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International Sweethearts Of Rhythm
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that included the Apollo Theater in New York City, the Regal Theater in Chicago, and the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. After a performance in Chicago in 1943, the ''Chicago Defender'' announced the band was "one of the hottest stage shows that ever raised the roof of the theater!" They have been labeled "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the Big Band era". During feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s in America, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm became popular with feminist writers and musicologists who made it their goal to change the discourse on the history of jazz to include both men and women musicians. Flutist Antoinette Handy was one scholar who documented the story of these female musicians of color. ...
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Piney Woods, Mississippi
Piney Woods is an unincorporated community in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. It is the site of the Piney Woods Country Life School, a historically African-American boarding school established in 1909. The community is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate .... References External links Piney Woods Country Life School- Official site. Unincorporated communities in Mississippi Unincorporated communities in Rankin County, Mississippi Jackson metropolitan area, Mississippi {{RankinCountyMS-geo-stub ...
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All-female Band
An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While all-male bands are common in many rock and pop scenes, all-female bands are less common. 1920s–1950s In the Jazz Age and during the 1930s, "all-girl" bands such as the Blue Belles, the Parisian Redheads (later the Bricktops), Lil-Hardin's All-Girl Band, the Ingenues, the Harlem Playgirls led by the likes of Neliska Ann Briscoe and Eddie Crump, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Phil Spitalny's Musical Sweethearts, "Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators" as well as "Helen Lewis and her Rhythm Queens were popular. Dozens of early sound films were made of the vaudeville style all-girl groups, especially short subject promotional films for Paramount and Vitaphone. (In 1925, Lee de Forest filmed Lewis and her band in his sho ...
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Ernestine "Tiny" Davis
Ernestine Carroll Davis, (born 1909 or 1910 – January 30, 1994) better known as Tiny Davis, was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. Early life and education Carroll was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Born to George and Leanna (née White) Carroll, she was the youngest of seven children: four sisters and two brothers. She began playing trumpet at age thirteen while a student at Booker T. Washington High School. Career She moved to Kansas City in the 1930s and joined the Harlem Play-Girls in 1935, playing with the group until late 1936, when she left the group to give birth. In 1937, the Piney Woods Country Life School of Mississippi founded the 16-piece band known as The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The purpose of the band was to financially support the school, which educated the poor and orphaned Black children in that state. But in 1941, the Sweethearts severed their ties with the Piney Woods Country Life School, moved to Virginia, and recruited seasoned pr ...
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Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra
Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra was an African-American all-female band started by arranger Eddie Durham in January 1942. By November, the All-Stars were a part of Moe Gale's New York agency. The group was also known as "Eddie Durham's All-Girl Band" and performed throughout the country and internationally. The All-Stars typically had between eighteen and twenty-two members and pulled musicians from other popular bands of the time, including The Harlem Playgirls and The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. History Popularity Starting July 9, 1943, the All-Star Girl Orchestra traveled throughout the United States and Canada performing, with concerts at cities, such as Columbus, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia and USO dates. The All-Stars were very popular during World War II and performed at United Service Organization (USO) Camp Shows. They dedicated at least one night per week on the war effort and their activities included raising war bonds, uplifting morale, a ...
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Jesse Stone
Jesse Albert Stone (November 16, 1901 – April 1, 1999) was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun. His best-known composition as Calhoun was "Shake, Rattle and Roll". Ahmet Ertegun once stated that "Jesse Stone did more to develop the basic rock 'n' roll sound than anybody else." Early life Stone was born in Atchison, Kansas, United States, and raised in Kansas. His grandparents were formerly enslaved in Tennessee. Stone was influenced by a wide array of styles. He came from a musical family who put on minstrel shows, and performed with them by age of five. He was part of a trained dog act at the age of four. Career By 1926, Stone had formed a group, the Blue Serenaders, and cut his first record, "Starvation Blues", for Okeh Records in 1927. For the next few years he worked as a pianist and arranger in Kansas City, recording with Julia Lee amon ...
