From "Hustlin' Blues" to "Strange Fruit"

African Musical Retentions

in the Evolution of Jazz Singing Style

circa 1920-1945

Dr. Ann G. P. Solberg and Elizabeth McQueary

Funded by the Appalachian College Association, Summer 1997

Annotations, A-G


Annotations, A-G
Anderson, Jervis.  Harlem: The Great Black Way 1900-1950.  
	Washington, DC: New Republic Books, 1980.  Discussing the 
	development of Harlem, the black center of America, this book 
	follows its birth in the "Forgotten Streets" to its diminution in 
	"The Thrill is Gone."  This book takes a historical look at black 
	Harlem, its people,  music, political power, and its undying 
	belief in the black spirit.  Although discussion towards specific 
	musicians is limited, Harlem is helpful in gaining insight into 
	the environment which created many of the blues and jazz 
	musicians who heavily influenced the entire genre. 

Balliett, Whitney.  American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song.
	New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.  Biographies on twenty-seven 
	blues and jazz musicians, beginning in the early twenties and extending 
	into the musical career of David Frishberg in the fifties and sixties.  A 
	wide variety of musicians are included; women such as Alberta Hunter, 
	Nellie Lutcher, Anita Ellis, and Blossom Dearie, and men like Ray 
	Charles, Cleo Brown, Mel Torme, and many others.  Not confined to 
	covering any particular race or sex, Whitney's book offers not only 
	biographical information, but also includes a scholarly musical 
	analysis of each major performer's style.  I consider this an excellent 
	source of information for the jazz researcher.

Balliet, Whitney.  Jelly Roll, Jabbo, and Fats: 19 Portraits in Jazz.  New 
	York: Oxford University Press, 1983.  Giving extensive 
	biographical information on various jazz men of the forties
	and fifties, this book would be a asset to the jazz researcher.  
	However, information on women performers is nonexistant in
	this text.

Berendt, Joachime.  The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and 
	Beyond.  New York: Lawrence Hill, 1992.  "We want to give the 
	reader an overview of the totality and unity of the 
	development of jazz. (xiii)"  Used in college and university 
	classrooms all over the world, The Jazz Book covers in detail 
	jazz music and musicians from ragtime to the present day.  
	Beginning with "The Styles of Jazz", this source is organized by 
	topic, covering both male and female, black and white artists.  
	The sections that follow are, "The Musicians of Jazz", "The 
	Elements of Jazz", "The Vocalists of Jazz", "The Big Bands of 
	Jazz", and finally concludes with a chapter dedicated to 
	exploring a definition of jazz.  An extensive discography is 
	included.  This text is highly recommended as a valuable 
	research tool.

Bourgeois, Anna Stong.  Blues Woman: Profiles of 37 Early 
	Performers with an Anthology of Lyrics, 1920-1945.  Jefferson, 
	NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1996.  In the introduction, Bourgeois 
	divides women's blues songs into specific categories based on 
	theme.  Common themes include: relationships, drugs and 
	alcohol, illness and disease, superstition, work, and racism.  
	This section elaborates on the reasons for these predominant 
	themes and gives examples from jazz lyrics.  Brief biographies, 
	with reference to more information, begin each chapter and are 
	proceeded by several lyric examples of that particular 
	artist's songs.  All of the musicians included in the book are 
	female blues and jazz performers who made their debut 
	between 1920 and 1945.  A discography and bibliography are 
	included.

Charters, Samuel.  The Blues Makers.  New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. 
	There was a handful of women who played and sang the blues 
	throughout the south in the 1920's, but the masculine element 
	in blues was so dominant that the term "bluesmen" is widely 
	used.  This book is about bluesmen like Blind Lemon Jefferson, 
	Frank Stokes, Robert Johnson, and Henry Thomas. It traces 
	these musicians and their music through the southern states of 
	Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Atlanta, and Tennessee.  While 
	being an excellent historical source, it lends itself primarily to 
	male blues biographical research.

Chilton, John  Billie's Blues: Billie Holiday's Story 1933-1959.  
	New York: Stein and Day,  1978.  This book follows the life of Billie 
	Holiday from her first recording to the time of her death.  The first nine 
	chapters cover the tragic, yet compelling life of Holiday, while the 
	remaining four are dedicated to her music and recordings.  A valuable 
	bibliography of book, magazine, and newspaper references are 
	included.  Chilton admits that inconsistencies remain in his findings 
	about Billie Holiday, however, he remains faithful to the spirit of Holiday 
	and her musical career.

Collier, James Lincoln.  Jazz: The American Theme Song.  New York: 
	Oxford University Press, 1993.  This resource does not 
	particularly deal with jazz musicians, but makes brief, indirect 
	references to them.  The focus lies primarily on examining jazz 
	as a reflection of the American culture.  This issue is observed 
	from a variety of positions.

Cook, Richard and Brian Morton.  The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP,
	and Cassette.  New York: Penguin Books, 1992.  This book 
	begins with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and continues up to 
	present day recordings.  It excludes blues albums and albums by jazz 
	performers which are not jazz in nature.  Each record is given a star 
	rating, evaluating the quality of the recording.  Following the rating is the 
	title, its label and catalogue number, and the formats in which it is
	available.  The next line lists the musicians who are playing on the disc, 
	where the recording is available, and the date of the recording.  Listed 
	in alphabetical order by musician, the guide ends with a miscellaneous 
	section and a huge index.  This is one of the most comprehensive and 
	critical jazz guides available. 

