bubbah Cootie Williams and boogie woogie boogieman Sammy Price. Berry recording extensively in the '50s, as he had in the first two decades of his career, creating a discography that is as lengthy as a prima donna's backstage catering list. A relocation to Los Angeles, supposedly based on a desire to kick back, led to further work on the road with classic players such as Peanuts Hucko and Wilbur De Paris. There was never a shortage of bandleaders wanting to hire Berry, and one reason was that he was an excellent soloist, particularly in the short form. One of the great elements of the aforementioned Holiday recordings, of course, are the solo features by the likes of Berry, Lester Young, Buck Clayton and others, seasoning the songs like genius chefs with unlimited spice racks. Berry also led bands from time to time. Records under his own name include the Emmett Berry Five 1944 release with tenor honker Don Byas, later reissued on a Savoy album. The Mainstream compilation entitled Mainstream of the Blues: 1959-65, an item that sometimes shows its scratched up face in used record piles, features the Emmett Berry Sextet as well as other cooking bands led by Buster
Bailey, Snub Mosley, Buddy Tate and Booty Wood. Berry retired to Cleveland in 1970, remaining a strong influence on trumpeters, even modern players such as Bill Dixon.
******************************************
1910 Nat Brandwynne, Leader
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
Nat Brandwynne was one of a group of pianists who emerged as bandleaders in the '30s, attempting to replicate the success of Eddy Duchin. Brandwynne was the most legitimate, needless to say, as he and mighty Duchin had made up a double piano team feature in the Leo Reisman Orchestra, a major catalyst in this particular keyboard craze. Brandwynne did not really establish his long term career as an ivory tickler, though. He concentrated on directing a tight, professional band and went to work backing up singers from the pop world, requiring a feel for changing styles that this leader obviously felt comfortable about.
An early '70s performance backing British vocal icon Petula Clark was praised highly by Variety magazine, remarking on a Brandwynne band able to "aid and abet with unstinting vigor." His most widely heard album would have to be the 1974 Live At Caeser's Palace by Dianna Ross, incredibly overblown but a hit nonetheless. By that time he was fairly comfortable in the atmosphere of Las Vegas, having signed on as musical director of Caesar's Palace Circus Maximus in 1966. Brandwynne also recorded several albums with Lena Horne. Releases by his own group include "Green Eyes" and his band theme song, "If Stars Could Talk".
It seems hardly worth mentioning that his name sometimes appears with the final "e" lopped off, not when there is the more serious problem of Nat Brandywine, a credit that somehow mutated out of his own name, to be used frequently in its place in all manner of listings including record company catalogs. Some listeners might argue thatBrandywine is an altogether better name than Brandwynne.
******************************************
1925 Gloria DeHaven, Actress/vocals
Gloria DeHaven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gloria DeHaven (born July 23, 1925, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress.
The daughter of vaudeville performers, DeHaven began her career as a child actor as an extra in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936). She was signed to a contract with MGM Studios and despite featured roles in such films as The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) she did not obtain the kind of stardom some had expected of her.
She has also appeared as a regular in the television series and soap operas As the World Turns, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Ryan's Hope. She was one of the numerous celebrities enticed to appear in the all-star box office flop Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and has guest starred in such television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, Marcus Welby, M.D., Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote and Touched By An Angel.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Gloria DeHaven has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
External links
Gloria DeHaven at the Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com/name/nm0002038/
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Gloria De Haven
www.thegoldenyears.org/dehaven.html
BIO:
www.thegoldenyears.org/dehaven.html
WIKI BIO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_De_Haven
******************************************
1910 Champion Jack Dupree, piano, b. New Orleans, LA, USA.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Bill Dahl
A formidable contender in the ring before he shifted his focus to pounding the piano instead, Champion Jack Dupree often injected his lyrics with a rowdy sense of down-home humor. But there was nothing lighthearted about his rock-solid way with a boogie; when he shouted "Shake Baby Shake," the entire room had no choice but to acquiesce.
Dupree was notoriously vague about his beginnings, claiming in some interviews that his parents died in a fire set by the Ku Klux Klan, at other times saying that the blaze was accidental. Whatever the circumstances of the tragic conflagration, Dupree grew up in New Orleans' Colored Waifs' Home for Boys (Louis Armstrong also spent his formative years there). Learning his trade from barrelhouse 88s ace Willie "Drive 'em Down" Hall, Dupree left the Crescent City in 1930 for Chicago and then Detroit. By 1935, he was boxing professionally in Indianapolis, battling in an estimated 107 bouts.
