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Wesley Wilson
Wesley Shellie Wilson (October 1, 1893 – October 10, 1958), often credited as Kid Wilson, was an American blues and jazz singer and songwriter. His stagecraft and performances with his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant, were popular with African American audiences in the 1910s, 1920s and early 1930s. His stage names included Kid Wilson, Jenkins, Socks, and Sox (or Socks) Wilson. His musical excursions included participation in the duo of Pigmeat Pete and Catjuice Charlie. His recordings include the songs "Blue Monday on Sugar Hill" and "Rasslin' till the Wagon Comes". Biography Wilson was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He played the piano and organ, and his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant, played the guitar and sang and danced. The duo was variously billed as Grant and Wilson, Kid and Coot, and Hunter and Jenkins, as they appeared and later record with Fletcher Henderson, Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. Their variety was such that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonville Jacksonville Consolidation, consolidated in 1968. It was the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020, and became the 10th List of United States cities by population, largest U.S. city by population in 2023. Jacksonville straddles the St. Johns River in the First Coast region of northeastern Florida, about south of the Georgia state line ( to the urban core/downtown) and north of Miami. The Jacksonville Beaches communities are along the adjacent Atlantic coast. The area was originally inhabited by the Timucua people, and in 1564 was the site of the French colony of Fort Caroline, one of the earliest European settlements in what is now the continental United States. Under B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Butterbeans And Susie
Butterbeans and Susie were an American double act, comedy duo comprising Jodie Edwards (July 19, 1893 – October 28, 1967) and Susie Edwards (née Hawthorne; December 1894 – December 5, 1963). They married in 1917, and performed together until the early 1960s. Their act, a combination of marital quarrels, comic dances, and racy singing, proved popular on the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) tour. They later moved to vaudeville and appeared for a time with the blackface minstrel show, minstrel troupe the The Rabbit's Foot Company, Rabbit's Foot Company.Harris 1994, p. 173. Career Early career and marriage Edwards began his career in 1910 as a singer and dancer. Hawthorne performed in African-American theater. The two met in 1916, when Hawthorne was in the chorus of the show ''Smart Set''. They married onstage the next year. The two began performing as a comic team. They had been touring with the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) with an African-America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist and songwriter. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of delivering deeply felt presentations of standards, as well as writing and singing her own material. Early life Lincoln was born on August 6, 1930, in Chicago, but raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan. She was one of 12 children. Career Music Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday. Lincoln's 1956 debut album, '' Abbey Lincoln's Affair... A Story of a Girl in Love'', was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960, she sang on Max Roach's landmark civil rights-themed recording '' We Insist!'' (subtitled ''Freedom Now Suite''), "regarded as the earliest full-scale protest record in jazz", as historian Nat Hentoff observed. Lincoln's lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.. The sixth of eight children born into a respected family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a local fund set up in her hometown, she enrolled at Allen High School for Girls, then spent a summer at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, preparing to apply for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She failed to gain admission to Curtis,Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'' which she attributed to racism, though staff have pointed out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valerie Wellington
Valerie Wellington (November 14, 1959 – January 2, 1993) was an American singer who, in her short career, switched from singing opera to singing Chicago blues and electric blues. On her 1984 album, ''Million Dollar Secret'', she worked with Sunnyland Slim, Billy Branch, and Magic Slim. She also worked with Lee "Shot" Williams. Biography She was born Valerie Eileen Hall in Chicago, Illinois. She was trained as an opera singer and graduated from the American Conservatory of Music, but in 1982 she took up singing the blues in Chicago clubs. She also worked in theater, playing roles portraying earlier blues singers, such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Her opera training enabled her to project her voice to theater audiences. She appeared at the 1984 San Francisco Blues Festival, on a bill with Marcia Ball and Katie Webster. Her recorded work blended a traditional vaudeville approach with a contemporary Chicago blues format. Wellington made few recordings, but her voice was used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an United States, American jazz Trombone, trombonist and singer. He led both of his bands himself and was a sideman for Paul Whiteman's orchestra. From 1946 to 1951, he played in Louis Armstrong's All-Stars. Early life Jack Teagarden was born in Vernon, Texas, the oldest of four children. His siblings also pursued musical careers: Charlie Teagarden, Charlie played trumpet, Norma Teagarden, Norma played piano, and Clois ("Cub") played Drum kit, drums. Teagarden's father, Charles, worked in the oil fields and played cornet part-time, while his mother, Helen, was a semi-professional pianist who accompanied silent films in local theaters. Charles encouraged Teagarden to play the baritone horn. At age eight, Jack received his first trombone as a Christmas gift, transitioning from the Tenor horn, tenor-valve horn to the trombone. His first public performances were in his local theaters, helping his mother provide mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women
Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women was a three-woman blues musical ensemble in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in 1984 by Ann Rabson, Gaye Adegbalola and Earlene Lewis. Lewis separated from the band in 1992 and was replaced by Andra Faye. The group then featured Rabson on piano, vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ... and guitar, Adegbalola on vocals and guitar, and Faye on vocals, bass guitar, bass, mandolin, violin and guitar. Saffire's music was a combination of serious blues songs and comedic novelty songs. They covered original songs (such as "Do Your Duty" by Wesley 'Sox' Wilson, "You Got to Know How" by Sippie Wallace & Jack Viertel, and "Don't You Tell Me"), as well as the music of blueswomen who had inspired them, such as Big Mama Thornton, I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rory Block
Aurora "Rory" Block (born November 6, 1949) is an American blues guitarist and singer, a notable exponent of the country blues style. Career Aurora Block was born in Princeton and grew up in Manhattan. Her father, Allan Block, ran a sandal shop in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, and the Greenwich Village folk music scene, such as Peter Rowan, Maria Muldaur, and John Sebastian influenced Block to study classical guitar. At the age of 14, she met guitarist Stefan Grossman, who introduced her to the music of Mississippi Delta blues guitarists. Block began listening to old albums, transcribing them, and learning to play the songs. At age 15, she left home to seek out the remaining blues giants, such as Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and Son House, and hone her craft in the traditional manner of blues musicians; then she traveled to Berkeley, California, where she played in clubs and coffeehouses. After retiring temporarily to raise a family, Block returned to the musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buck Clayton
Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record " Confessin' that I Love You" as he passed by a shop window. Early years Clayton learned to play the piano from the age of six. His father was an amateur musician associated with the family's local church, who was responsible for teaching his son the scales on a trumpet, which he did not take up until his teens. From the age of 17, Clayton was taught the trumpet by Bob Russell, a member of George E. Lee's band. In his early twenties he was based in California, and was briefly a member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra and worked with other leaders. Clayton was also taught at this time by trumpeter Mutt Carey, who later emerged as a prominent west-coast revivalist in the 1940s. He also met Louis Armstrong, while Armstrong was performing at Sebastian's Cotton Club, who t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop music, pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating Phrase (music), phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and Jazz improvisation, improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem where she was heard by producer John Hammond (record producer), John Hammond, who liked her voice. Holiday signed a recording contract with Brunswick Records, Brunswick in 1935. Her collaboration with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia Records, Columbia and Decca Records, Decca. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Weathersby
Carlton Weathersby (February 24, 1953 – August 9, 2024) was an American electric blues vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. He worked with Albert King and Billy Branch, among others, and had a career as a solo artist. He was nominated for the W. C. Handy Award for Best New Blues Artist in 1997. Biography Weathersby was born in Jackson, Mississippi on February 24, 1953. He spent his early years in Meadville, Mississippi, a place he still considered home, although when he was aged eight, his family moved to East Chicago, Indiana. Pre-musician years (1953–1979) As a teenager, Weathersby began to learn to play the guitar. One day, after practicing " Cross Cut Saw" many times through, he decided to show his father. After he finished playing it, his father's friend, a man Weathersby knew as Albert, the diesel mechanic, said, "Man, that ain't the way that song goes, that ain't the way I played it." The mechanic turned out to be Albert King, who then showed Weathersby how to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King of the Jukebox", he earned his highest profile towards the end of the swing era. Specializing in the alto saxophone, alto sax, Jordan played all forms of the saxophone, as well as piano and clarinet. He also was a talented singer with great comedic flair, and fronted his own band for more than twenty years. He duetted with some of the biggest solo singing stars of his time, including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Jordan began his career in big-band swing jazz in the 1930s coming to the public's attention as part of Chick Webb's hard swinging band, though he became better known as an innovative popularizer of jump blues—a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues and boogie-woogie. Typically performed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
