Helen Gross (born Hellen R. Gross, May 1896 – unknown) was an American

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

singer, active as a recording artist in the mid-1920s. Songs she recorded include "I Wanna Jazz Some More", "Bloody Razor Blues", and "Strange Man". All of her recorded work was from sessions in her birthplace, New York City, between May 1924 and March 1925. She recorded 27 songs, which were originally released by

Ajax Records Ajax Records was a record company and label founded in 1921. Jazz and blues records were produced in New York City, with some in Montreal, and marketed via the Ajax Record Company of Chicago. History Ajax was a subsidiary of the Compo Company of ...

. Steve Leggett, writing for

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 databa ...

, noted that her recordings include "a preponderance of often baffling noise effects, which at times gives her songs the feel of a carnival

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten ...

." Little is known of her life outside music, and no details of her death are recorded.

Career

Gross recorded for Ajax Records, as did

Rosa Henderson Rosa Henderson (November 24, 1896 – April 6, 1968) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer and vaudeville entertainer of the Harlem Renaissance era. Life and career Born Rosa Deschamps in Henderson, Kentucky, she is remembered as ...

Edna Hicks Edna Hicks (October 14, 1891 or 1895 – August 16, 1925) was an American blues singer and musician. Her recorded songs include "Hard Luck Blues" and "Poor Me Blues". She also recorded "Down Hearted Blues", and "Gulf Coast Blues" on the Brunswic ...

, Viola McCoy,

Monette Moore Monette Moore (May 19, 1902 in Gainesville, Texas – October 21, 1962 in Garden Grove, California) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer. Moore was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She taught herself to play the piano in her ...

, and Fletcher Henderson. Her work was notable for the quality of the jazz musicians that accompanied her, including the trumpet and cornet players

James "Bubber" Miley James Wesley "Bubber" Miley (April 3, 1903 – May 20, 1932) was an American early jazz trumpet and cornet player, specializing in the use of the plunger mute. Early life (1903–1923) Miley was born in Aiken, South Carolina, United States ...

and Louis Metcalf, the

stride Stride or STRIDE may refer to: Computing * STRIDE (security), spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privilege * Stride (software), a successor to the cloud-based HipChat, a corporate cloud-based ...

piano player Cliff Jackson, the pianists Lou Hooper and

Porter Grainger Porter Grainger ( Granger; October 22, 1891 − October 30, 1948) was an American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher. Biography When Grainger was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Granger family name did not include an "i". A ...

, and the saxophonist and clarinetist Bob Fuller. Gross was not a conventional blues singer. She approached her work as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performer. Her arrangements reinforced this style, giving an unusual approach to standard blues material. The results were sketchy, but the AllMusic critic Steve Leggett noted that, on "Haunted House Blues", "Gross sounds as if she's wandered into a carnival funhouse.... The same technique of using goofy Halloween sound effects makes the similar-sounding "Ghost Walking Blues" work wonderfully, however, with just the right balance between odd and eerie." A more sinister element is evident on "Bloody Razor Blues", with lyrics by

Spencer Williams Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs " Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", " Royal Garden Blues", " I've Found a New ...

, including "I want to bleed him until his heart runs dry." Her 1924 rendition of "I Wanna Jazz Some More" became notable because of songwriter Tom Delaney's rhyming line of "Miss Susan Green from New Orleans."

Joe Davis Joseph Davis (15 April 190110 July 1978) was an English professional snooker and English billiards player. He was the dominant figure in snooker from the 1920s to the 1950s, and has been credited with inventing aspects of the way the game is ...

worked in an A&R capacity, placing artists and songs with Ajax, including Gross and some of Delaney's work.

Discography

*''Helen Gross: In Chronological Order 1924–25'' (1996).

Document Records Document Records is an independent record label, founded in Austria and now based in Scotland, that specializes in reissuing vintage blues and jazz. The company has been recognised by The Blues Foundation, being honoured with a Keeping the ...

References

External links

Ajax Records discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Helen 1896 births People from Manhattan Year of death missing Place of death missing African-American women singers American blues singers Classic female blues singers Ajax Records artists

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links