In 1940, Dupree made his recording debut for Chicago A&R man extraordinaire Lester Melrose and OKeh Records. Dupree's 1940-1941 output for the Columbia subsidiary exhibited a strong New Orleans tinge despite the Chicago surroundings; his driving "Junker's Blues" was later cleaned up as Fats Domino's 1949 debut, "The Fat Man." After a stretch in the Navy during World War II (he was a Japanese P.O.W. for two years), Dupree decided tickling the 88s beat pugilism any old day. He spent most of his time in New York and quickly became a prolific recording artist, cutting for Continental, Joe Davis, Alert, Apollo, and Red Robin (where he cut a blasting "Shim Sham Shimmy" in 1953), often in the company of Brownie McGhee. Contracts meant little; Dupree masqueraded as Brother Blues on Abbey, Lightnin' Jr. on Empire, and the truly imaginative Meat Head Johnson for Gotham and Apex.
King Records corralled Dupree in 1953 and held onto him through 1955 (the year he enjoyed his only R&B chart hit, the relaxed "Walking the Blues.") Dupree's King output rates with his very best; the romping "Mail Order Woman," "Let the Doorbell Ring," and "Big Leg Emma's" contrasting with the rural "Me and My Mule" (Dupree's vocal on the latter emphasizing a harelip speech impediment for politically incorrect pseudo-comic effect).
After a year on RCA's Groove and Vik subsidiaries, Dupree made a masterpiece LP for Atlantic. 1958's Blues From the Gutter is a magnificent testament to Dupree's barrelhouse background, boasting marvelous readings of "Stack-O-Lee," "Junker's Blues," and "Frankie & Johnny" beside the risqué "Nasty Boogie." Dupree was one of the first bluesmen to leave his native country for a less racially polarized European existence in 1959. He lived in a variety of countries overseas, continuing to record prolifically for Storyville, British Decca (with John Mayall and Eric Clapton lending a hand at a 1966 date), and many other firms.
Perhaps sensing his own mortality, Dupree returned to New Orleans in 1990 for his first visit in 36 years. While there, he played the Jazz & Heritage Festival and laid down a zesty album for Bullseye Blues, Back Home in New Orleans. Two more albums of new material were captured by the company the next year prior to the pianist's death in January of 1992. Jack Dupree was a champ to the very end.
WIKI BIO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cham...ack_Dupree
Illustrated Champion Jack Dupree discography:
www.wirz.de/music/dupree.htm
Champion Jack Dupree:
www.cascadeblues.org/History...Jack.htm
******************************************
1928 Frank Foster, Sax/Clarinet/Arranger, b. either July or Sept. né: Frank Benjamin Foster, III. Did much arranging for The Count Basie band.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Scott Yanow
A very talented tenor saxophonist and arranger, Frank Foster has been associated with the Count Basie Orchestra off and on since 1953. Early on, he played in Detroit with the many talented local players and, after a period in the Army (1951-1953), he joined Basie's big band. Well-featured on tenor during his Basie years (1953-1964), Foster also contributed plenty of arrangements and such originals as "Down for the Count," "Blues Backstage," and the standard "Shiny Stockings." In the latter half of the 1960s, Foster was a freelance writer. In addition to playing with Elvin Jones (1970-1972) and occasionally with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, he led his Loud Minority big band. In 1983, Foster co-led a quintet with Frank Wess and he toured Europe with Jimmy Smith in 1985. Although influenced by John Coltrane in his playing, Foster was able to modify his style when he took over the Count Basie ghost band in 1986, revitalizing it and staying at the helm until 1995. Outside of his Basie dates, Foster has led sessions for Vogue, Blue Note (1954 and 1968), Savoy, Argo, Prestige, Mainstream, Denon, Catalyst, Bee Hive, SteepleChase, Pablo, and Concord.
******************************************
1961 Martin Gore, Member group: DePeche Mode
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
******************************************
1898 Clarence Holiday, guitar, b. Baltimore, MD, NY, d. 1937. Famed singer Billie Holiday's father.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Clarence Holiday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clarence Holiday (1898 - 1937) was a jazz guitarist.
Clarence Holiday is primarily remembered today as the father of Billie Holiday, but he never married Billie's mother. Before Lady Day made it big, he was not too happy about having to admit that he had a grown-up daughter.
Holiday worked locally until he became a member of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1928-33). Primarily a rhythm guitarist and rarely a soloist, Clarence Holiday recorded (in addition to many records with Henderson) with Benny Carter (1934) and Bob Howard (1935) and worked with (Charlie Turner) (1935), (Louis Metcalf) (1935-36) and the (Don Redman big band) (1936-37) before his early death.
