Beryl Audley Bryden (11 May 1920 – 14 July 1998) was an English
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
, who played with
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher "Chris" Barber OBE (17 April 1930 – 2 March 2021) was an English jazz musician, best known as a bandleader and trombonist. He helped many musicians with their careers and had a UK top twenty trad jazz hit with "Petite Fle ...
and
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...
.
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
once said of Bryden that she was "Britain's queen of the blues".
Life and career
Bryden was born in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, England, on 11 May 1920 and was the only child of Amos and Elsie Bryden. Her enthusiasm for jazz music began during her teenage years. She became a member of the National Rhythm Club when she was 17 and became secretary of the local branch in 1941. An ardent jazz fan she established a
Nat Gonella
Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era.
Early life and career
Gonella was bo ...
fan club in her teens, before taking up the
washboard and singing. Her vocal style was influenced by
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...
but she avoided affectation of an American accent. Bryden was a friend of Black Anna Hannant who ran the Jolly Butchers pub in
Ber Street, Norwich.
In 1942 at the age of 22, she moved to
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. In 1945, after the war had ended, she moved to back to London, hoping to start a music career.
She also worked with
Mick Mulligan
Peter Sidney "Mick" Mulligan (24 January 1928 – 20 December 2006) was an English jazz trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his presence on the trad jazz scene.
Biography
He was born in Harrow, Middlesex, England. Mulligan began playing ...
and
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an ...
at London jazz venues such as the Cook's Ferry Inn in
Walthamstow
Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...
and became a supporter of visiting American jazz acts when the Musicians Union ban was lifted and befriended amongst others,
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" ...
,
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, and
Bud Freeman
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet.
Biography
In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...
with whom she recorded.
In May 1949 Bryden formed her own group called ''Beryl’s Back-Room Boys'' and later worked with
Mike Daniels. At the same club in 1952 she met the French clarinettist Maxime Saury and sang with his band at The Club Du Vieux Colombier, District of Saint Germain Des Pres, Paris.
In 1955 she joined the
Chris Barber
Donald Christopher "Chris" Barber OBE (17 April 1930 – 2 March 2021) was an English jazz musician, best known as a bandleader and trombonist. He helped many musicians with their careers and had a UK top twenty trad jazz hit with "Petite Fle ...
band on
washboard, and played on the group's
gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
, "
Rock Island Line
"Rock Island Line" is an American folk song. Ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it appeared as a folk song as early as 1929. The first recorded performance of "Rock Island Line" was by inmates of the Arkansas Cummins ...
" with
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...
on vocals.
This track helped begin the 'skiffle' craze of the late 1950s.
She later graduated to the
Monty Sunshine
Monty Sunshine (9 April 1928 – 30 November 2010) was an English jazz clarinettist, who is known for his clarinet solo on the track " Petite Fleur", a million seller for the Chris Barber Jazz Band in 1959. During his career, Sunshine worked w ...
jazz band covering
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...
("Young Woman's Blues", "Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)"), and long-term favourite "Coney Island Washboard Blues" which demonstrated her washboard technique.
In 1972 she made guest appearances with the
Lennie Hastings
Leonard "Lennie" Hastings (5 January 1927 – 14 July 1978) was an English jazz drummer.
Biography
Hastings started out playing in military bands during World War II in the 1940s, which included Micky Bryan's Rug Cutters in 1942. He then playe ...
''Oo-Yah Band'' along with trombone player
George Chisholm.
She remained active at the end of the British trad jazz boom, and became particularly popular in Northern Europe, playing with the Ted Easton Jazz Band and The Piccadilly Six. On 13 July,
1979, she headlined the
North Sea Jazz Festival with
Rod Mason and His Hot Five. In the 1980s she often sang with the New Orleans Syncopators, a Dutch jazz band with whom she recorded an album.
She remained active into the 1990s,
playing with the Metropolitan Jazz Band,
Digby Fairweather
Richard John Charles "Digby" Fairweather (born 25 April 1946) is a British jazz cornetist, author and broadcaster.
Biography
Before becoming a professional musician, Fairweather was a librarian and has retained an interest in jazz bibliograph ...
,
Nat Gonella
Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era.
Early life and career
Gonella was bo ...
and her own Blue Boys. She made her last recording with Gonella in 1998, shortly before her death.
Beryl Bryden Biography
''www.flickr.com''
Personal life and death
Bryden was a keen traveller. She was renowned for her flamboyant gowns and sculptured blonde wigs.
She travelled widely and practised her hobbies of photography and deep-sea diving.
She lived for many years at 166, Gloucester Terrace, Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
in London.
She died from Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...
, aged 78, at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on 14 July 1998.
Discography
* ''Two Moods of Beryl Bryden'' (Audiophile, 1994)
References
External links
*AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
*''Beryl Bryden and The Piccadilly Six'', Elite Special (1975). Liner notes
* :cs:Viktor Kotrubenko
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryden, Beryl
1920 births
1998 deaths
English jazz singers
British women jazz singers
20th-century English women singers
20th-century English singers
Musicians from Norwich
Washboard players
Jazz photographers