Monette Moore (May 19, 1902 in

Gainesville, Texas Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,002 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center. History Founded in 1850, the city of Gain ...

– October 21, 1962 in

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

) 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

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. Moore was raised in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. She taught herself to play the piano in her teens and worked as a theater pianist in Kansas City in the early 1920s.Harris 1994, p. 385. In 1923 and 1924 she recorded for

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramount Records was formed in 19 ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, relocating to the latter city.Yanow, Allmusic In the 1920s she worked in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. She sang with Charlie Johnson's ensemble at

Smalls Paradise Smalls Paradise (often called Small's Paradise and Smalls' Paradise, and not to be confused with Smalls Jazz Club), was a nightclub in Harlem, New York City. Located in the basement of 2294 Seventh Avenue at 134th Street, it opened in 1925 and ...

and recorded with him in 1927 and 1928. She recorded 44 songs from 1923 to 1927, some under the name Susie Smith. Her sidemen included

Tommy Ladnier Thomas James Ladnier (May 28, 1900 – June 4, 1939) was an American jazz trumpeter. Hugues Panassié – an influential French critic, jazz historian, and renowned exponent of Dixieland, New Orleans jazz – rated Ladnier, sometime on or before ...

Jimmy O'Bryant J. A. "Jimmy" O'Bryant (c. 1896 – June 24, 1928) was an American jazz clarinetist. Career O'Bryant played with the Tennessee Ten in 1920 and 1921, then in a group with Jelly Roll Morton and W. C. Handy in 1923. In 1924, he played with Ki ...

, Jimmy Blythe, Bob Fuller,

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

Bubber Miley Bubber is a nickname and surname which may refer to: People: * Bubber or Bubba Brooks (1922-2002), American jazz tenor saxophonist * James Bubber Epps (born 1943), American politician * Clarence James Bubber Jonnard (1897-1977), American Major Leag ...

, and

Elmer Snowden Elmer Chester Snowden (October 9, 1900 – May 14, 1973) was an American banjo player of the jazz age. He also played guitar and, in the early stages of his career, all the reed instruments. He contributed greatly to jazz in its early days as b ...

. From 1924-1941 she worked in theaters and clubs in New York. She appeared with

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing and rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical ...

at the Lafayette Theater in 1931. In the 1930s, Moore recorded with

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

(1932), filled in for

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...

as an understudy, and sang with Zinky Cohn in Chicago in 1937. She performed at her own club, Monette's Place, in New York City in 1933. Around 1940 she sang in New York with

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...

and

Sammy Price Samuel Blythe Price (October 6, 1908 – April 14, 1992) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the ...

. She moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1942, where she performed often in

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s. She appeared in

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

's revue ''Sugar Hill'' (about 1949) and played minor roles in numerous films including ''Yes Sir, Mr. Bones (1951)'' and ''The Outsider''. Moore recorded again from 1945 to 1947. She made a brief cameo appearance in the 1954 remake of ''A Star is Born'', starring Judy Garland. Moore sang a brief refrain in the song and dance number, "Lose That Long Face," which was edited out of the film before it was released. This extended version of the song has been reconstructed, and can be seen on YouTube. In Los Angeles in the 1950s, she continued to perform in local venues, but also worked as a maid and restroom attendant. She played with the Young Men of New Orleans at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

in 1961–1962. Moore died of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

in October 1962.

Filmography

Notes

References

* Harris, Sheldon (1994). ''Blues Who's Who'' (rev. ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. . *

Yanow, Scott Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

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 ...

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 ...

. *Yanow, Scott (2001). ''Classic Jazz: The Musicians & Recordings that Shaped Jazz, 1895–1933''. Hal Leonard. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Monette 1902 births 1962 deaths American jazz singers American blues singers Classic female blues singers Singers from Texas Vocalion Records artists Ajax Records artists Paramount Records artists 20th-century American singers Restroom attendants 20th-century American women singers Jazz musicians from Texas Deaths from emphysema