******************************************
1897 Kay Kyser, bandleader, b. Rocky Mount, NC, USA, d. July 23, 1985, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Age: 79. né: James King Kern Kyser. (Some sources claim June 18, 1906 as his date of birth, but the 1897 date seems to jibe better with the years he spent at school.)
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Bruce Eder
Kay Kyser couldn't read a note of music, and spent nearly as much time doing comedy as music on radio. But for over 15 years, from 1933 until the end of the 1940s, he was one of the most popular bandleaders and music personalities in America, and delighted tens of millions of listeners. Born into a family of academics, Kyser was supposed to pursue a career in law, but abandoned this after he took over the campus band at his college from its leader, Hal Kemp. He became so popular as a personality that he was on the road by the time he graduated.
In order to compensate for his lack of musical training, he hired arranger/composer George Duning (later the author of film scores for movies such as Picnic), a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Kyser and his band became nationally known following a series of radio broadcasts from the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica -- a group of gimmicks, such as having the vocalist sing the titles of the songs to be performed, interrupting a chorus for the band's theme, "Thinking of You," and announcing the singer's name, made his group stand out on the radio, and an engagement at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago made Kyser a star.
His radio show, Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, ran for more than 15 years, mixing comic quiz questions with swing music, ballads, and novelty tunes; Kyser presided over it all dressed in an academic gown complete with mortarboard, presenting an easygoing Southern personality and comic manner. He was so popular that RKO signed him up for a series of films, starting with That's Right, You're Wrong, playing himself. He made one movie for MGM in 1944, Swing Fever, which was an unsuccessful attempt to cast Kyser in a Harold Lloyd mold.
Kyser's featured vocalist during much of the late '30s and early '40s was Ginny Simms, who was succeeded by Gloria Wood, Julie Conway, Trudy Erwin, and Georgia Carroll ("There Goes That Song Again"), a singer and former John Robert Powers model whom Kyser married. The other featured personality was Merwyn Bogue, who was known on the air as Ish Kabibble, who handled the novelty numbers. Kyser's hits, for Brunswick during most of the 1930s and Columbia after 1939, included "You, You Darlin'," "Playmates," "With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair," "Friendship," "Tennessee Fish Fry," "The White Cliffs of Dover," and "Old Buttermilk Sky." During World War II, Kyser and his band endeared themselves to millions of listeners and servicemen by appearing at over 500 military installations in USO shows, in addition to their regular appearances on radio. Although the emphasis was on comedy, the band was recognized as a capable swing jazz outfit.
The radio show was canceled in 1949, and Kyser retired the following year. He declined to participate with his former bandmembers in the making of the 1952 Capitol album Kyser Hits in Hi-Fi, which was conducted by Stan Freberg. During the rest of his life, he spent time as a traveling lecturer on Christian Science, an area in which he was a true scholar.
Kyser, Kay
www.kaykyser.net/
Radio Hall of Fame
www.radiohof.org/musicvari...kyser.html
Tribute:
www.ibiblio.org/kaykyser/photo/kay1.html
******************************************
1902 "Curly Barefoot" Miller, piano, b. New Orleans, LA, USA. Recorded by Topcat Records.
******************************************
1918 Eva Overstake, C&W vocals, b. Decatur, IL, USA. Member: "The Three Little Maids"
BIO:
www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wl...oley.html
******************************************
1919 Paul Rice, C&W vocals/guitar, b. Gainesville, GA, USA. Member: "The Rice Brothers", a duo of Paul and Hoke Rice (b. January 8, 1909, (near Gainesville), Hall County, GA, USA). Their father was a preacher and cobbler who repaired soles during the week and saved souls on Sundays. But, the Rice brothers inherited their musical talent from their mother, who played five-string banjo, fiddle and piano.
******************************************
1901 Dock Walsh, Folk vocals, d. 1967. (Doctor Cable Walsh) member: Carolina Tar Heels.
AMG BIO: www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
******************************************
1938 Annette Williams, vocals, b. Beeville, TX, USA. Member: 'The Blossoms'. Twin sisters.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by William Ruhlmann
The Blossoms were a female vocal group formed at Fremont High School in Los Angeles in 1954 as the Dreamers and consisting of Fanita James (née Barrett), Gloria Jones, and the twin sisters Nanette and Annette Williams. They recorded for Flair Records in 1954. By 1957, Nanette Williams had been replaced by Darlene Wright, who later took the name Darlene Love. They did extensive session work, and Love and James were members of producer Phil Spector's studio group Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. Love also recorded with Spector under her own name and as part of the Crystals. The Blossoms had one pop chart entry in 1961 with "Son-In-Law," an answer record to Ernie K-Doe's hit "Mother-In-Law." Later, the Blossoms -- by now consisting of Love, James, and Jean King -- were regular backup singers on the pop music television series Shindig in 1965. In 1967, they scored an R&B singles chart entry with "Good, Good Lovin'." There were more personnel changes and a string of singles on several labels. In 1972, the Blossoms recorded the album Shockwave.
