Lucille "Billie" Poole (March 21, 1929 – May 21, 2005) was an American

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 ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer.

Life and career

Born in

Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri ...

, Billie Poole moved to California with her family in 1943, where she founded choirs. She had performances with them in numerous concerts around

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In 1954 she went to France and acted in the German/French movie "The heroes are tired/Les héros sont fatigués". Besides she sang spirituals and Jazz. In 1959 she made recordings with

Art Simmons Arthur Eugene Simmons (February 5, 1926 – April 23, 2018) was an American jazz pianist. Simmons was born in Glen White, West Virginia in February 1926. He played in a band while serving in the U.S. military in 1946, then remained in Germany aft ...

, supported by

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

, Elek Bacsik,

Michel Gaudry Michel Gaudry (23 September 1928 – 29 May 2019) was a French jazz double-bassist and World War II historian. Biography Michel Gaudry was born in Eu, France on 23 September 1928. He learned clarinet and piano as a child before switching to bass ...

and

Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...

. Through 1960 she appeared regularly on a French TV series 'Jazz Memories'. On 30 August 1961 she had a live TV-appearance in the German programme ''Jazz gehört und gesehen'' (''Jazz for listeners and viewers'') hosted by Joachim-Ernst Behrendt). alongside

Humphrey Littleton Humphrey Littleton, or Humphrey Lyttelton, died on 7 April 1606 at Red Hill outside Worcester. A member of the Lyttelton family, he was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder plot. Robert Wintour and Stephen Littleton who had escaped fr ...

and

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gai ...

After an appearance in Cologne in that year, a recording with the

Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band The Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band was a jazz big band co-led by American drummer Kenny Clarke and Belgian pianist François "Francy" Boland. They were one of the most noteworthy jazz big bands formed outside the United States, featuring top ...

was planned, and resulted in a single, but had to be cancelled as Poole needed to return to the US.
In 1962 her first album ''Sermonette'' for

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

was published. She sang with pianist Jimmy Jones and orchestra. Her second album ''Confessin' the Blues'' (1963) featured

Junior Mance Julian Clifford Mance, Jr. (October 10, 1928 – January 17, 2021), known as Junior Mance, was an American jazz pianist and composer. Biography Early life (1928–1947) Mance was born in Evanston, Illinois. When he was five years old, Mance st ...

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

Bob Cranshaw Melbourne Robert Cranshaw (December 3, 1932 – November 2, 2016) was an American jazz bassist. His career spanned the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long associa ...

and

Mickey Roker Granville William "Mickey" Roker (September 3, 1932 – May 22, 2017) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville (Sr.) and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died (his father never lived wi ...

). In 1968/69 Billie Poole was back in France and performed with

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

. In her last years she sang with her half-sister Betty Gadling,honoring
the late Betty Gadling in the US Congress in February 2011 who led a choir called ''Allen Temple Baptist Church Mass Choir'' (''Hand in Hand'').

Discography

* ''Sermonette'' (with Jimmy Jones & Orchestra, 1961–62) * ''Confessin' the Blues'' (with

and

, 1963)

References

External links

obituary
Oakland Post, 7 June 2005 *
discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Billie 1929 births 2005 deaths American women jazz singers American jazz singers American blues singers 20th-century American women singers Singers from Illinois People from Edwardsville, Illinois 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women