Cooper, Sarah, ed.  Girls! Girls! Girls!: Essays on Women and Music. 
	New York: New York University Press, 1996.  This book contains twelve 
	essays concerning contemporary issues regarding women in the music 
	industry and particular women musicians.  Taking the raw, unrestrained 
	approach to some sensitive topics such as gangsta rap, this book comes 
	directly to the point, using language which may be offensive to some. 
	This information is not useful when collecting biographical background 
	information on traditional musicians, but is helpful in finding information 
	on contemporary, female, African-American musicians and illuminating 
	discriminations towards women in music.

Crowther, Bruce and Mike Pinfold.  The Jazz Singers: From Ragtime to 
	the New Wave.  New York:  Sterling Publishing, 1986.  The book 
	opens with the chapter, "Africa, Europe and the New World", 
	briefly surveying the origins and vocal traditions of jazz.  The 
	separate genres of blues, spirituals, ragtime, and jazz emerged 
	from these origins and became a central part of American 
	popular music.  The following chapters discuss the many 
	singers who thrived against this background: Ma Rainey, 
	Mamie Smith, Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Billie 
	Holiday, Carmen McRae, and many more.  Included is "...an 
	assessment of the place these singers hold in the history of jazz 
	based upon their performances".  A bibliography and selected 
	discography can be found in the back of this informative and 
	insightful resource.

Dahl, Linda.  Stormy Weather:  The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazz 
	Women.  New York: Proscenium Pub. Inc., 1984.  An extremely thorough 
	resource, Stormy Weather basically tells the story of female blues and 
	jazz musicians from the 1890's to the 1980's; their loves, hopes, dreams, 
	failures and struggles.  Of particular interest is their struggle 
	with the oppressive consequences of being black, female 
	musicians in a musical genre dominated by white men during 
	the jazz rage of the 1920's.  Dahl describes the jazz genre as one 
	which was entirely male dominated and where women, both 
	black and white, had to either fight for their place on the stage 
	or refrain from playing jazz at all.  The book maintains a 
	chronological sequence, dividing each period stylistically.  This 
	is an excellent  source for biographical, as well as general 
	historical information.  Located in the back of the book is a 
	brief biographical sketch on over 200 female (both black and 
	white) jazz musicians plus overviews on all-female jazz bands, 
	songwriters, and lyricists.  A large discography follows.

Davis, Francis.  Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists, and 
	Singers.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.  Although 
	primarily focused on male jazz musicians, Outcats contains 
	insightful, if not interesting information on two jazz queens: 
	Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.  There are ten pages 
	dedicated to Holiday which contain excerpts from books and 
	magazine articles, some possibly fictional, bringing alive the 
	estranged life of this jazz singer.  Ella Fitzgerald, however, is 
	reduced to a mere two-and-a-half pages, briefly giving critique 
	on her performance style.  Overall, this source gives little 
	scholarly information on female musicians, however, since 
	more is known about male musicians, a greater amount of that 
	information is available in this text.

Ericson, Margaret D.  Women and Music: a Selective Annotated 
	Bibliography on Women and Gender Issues in Music. 1987-
	1992.  New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1996.  This book is 
	an extremely helpful resource for finding sources on almost 
	any issue involving women and music.  Especially noteworthy 
	is a specific chapter on references dealing with women's roles 
	in jazz and blues from the early 1920's to the present.   

Giddins, Gary.  Riding On A Blue Note: Jazz and American Pop.
	New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.  The first section of this book is 
	devoted to the singers of jazz, most notably, Ethel Waters, Sarah 
	Vaughn, and Betty Carter.  The second section covers jazz 
	instrumentalists, while the third and fourth sections discuss "Composers 
	and Movements" and "Adventures in the Jazz Trade" respectively.  The 
	entire book devotes each chapter to a particular jazz musician, giving 
	biographical information, 	discussing as well the influence they had on 
	subsequent musicians.  For one desiring information on women in jazz, 
	this reference is not particularly helpful, however, the information 
	concerning men in jazz is quite extensive.  Giddins adds a slight touch of 
	cynicism to his analysis which makes for highly entertaining reading.  
	There is also a discography located at the end of the book.

Gourse, Leslie.  Louis' Children: American Jazz Singers.  New York:
	Quill, 1984.   A highly extensive resource for biographical 
	information on blues and jazz musicians, black and white, male 
	and female, traditional and contemporary.  This book is arranged into 
	four main sections, each covering a different erain the development of 
	blues and jazz.  The first section, "Prelude", discusses the precursors to 
	jazz; the gospel/spiritualand early blues performers.  Second comes "The 
	Big-Band Era" of the thirties and forties, and with it an examination of 
	such performers as Billie Holiday, Big Joe Turner, and Louis Armstrong.  
	The third section entitled "Singers on Their Own" is a compilation of 
	biographies on solo jazz musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah 
	Washington, Carmen McRae, and Mel Torme.  The last section, "The B-
	Natural Generation", discusses more contemporary jazz artists ranging 
	from the 1960's to the present.  There is an extensive amount of 
	information covering both men and women in jazz.  ( This book is highly 
	recommended for a biographical search on almost any jazz and blues 
	musician.)  There is a list of jazz-influenced singers at the end of the 
	book.

Grimes, Kitty.  Jazz Voices.  New York: Quartet Books, 1983.  This is a 
	particularly interesting source because the entire book is comprised of 
	quotes extracted from interviews with jazz musicians and jazz experts.  
	The chapters discuss the essence of jazz, the jazz style, specific 
	musicians, both contemporary and traditional, the origins of jazz, 
	personal struggles, stories, etc.  The index holds the best guide towards 
	finding a quote which discusses the topic of interest.  This would not be 
	the best resource for in-depth factual, biographical, or historical 
	information, however, it gives insight about jazz and jazz musicians, and 
	contains some very insightful quotes.  The end of the book contains a 
	short glossary of jazz terms.



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