******************************************
Notable Events on this date include:
1931. Jimmy Harrison, trombone, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 31. Worked with Bessie Smith
1960. Prince Robinson, tenor sax/millinder, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 58
1966. Frank Sinatra's release of "Strangers in the Night" was the his first #1 LP since 1960.
******************************************
Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
1923 "Oklahoma Indian Jazz", - The Benson Orch. of Chicago.
1923 "Bahama", - Art Kahn Orch.
1923 "A Kiss In The Dark", - Carl Fenton Orch.
1924 "Tell Me You Forgive Me", - Jack Shilkret Orch.
1926 "Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies", - Carl Fenton Orch.
1926 "It's A Wonderful World", - Ernie Golden Orch.
1930 "In Memory of You", - Anglo-Persians Orch. (see Whittall
1931 "I Love Louisa", - Smith Ballew Orch and vocal.
*(SMITH BALLEW KicKS MY aSs!!!!)
1935 "I Wished On The Moon", - Lanny Ross vocal release.
1940 "Ferryboat Serenade", - Kay Kyser Orch.
1940 "Prince of Wails", - Bud Freeman and his Famous Chicagoans.
1940 "At The Jazz Band Ball", - Bud Freeman and his Famous Chicagoans.
1941 "Call It Anything, It's Love", - Will Bradley Orch.
1941"Basin Street Boogie", - Will Bradley and His 6 Texas Hotdogs.
1942 "I Had The Craziest Dream", - Harry James Orch.
1966 "Strangers In The Night", Frank Sinatra vocal (hit No. 1 on the Charts.)
1966 "Summer In The City", - The Lovin' Spoonful
1983 "Puttin' On The Ritz", - Taco
BIRTHDAYS
1942 Madeline Bell, vocals, b. UK. Member: Blue Mink.
AMG BIO:
Biography by Andrew Hamilton
Madeline Bell was born July 23, 1942, in Newark, NJ, and was strongly influenced by her grandmother, who had been a singer. Bell was raised by her grandmother after her parents divorced. Showing a bent toward creative arts, Bell first took piano lessons at 50 cents a pop, but couldn't master the complexities of the keyboard. Next, her grandmother paid for dancing lessons and discovered Madeline would never be confused with Ginger Rogers or Josephine Baker, so the lessons stopped. By the fifth grade, Bell found her calling -- singing -- and she regularly appeared in school shows. At age 11, she pantomimed "Santa Baby," a tune popularized by Eartha Kitt. Bell regularly attended church and sang in the choir. She later joined a group called Four Jacks & a Jill, who sung on street corners. Madeline Bell was the Jill. At 16, she joined the Glovertones, a gospel group, who sang gospel on weekends, often traveling hundreds of miles in an old dilapidated station wagon, to gigs that paid five dollars a member. The station wagon often broke down and many times Bell showed up for work (in a supermarket as a meat wrapper) on Monday mornings both frustrated and dead tired. Luckily, she had an understanding boss, and besides, she could wrap 75 chickens in an hour, which easily made her the fastest chicken wrapper in the house. Her productivity was helped by the R&B music coming from the radio her boss graciously let her play while working.
Her first big break occurred when she met Alex Bradford around 1961 and was invited to join his group after successfully passing an audition. She stayed with Bradford for two years, criss-crossing the United States, playing in too many cities to mention. At the time, Bradford was considered one of the top male gospel vocalists. Toward the end of Bell's first year with the Bradford Singers, they were asked to appear in Black Nativity, a traveling musical that toured all over America and Europe. It was in Britain that she befriended the late Dusty Springfield and performed on many of her background sessions. She also worked in the studio behind Kiki Dee, Doris Troy, Joe Brown, Lesley Duncan, and Kenny Lynch, to name a few. By that time, she had left the Bradford Singers and settled in England. In 1968, six years after settling in England, a bigshot at the United Kingdoms' Philips Records heard her working in a studio and offered a contract. She first released "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," which had previously been recorded by Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne's sister and a fellow native of Newark. Phillips initially released the record in the States on their Mod label, then switched it to Philips when it began to catch fire. It eventually went to number 26 in the United States. A year later she joined Blue Mink, Roger Cook's group, and stayed for four years, scoring on "Melting Pot" (number three, U.K.), and "Our World" (which climbed to number 64 in the States in 1970). Other sides did well in England, "Randy" (number nine), "Banner Man" (number three), and "Stay With Me" (number 11).