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Eddie Durham
Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller took great benefit from his composing and arranging skill. With Edgar Battle he composed "Topsy", which was recorded by Count Basie and became a hit for Benny Goodman. In 1938, Durham wrote "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" with Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus, and Eddie Seiler. During the 1940s, Durham created Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra, an African-American all female swing band that toured the United States and Canada. Early life Durham was born in San Marcos, Texas, on August 19, 1906, to Joseph Durham Sr. and Luella Rabb (née Mohawk) Durham. From an early age, Durham performed with his family in the Durham Brothers Band. At the age of eighteen, he began traveling and playing in regional bands. Pionee ...
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Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and, along with Duke Ellington, is considered one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history. Henderson's influence was vast. He helped bridge the gap between the Dixieland and the swing eras. He was often known as "Smack" Henderson (because of smacking sounds he made with his lips). Biography James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson was born in Cuthbert, Georgia. He grew up in a middle-class African American family. His father, Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (1857–1943), was the principal of the nearby Howard Normal Randolph School from 1880 until 1942. His home, now known as the Fletcher Henderson House, is a historic site. His mother, a teacher, taught him and his brother Horace to play the piano. He be ...
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Charlie Christian
Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands. John Hammond and George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the swing era. In the liner notes to the album '' Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian'' (Columbia, 1972), Gene Lees wrote that "Many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop, or if not that, at least a precursor to it."Liner notes. '' ...
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North Omaha, Nebraska
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Located just north of Downtown Omaha, the community includes some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, including the Near North Side, Bemis Park, Saratoga and Florence. It is the site of the Mormon Pioneers' Winter Quarters and the Mormon Temple, a center of European immigration as well as the historically significant African-American community, and the birthplace of Malcolm X. Important landmarks in the community include the Bank of Florence, Prospect Hill Cemetery and the Fort Omaha Historical District. In 2006, North Omaha became the focus of national attention after local State Senator Ernie Chambers introduced an amendment to divide ...
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Cotton Club Boys (territory Band)
The Cotton Club Boys was a territory band based in North Omaha, Nebraska in the 1930s. It was initially fronted by Anna Mae Winburn. About Personnel in the swing band included a variety of players. Trumpets players included Lloyd Hunter, Park King, Willie Long and Raymond Byron. The reed section included Bill Owens, Harold Johnson, James Bytheweek and Gene McDonald. Dave Finny was the pianist, and Ike Welch was on guitar. FeBoe Mills played bass, and William Kyles and Anna Mae Winburn were vocalists. See also * Culture of North Omaha, Nebraska * Music of Omaha Music in Omaha, Nebraska, has been a diverse and important influence in the culture of the city. Long a home to jazz, blues, funk and rock, today Omaha has dozens of subgenres represented, including Latin, alternative rock and hip hop. Omaha's his ... References {{Omaha-stub Musical groups from Omaha, Nebraska Territory bands ...
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Anna Mae Winburn
Anna Mae Winburn ''(née'' Darden; August 13, 1913 – September 30, 1999) was an influential American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid-1930s. An African American, she is best known for having directed the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female big band that was perhaps one of the few – and one of the most – racially integrated dance-bands of the swing era. Career Indiana and Nebraska Her first known publicized performance was singing with the studio band of Radio WOWO, Fort Wayne. She worked at various clubs in Indiana, including the Chateau Lido in Indianapolis (where she appeared under the pseudonym Anita Door). From there she moved to North Omaha, Nebraska, where she sang and played guitar for a variety of territory bands, or groups whose touring activities and popularity were geographically limited to several adjoining states, that were led by Red Perkins. During that time Winburn was a collaborator of Lloyd Hunter, frequen ...
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Jo Jones
Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes known as Papa Jo Jones to distinguish him from younger drummer Philly Joe Jones. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Jones moved to Alabama, where he learned to play several instruments, including saxophone, piano, and drums. He worked as a drummer and tap-dancer at carnival shows until joining Walter Page's band, the Blue Devils in Oklahoma City in the late 1920s. He recorded with trumpeter Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders in 1931, and later joined pianist Count Basie's band in 1934. Jones, Basie, guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Walter Page were sometimes billed as an "All-American Rhythm section," an ideal team. Jones took a brief break for two years when he was in the military, but he remained with Basie until 1948. He p ...
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