Lillie Delk Christian | |
---|---|
Birth name | Lillie Delk |
Born | Mobile, Alabama |
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Years active | 1926–c.1941 |
Labels | Okeh |
Spouse(s) | Charles Christian |
Lillie Delk Christian (born Lillie Delk) was an early 20th-century American early-jazz singer and recording star.
Lillie Delk was born, and spent her early years, in Mobile, Alabama. Born sometime after the turn of the twentieth century, Delk was very private about her birth year. The Delk family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1915. There, she became an acquaintance with jazzman Johnny St. Cyr, [1] who often heard the teenager singing at the boarding house he shared with the family on Indiana Street. She married Charles Christian sometime in the mid-1920s. Impressed with her voice, St. Cyr eventually introduced her to the vibrant Chicago jazz music scene and Okeh Records, the label to which he was then signed. [2]
Christian signed with the Okeh label in 1927. Her jazz-pop singing style has been compared to her contemporaries, Ruth Etting and Annette Hanshaw. Some critics thought her voice to be brash and too brightly colored, but industry notables were not dissuaded from working closely with her. [2] One modern critic on AllMusic exclaimed: "...Lillie Delk Christian sang gently and sweetly, employing a soft parlor vibrato that perfectly suited much of her pop-oriented repertoire..." [1] During the height of her career, several of Chicago's top jazz musicians backed her in recording sessions. These included cornetist Louis Armstrong, pianist Richard M. Jones, pianist Earl Hines, and clarinetist / bandleader Jimmie Noone. Along with these notables, she also accompanied the likes of well known jazz artists of the day—St. Cyr, Artie Starks, and Mancy Carr—in regular live and studio performances. Mrs. Christian cut at least 16 releases for Okeh Records from late 1926 to 1928, eight of which were accompanying Armstrong. [1] [2] After a five-year hiatus from performing during the height of the Great Depression, she toured with Carroll Dickerson’s Orchestra in the mid-1930s. Other locations followed. In a 1961 interview, Christian recalls playing the Cotton Club; several stints at the Club De Lisa (one time with bandleader Red Saunders, and another time with Eddie Cole leading the band); and the Continental Club in Springfield, Ohio (featuring a White club-orchestra led by Horace Henderson). [2]
Louis Daniel Armstrong, 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 eras in the history of jazz. He received numerous accolades including the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for Hello, Dolly! in 1965, as well as a posthumous win for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972, and induction into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.
Clarence Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1928.
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Sippie Wallace was an American blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Her early career in tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by her or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas. Her accompanists included Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, and Clarence Williams. Among the top female blues vocalists of her era, Wallace ranked with Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, and Bessie Smith.
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Johnny St. Cyr was an American jazz banjoist and guitarist. For banjo his by far most used type in records at least was the six string one. On a famous “action photo” with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers he is holding a four string banjo, a Paramount Style A. There is, however, no verified information if he ever used such an instrument on records.
"I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby" is an American popular song and jazz standard by Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics). The song was introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928 in Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue, which opened on Broadway later that year as the highly successful Blackbirds of 1928, wherein it was performed by Adelaide Hall, Aida Ward, and Willard McLean.
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Hociel Thomas was an American blues singer and pianist in the classic female blues style.