Leaving Blue Mink, she returned to both the lucrative world of session singing and soloing in the Netherlands. Bell made a name for herself by contributing with Tom Parker on some CD productions that were popular arrangements of classical compositions. The discs sold quite well. She appeared in the London stage production, Space, hitting the charts again at number 60 with "My Love Is Music," on which she was the featured vocalist. She also toured with the Swingmates throughout the Netherlands and had a leading part in A Night at the Cotton Club. With the Swingmates, she recorded a CD, Have You Met Miss Bell. Still singing, she appears in England clubs like Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with her group Madeline Bell & her Musicians. She visits the States occasionally, but England has been home to the Jerseyite since 1962.
******************************************
1915 Emmett Berry, Trumpet, b. Macon, GA, USA.
AMG BIO:
Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
He's there in the classic Great Day in Harlem photograph, but it would have been hard to take many photos of happening jazz bands or Harlem scenes from the '30s and '40s without Emmett Berry's smiling face. Not that he would be smiling, actually he would probably be too busy playing trumpet. Jazz fans have enjoyed this blowing, sometimes without knowing his name. There is no doubt about the former assertion, since Berry was both a key member of the Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson big bands, as well as one of the prize sidemen and horn soloists assembled to record singer Bille Holiday's most enduring sides. Berry came to New York City from Georgia when he was 18, and within a year was playing in the Henderson band. Not bad for a southern boy in the big city, since this was one of the most popular groups of that jazz-crazy period. The assignment of replacing Roy Eldridge must have been daunting but perhaps also natural since all the trumpet players of that era were finding their own voice through close examination of the Eldridge style, if not simply engaging in outright mimickry of the man. Berry hung with the Henderson band for three years, then changed Hendersons, joining a rival band led by brother, Horace Henderson.
As the '40s began the trumpeter was beginning to keep company of great status in the jazz world. He played with a Teddy Wilson sextet, the rowdy Lionel Hampton band, the complex composer and saxophonist Benny Carter and even with the master himself as a member of Roy Eldridge's Little Jazz Trumpet Ensemble. In the mid '40s the call came from Basie, beginning 10 years spent almost completely on that band's bus. As the rock and roll era dawned, Berry continued gigging with stellar veterans of the jazz days, including swaggering singer Jimmy Rushing, scintillating saxophonist Johnny Hodges, burbling brass bubbah Cootie Williams and boogie woogie boogieman Sammy Price. Berry recording extensively in the '50s, as he had in the first two decades of his career, creating a discography that is as lengthy as a prima donna's backstage catering list. A relocation to Los Angeles, supposedly based on a desire to kick back, led to further work on the road with classic players such as Peanuts Hucko and Wilbur De Paris. There was never a shortage of bandleaders wanting to hire Berry, and one reason was that he was an excellent soloist, particularly in the short form. One of the great elements of the aforementioned Holiday recordings, of course, are the solo features by the likes of Berry, Lester Young, Buck Clayton and others, seasoning the songs like genius chefs with unlimited spice racks. Berry also led bands from time to time. Records under his own name include the Emmett Berry Five 1944 release with tenor honker Don Byas, later reissued on a Savoy album. The Mainstream compilation entitled Mainstream of the Blues: 1959-65, an item that sometimes shows its scratched up face in used record piles, features the Emmett Berry Sextet as well as other cooking bands led by Buster
Bailey, Snub Mosley, Buddy Tate and Booty Wood. Berry retired to Cleveland in 1970, remaining a strong influence on trumpeters, even modern players such as Bill Dixon.
******************************************
1910 Nat Brandwynne, Leader
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
Nat Brandwynne was one of a group of pianists who emerged as bandleaders in the '30s, attempting to replicate the success of Eddy Duchin. Brandwynne was the most legitimate, needless to say, as he and mighty Duchin had made up a double piano team feature in the Leo Reisman Orchestra, a major catalyst in this particular keyboard craze. Brandwynne did not really establish his long term career as an ivory tickler, though. He concentrated on directing a tight, professional band and went to work backing up singers from the pop world, requiring a feel for changing styles that this leader obviously felt comfortable about.
An early '70s performance backing British vocal icon Petula Clark was praised highly by Variety magazine, remarking on a Brandwynne band able to "aid and abet with unstinting vigor." His most widely heard album would have to be the 1974 Live At Caeser's Palace by Dianna Ross, incredibly overblown but a hit nonetheless. By that time he was fairly comfortable in the atmosphere of Las Vegas, having signed on as musical director of Caesar's Palace Circus Maximus in 1966. Brandwynne also recorded several albums with Lena Horne. Releases by his own group include "Green Eyes" and his band theme song, "If Stars Could Talk".
