Liza Mae "May" Alix (August 31, 1902 in Chicago, Illinois - November 1, 1983) was an American cabaret and jazz vocalist.

Biography

She began her career as a teenager after winning a talent contest. She performed with the

Jimmie Noone Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical ...

band in the clubs of Chicago. Alix later worked with bandleaders

Carroll Dickerson Carroll Dickerson (November 1, 1895 – October 9, 1957) was a Chicago and New York-based dixieland jazz violinist and bandleader, probably better known for his extensive work with Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines or his more brief work tourin ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

, and

Luis Russell Luis Russell (August 5, 1902 – December 11, 1963) was a pioneering Panamanian jazz pianist, orchestra leader, composer, and arranger. Career Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near Bocas del Toro, Panama, in a family of African-Car ...

. She earned the nickname "Queen of the Splits" for the dance choreography included in her show, where she would do a split for every dollar thrown by a customer. Soon she joined

Ollie Powers Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Ollie ...

as a duo performing in cabarets. In 1926, she recorded with

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

. One of the recordings, "

Big Butter and Egg Man "Big Butter and Egg Man" is a 1926 jazz song written by Percy Venable. Venable was a record producer at the Sunset Cafe and wrote the song for Louis Armstrong and singer May Alix.''Louis Armstrong: An American Genius''. James Lincoln Collier. Oxfo ...

," which they performed at the Sunset Café as a duo, became Armstrong's first chart hit. The song "Big Butter and Egg Man," according to Thomas Brothers, included "an unspoken racial dimension, for part of the humor came from the dark-skinned cornetist acting the part of a big butter and egg man, who was, unquestionably, white in the popular imagination." When performing this number with Armstrong, according to Earl Hines, Alix would "put her arms around him, look at him and sing, 'I need a big butter and egg man,' and he rmstrongwould stand there and almost melt." She collaborated with Jimmie Noone on half a dozen recordings for

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

(1929–1930) including "Ain't Misbehavin", "My Daddy Rocks Me", and "Birmingham Bertha/Am I Blue?". During the 1930s and early 1940s, she performed mainly in New York City. She married and eventually divorced her pianist and songwriter husband, Warley Asher. She left show business in 1941. Jazz singer

Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984) was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. After twenty years of working as a nurse, Hunter resumed her singing career in 1977. Early life Hu ...

sometimes recorded under the name "May Alix", with the permission of the real May Alix.

Biography

References

Further reading