Madlyn Davis

Last updated

Madlyn Davis
Also known asRed Hot Shakin' Davis [1]
Born1899–1901
OriginUnited States
Genres Classic female blues
Occupation(s)Singer
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active1920s
Labels Paramount

Madlyn Davis was an American classic female blues singer, active as a recording artist in the late 1920s. Among her best-known tracks are "Kokola Blues" and "It's Red Hot". She was a contemporary of better-known recording artists, such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith, Mozelle Alderson, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace, and Bertha "Chippie" Hill. Little is known of her life outside music. [2]

Contents

Career

Davis made ten recordings in Chicago for Paramount Records. Her first session took place in June 1927. With accompaniment from the Red Hot Shakers, who likely included Cassino Simpson on piano, Davis recorded "Worried Down with the Blues" and "Climbing Mountain Blues." She recorded "Hurry Sundown Blues" [3] and "Landlady's Footsteps" in September of that year, followed by another two songs in November. Her backing trio now included Richard M. Jones, and "Kokola Blues" laid part of the foundations for the more famous song "Sweet Home Chicago." The refrain of "Kokola Blues" includes these lyrics:

And it's hey, hey baby, baby don't you want to go
Back to that eleven light city, back to sweet Kokomo [sic] [4]

The other track recorded at the same session was "Winter Blues", noteworthy for Davis's spoken exhortation to her musicians to "swing", as they duly increased the tempo of the song.

In October 1928, Davis had her final recording session, with backing by Georgia Tom Dorsey on piano and Tampa Red on guitar. They recorded four songs: "Gold Tooth Mama Blues," "Death Bell Blues," "Too Black Bad," [5] and "It's Red Hot." [2] On the latter she was billed as Red Hot Shakin' Davis. However, her propensity to speed up the tempo on recordings did not continue, and she missed out on the subsequent development of swing and rhythm and blues, which may have better suited her style. [2]

Two alternate versions of "Worried Down with the Blues" plus her "Hurry Sundown Blues," "Climbing Mountain Blues," "Landlady's Footsteps," "Winter Blues," and "Kokola Blues" were included on the compilation album Female Blues Singers, Vol. 5: C/D/E (1921–1928), released in 1997 by Document Records. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ma Rainey</span> American blues singer (1886–1939)

Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was an American blues singer and influential early blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. Rainey was known for her powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a "moaning" style of singing. Her qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues".

Trixie Smith was an American blues singer. She made four dozen recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida Cox</span> American singer and vaudeville performer

Ida Cox was an American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Morse</span> American singer-songwriter

Lena Corinne "Lee" Morse was an American jazz and blues singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist, and actress. Morse's greatest popularity was in the 1920s and early 1930s as a torch singer, although her career began around 1917 and continued until her death in 1954.

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 pianists or small jazz ensembles and were the first blues to be recorded. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and the other singers in this genre were instrumental in spreading the popularity of the blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tampa Red</span> American blues musician

Hudson Whittaker, known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician.

"Corrine, Corrina" is a 12-bar country blues song in the AAB form. "Corrine, Corrina" was first recorded by Bo Carter. However, it was not copyrighted until 1932 by Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon and his publishers, Mitchell Parish and J. Mayo Williams. The song is familiar for its opening verse:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet Home Chicago</span> Blues standard first recorded by Robert Johnson

"Sweet Home Chicago" is a blues standard first recorded by Robert Johnson in 1936. Although he is often credited as the songwriter, several songs have been identified as precedents. The song has become a popular anthem for the city of Chicago despite ambiguity in Johnson's original lyrics. Numerous artists have interpreted the song in a variety of styles.

"Hurry On Sundown" is a 1970 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was the band's first record release, issued as a single in the UK on 26 June 1970, being an edit of the version that appeared two months later on the debut album Hawkwind. The song is inspired by Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell's version of "Hurry Down Sunshine ", written by Mary Fix and Will Shade, originally recorded in 1934 and issued on the album Blues Before Sunrise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovie Austin</span> American bandleader, musician, composer, and singer

Cora "Lovie" Austin was an American Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer, singer, and arranger during the 1920s classic blues era. She and Lil Hardin Armstrong are often ranked as two of the best female jazz blues piano players of the period.

Rosa Henderson was an American jazz and classic female blues singer and vaudeville entertainer of the Harlem Renaissance era.

"Walkin' Blues" or "Walking Blues" is a blues standard written and recorded by American Delta blues musician Son House in 1930. Although unissued at the time, it was part of House's repertoire and other musicians, including Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, adapted the song and recorded their own versions.

Maggie Jones was an American blues singer and pianist who recorded thirty-eight songs between 1923 and 1926. She was billed, alternately, as "The Texas Moaner" and "The Texas Nightingale". Among her best-remembered songs are "Single Woman's Blues", "Undertaker's Blues", and "Northbound Blues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driving Wheel</span> Blues song first recorded by Roosevelt Sykes in 1936

"Driving Wheel", also called "Drivin' Wheel" or "Driving Wheel Blues", is blues song first recorded by Roosevelt Sykes in 1936. It was an influential early blues composition and has been recorded by numerous artists, including Junior Parker and Al Green, whose renditions were hits on the record charts.

Hazel Meyers was an American classic female blues and country blues singer. She spent most of her career in black vaudeville and on recordings she was billed as a blues artist. Her more famous numbers included "Heartbreaking Blues" and "Blackville After Dark", both sung in her contralto voice.

Ruby Smith was an American classic female blues singer. She was a niece, by marriage, of the better-known Bessie Smith, who discouraged Ruby from pursuing a recording career. Nevertheless, following Bessie's death in 1937, Ruby recorded twenty-one sides between 1938 and 1947. She is also known for her candid observations on her own and Bessie's lifestyle.

Coot Grant was an American classic female blues, country blues, and vaudeville singer and songwriter. On her own and with her husband and musical partner, Wesley "Kid" Wilson, she was popular with African American audiences from the 1910s to the early 1930s.

Ed Bell was an American Piedmont blues and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter whose identity has only recently been verified by historians. Some of his records were released under the pseudonyms Sluefoot Joe and Barefoot Bill from Alabama. His best-remembered recording is "Mamlish Blues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernice Edwards</span> American blues musician

Bernice Edwards was an American classic female blues singer, pianist and songwriter. She recorded a total of 21 tracks between 1926 and 1935. Unusually for a female blues performer at the time, Edwards composed some of her songs. Details of her life outside the recording studio are sketchy.

Arnett Nelson, sometimes credited as King Mutt, was an American jazz and blues musician who played clarinet or alto saxophone on many recordings made in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s.

References

  1. Sutton, Allan (1993). A Guide to Pseudonyms on American Records, 1892–1942. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 13. ISBN   0-313-29060-1.
  2. 1 2 3 Arwulf Arwulf. "Madlyn Davis: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  3. Pearson, Barry Lee (2005). Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. p. 215. ISBN   1-57233-432-0.
  4. Davis, Madlyn. "Kokola Blues". Paramount PM 12615.
  5. Oliver, Paul (1989). Screening the Blues: Aspects of the Blues Tradition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. p. 59. ISBN   0-306-80344-5.
  6. Yanow, Scott (n.d.). "Various artists, Female Blues Singers, Vol. 5: C/D/E (1921–1928): Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved January 27, 2014.