It seems hardly worth mentioning that his name sometimes appears with the final "e" lopped off, not when there is the more serious problem of Nat Brandywine, a credit that somehow mutated out of his own name, to be used frequently in its place in all manner of listings including record company catalogs. Some listeners might argue thatBrandywine is an altogether better name than Brandwynne.
******************************************
1925 Gloria DeHaven, Actress/vocals
Gloria DeHaven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gloria DeHaven (born July 23, 1925, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress.
The daughter of vaudeville performers, DeHaven began her career as a child actor as an extra in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936). She was signed to a contract with MGM Studios and despite featured roles in such films as The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) she did not obtain the kind of stardom some had expected of her.
She has also appeared as a regular in the television series and soap operas As the World Turns, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Ryan's Hope. She was one of the numerous celebrities enticed to appear in the all-star box office flop Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and has guest starred in such television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, Marcus Welby, M.D., Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Murder, She Wrote and Touched By An Angel.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Gloria DeHaven has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
External links
Gloria DeHaven at the Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com/name/nm0002038/
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Gloria De Haven
www.thegoldenyears.org/dehaven.html
BIO:
www.thegoldenyears.org/dehaven.html
WIKI BIO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_De_Haven
******************************************
1910 Champion Jack Dupree, piano, b. New Orleans, LA, USA.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Bill Dahl
A formidable contender in the ring before he shifted his focus to pounding the piano instead, Champion Jack Dupree often injected his lyrics with a rowdy sense of down-home humor. But there was nothing lighthearted about his rock-solid way with a boogie; when he shouted "Shake Baby Shake," the entire room had no choice but to acquiesce.
Dupree was notoriously vague about his beginnings, claiming in some interviews that his parents died in a fire set by the Ku Klux Klan, at other times saying that the blaze was accidental. Whatever the circumstances of the tragic conflagration, Dupree grew up in New Orleans' Colored Waifs' Home for Boys (Louis Armstrong also spent his formative years there). Learning his trade from barrelhouse 88s ace Willie "Drive 'em Down" Hall, Dupree left the Crescent City in 1930 for Chicago and then Detroit. By 1935, he was boxing professionally in Indianapolis, battling in an estimated 107 bouts.
In 1940, Dupree made his recording debut for Chicago A&R man extraordinaire Lester Melrose and OKeh Records. Dupree's 1940-1941 output for the Columbia subsidiary exhibited a strong New Orleans tinge despite the Chicago surroundings; his driving "Junker's Blues" was later cleaned up as Fats Domino's 1949 debut, "The Fat Man." After a stretch in the Navy during World War II (he was a Japanese P.O.W. for two years), Dupree decided tickling the 88s beat pugilism any old day. He spent most of his time in New York and quickly became a prolific recording artist, cutting for Continental, Joe Davis, Alert, Apollo, and Red Robin (where he cut a blasting "Shim Sham Shimmy" in 1953), often in the company of Brownie McGhee. Contracts meant little; Dupree masqueraded as Brother Blues on Abbey, Lightnin' Jr. on Empire, and the truly imaginative Meat Head Johnson for Gotham and Apex.
King Records corralled Dupree in 1953 and held onto him through 1955 (the year he enjoyed his only R&B chart hit, the relaxed "Walking the Blues.") Dupree's King output rates with his very best; the romping "Mail Order Woman," "Let the Doorbell Ring," and "Big Leg Emma's" contrasting with the rural "Me and My Mule" (Dupree's vocal on the latter emphasizing a harelip speech impediment for politically incorrect pseudo-comic effect).
After a year on RCA's Groove and Vik subsidiaries, Dupree made a masterpiece LP for Atlantic. 1958's Blues From the Gutter is a magnificent testament to Dupree's barrelhouse background, boasting marvelous readings of "Stack-O-Lee," "Junker's Blues," and "Frankie & Johnny" beside the risqué "Nasty Boogie." Dupree was one of the first bluesmen to leave his native country for a less racially polarized European existence in 1959. He lived in a variety of countries overseas, continuing to record prolifically for Storyville, British Decca (with John Mayall and Eric Clapton lending a hand at a 1966 date), and many other firms.
Perhaps sensing his own mortality, Dupree returned to New Orleans in 1990 for his first visit in 36 years. While there, he played the Jazz & Heritage Festival and laid down a zesty album for Bullseye Blues, Back Home in New Orleans. Two more albums of new material were captured by the company the next year prior to the pianist's death in January of 1992. Jack Dupree was a champ to the very end.
