[Dixielandjazz] Origins of jazz singing

[Anton Crouch]

Hello Bill and Dan

We seem to have cornered the market on the subject of the beginnings of
jazz singing and Louis' role in this development   :-)

Bill, I understand your lack of enthusiasm for my classing the early
"vaudeville blues" singers as jazz singers but I do press the point. We all
love the work of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters
and I suspect that our analytical faculties are, to a degree, overwhelmed
by their star qualities. We are also well aware of the fact that they are
not instrumentalists in the bands that "accompany" them. Turn to someone
less well-known and imagine that the singer is a band member. For instance,
take Bennie Moten's first recordings (St Louis, September 1923) and,
hypothetically (and fictitiously), imagine that there was a guitarist who
also sang with the band. Call "him" Ada Brown. Far fetched? Yes, of course.
But how about the singing? If "Ill-natured blues" is not great jazz
singing, I don't know what it is.

Dan, I'm with you on this one.

All the best
Anton

PS: Another aspect of the issue is the influence of the acoustic recording
process on the recording of singers. What jazz records made before 1925,
other than the Henderson/Armstrong example of Nov 1924, have singing by a
band member?