WIKI BIO:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cham...ack_Dupree
Illustrated Champion Jack Dupree discography:
www.wirz.de/music/dupree.htm
Champion Jack Dupree:
www.cascadeblues.org/History...Jack.htm
******************************************
1928 Frank Foster, Sax/Clarinet/Arranger, b. either July or Sept. né: Frank Benjamin Foster, III. Did much arranging for The Count Basie band.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Scott Yanow
A very talented tenor saxophonist and arranger, Frank Foster has been associated with the Count Basie Orchestra off and on since 1953. Early on, he played in Detroit with the many talented local players and, after a period in the Army (1951-1953), he joined Basie's big band. Well-featured on tenor during his Basie years (1953-1964), Foster also contributed plenty of arrangements and such originals as "Down for the Count," "Blues Backstage," and the standard "Shiny Stockings." In the latter half of the 1960s, Foster was a freelance writer. In addition to playing with Elvin Jones (1970-1972) and occasionally with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, he led his Loud Minority big band. In 1983, Foster co-led a quintet with Frank Wess and he toured Europe with Jimmy Smith in 1985. Although influenced by John Coltrane in his playing, Foster was able to modify his style when he took over the Count Basie ghost band in 1986, revitalizing it and staying at the helm until 1995. Outside of his Basie dates, Foster has led sessions for Vogue, Blue Note (1954 and 1968), Savoy, Argo, Prestige, Mainstream, Denon, Catalyst, Bee Hive, SteepleChase, Pablo, and Concord.
******************************************
1961 Martin Gore, Member group: DePeche Mode
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
******************************************
1898 Clarence Holiday, guitar, b. Baltimore, MD, NY, d. 1937. Famed singer Billie Holiday's father.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Clarence Holiday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clarence Holiday (1898 - 1937) was a jazz guitarist.
Clarence Holiday is primarily remembered today as the father of Billie Holiday, but he never married Billie's mother. Before Lady Day made it big, he was not too happy about having to admit that he had a grown-up daughter.
Holiday worked locally until he became a member of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1928-33). Primarily a rhythm guitarist and rarely a soloist, Clarence Holiday recorded (in addition to many records with Henderson) with Benny Carter (1934) and Bob Howard (1935) and worked with (Charlie Turner) (1935), (Louis Metcalf) (1935-36) and the (Don Redman big band) (1936-37) before his early death.
******************************************
1897 Kay Kyser, bandleader, b. Rocky Mount, NC, USA, d. July 23, 1985, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Age: 79. né: James King Kern Kyser. (Some sources claim June 18, 1906 as his date of birth, but the 1897 date seems to jibe better with the years he spent at school.)
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by Bruce Eder
Kay Kyser couldn't read a note of music, and spent nearly as much time doing comedy as music on radio. But for over 15 years, from 1933 until the end of the 1940s, he was one of the most popular bandleaders and music personalities in America, and delighted tens of millions of listeners. Born into a family of academics, Kyser was supposed to pursue a career in law, but abandoned this after he took over the campus band at his college from its leader, Hal Kemp. He became so popular as a personality that he was on the road by the time he graduated.
In order to compensate for his lack of musical training, he hired arranger/composer George Duning (later the author of film scores for movies such as Picnic), a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Kyser and his band became nationally known following a series of radio broadcasts from the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica -- a group of gimmicks, such as having the vocalist sing the titles of the songs to be performed, interrupting a chorus for the band's theme, "Thinking of You," and announcing the singer's name, made his group stand out on the radio, and an engagement at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago made Kyser a star.
His radio show, Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, ran for more than 15 years, mixing comic quiz questions with swing music, ballads, and novelty tunes; Kyser presided over it all dressed in an academic gown complete with mortarboard, presenting an easygoing Southern personality and comic manner. He was so popular that RKO signed him up for a series of films, starting with That's Right, You're Wrong, playing himself. He made one movie for MGM in 1944, Swing Fever, which was an unsuccessful attempt to cast Kyser in a Harold Lloyd mold.
Kyser's featured vocalist during much of the late '30s and early '40s was Ginny Simms, who was succeeded by Gloria Wood, Julie Conway, Trudy Erwin, and Georgia Carroll ("There Goes That Song Again"), a singer and former John Robert Powers model whom Kyser married. The other featured personality was Merwyn Bogue, who was known on the air as Ish Kabibble, who handled the novelty numbers. Kyser's hits, for Brunswick during most of the 1930s and Columbia after 1939, included "You, You Darlin'," "Playmates," "With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair," "Friendship," "Tennessee Fish Fry," "The White Cliffs of Dover," and "Old Buttermilk Sky." During World War II, Kyser and his band endeared themselves to millions of listeners and servicemen by appearing at over 500 military installations in USO shows, in addition to their regular appearances on radio. Although the emphasis was on comedy, the band was recognized as a capable swing jazz outfit.
The radio show was canceled in 1949, and Kyser retired the following year. He declined to participate with his former bandmembers in the making of the 1952 Capitol album Kyser Hits in Hi-Fi, which was conducted by Stan Freberg. During the rest of his life, he spent time as a traveling lecturer on Christian Science, an area in which he was a true scholar.
Kyser, Kay
www.kaykyser.net/
Radio Hall of Fame
www.radiohof.org/musicvari...kyser.html
Tribute:
www.ibiblio.org/kaykyser/photo/kay1.html
******************************************
1902 "Curly Barefoot" Miller, piano, b. New Orleans, LA, USA. Recorded by Topcat Records.
******************************************
1918 Eva Overstake, C&W vocals, b. Decatur, IL, USA. Member: "The Three Little Maids"
BIO:
www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wl...oley.html
******************************************
1919 Paul Rice, C&W vocals/guitar, b. Gainesville, GA, USA. Member: "The Rice Brothers", a duo of Paul and Hoke Rice (b. January 8, 1909, (near Gainesville), Hall County, GA, USA). Their father was a preacher and cobbler who repaired soles during the week and saved souls on Sundays. But, the Rice brothers inherited their musical talent from their mother, who played five-string banjo, fiddle and piano.
******************************************
1901 Dock Walsh, Folk vocals, d. 1967. (Doctor Cable Walsh) member: Carolina Tar Heels.
AMG BIO: www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
******************************************
1938 Annette Williams, vocals, b. Beeville, TX, USA. Member: 'The Blossoms'. Twin sisters.
AMG BIO:
www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll
Biography by William Ruhlmann
The Blossoms were a female vocal group formed at Fremont High School in Los Angeles in 1954 as the Dreamers and consisting of Fanita James (née Barrett), Gloria Jones, and the twin sisters Nanette and Annette Williams. They recorded for Flair Records in 1954. By 1957, Nanette Williams had been replaced by Darlene Wright, who later took the name Darlene Love. They did extensive session work, and Love and James were members of producer Phil Spector's studio group Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. Love also recorded with Spector under her own name and as part of the Crystals. The Blossoms had one pop chart entry in 1961 with "Son-In-Law," an answer record to Ernie K-Doe's hit "Mother-In-Law." Later, the Blossoms -- by now consisting of Love, James, and Jean King -- were regular backup singers on the pop music television series Shindig in 1965. In 1967, they scored an R&B singles chart entry with "Good, Good Lovin'." There were more personnel changes and a string of singles on several labels. In 1972, the Blossoms recorded the album Shockwave.
******************************************
Notable Events on this date include:
1931. Jimmy Harrison, trombone, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 31. Worked with Bessie Smith
1960. Prince Robinson, tenor sax/millinder, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 58
1966. Frank Sinatra's release of "Strangers in the Night" was the his first #1 LP since 1960.
******************************************
Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
1923 "Oklahoma Indian Jazz", - The Benson Orch. of Chicago.
1923 "Bahama", - Art Kahn Orch.
1923 "A Kiss In The Dark", - Carl Fenton Orch.
1924 "Tell Me You Forgive Me", - Jack Shilkret Orch.
1926 "Play Gypsies, Dance Gypsies", - Carl Fenton Orch.
1926 "It's A Wonderful World", - Ernie Golden Orch.
1930 "In Memory of You", - Anglo-Persians Orch. (see Whittall
1931 "I Love Louisa", - Smith Ballew Orch and vocal.
*(SMITH BALLEW KicKS MY aSs!!!!)
1935 "I Wished On The Moon", - Lanny Ross vocal release.
1940 "Ferryboat Serenade", - Kay Kyser Orch.
1940 "Prince of Wails", - Bud Freeman and his Famous Chicagoans.
1940 "At The Jazz Band Ball", - Bud Freeman and his Famous Chicagoans.
1941 "Call It Anything, It's Love", - Will Bradley Orch.
1941"Basin Street Boogie", - Will Bradley and His 6 Texas Hotdogs.
1942 "I Had The Craziest Dream", - Harry James Orch.
1966 "Strangers In The Night", Frank Sinatra vocal (hit No. 1 on the Charts.)
1966 "Summer In The City", - The Lovin' Spoonful
1983 "Puttin' On The Ritz", - Taco
posted by:
|
