Lovie Austin
Lovie Austin ( born September 19, 1887 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as Cora Calhoun, † July 10, 1972 in Chicago) was an American blues and jazz pianist, arranger and composer during the classic blues era of the 1920s.
Life and work
Lovie Austin was a popular Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer and arranger during the classic blues era of the 1920s. She and Lil Hardin are often referred to as the most important jazz / blues pianists of that period. Mary Lou Williams scored Lovie Austin to her main influence.
Austin studied music theory at the Roger Williams University and Knoxville College in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1923, Lovie Austin moved to Chicago, where she lived for the rest of her life and worked. Early in her career she worked in vaudeville shows as a pianist and actress. She later accompanied many blues singers and is among other recordings by Ma Rainey ( " Moonshine Blues" ), Ida Cox ( " Wild Women Do not Have The Blues" ), Ethel Waters ( " Craving Blues" ) and Alberta Hunter ( " Sad 'n' Lonely Blues " ) to hear. Austin also had his own band, the Blues Serenaders, trumpeter Tommy Ladnier in the Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, or Shirley Clay on cornet, trombonist Kid Ory or Albert Wynn on trombone, Johnny Dodds and Jimmy O'Bryant or at the Clarinet participated.
Austin also worked with jazz musicians of the 1920s such as Louis Armstrong. Austin's talent as a songwriter can be heard in their classic composition " Down Hearted Blues ," a piece she wrote with Alberta Hunter. The singer Bessie Smith made it a hit in 1923. Austin was also session musician for Paramount Records.
In the early 1930s, was Lovie Austin musical director in the Monogram Theatre, in Chicago, where she worked for the next 20 years. After the Second World War, she was a pianist at Jimmy Payne Dance School in the penthouse studios and only appeared occasionally. 1961 was the album Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin 's Blues Serenaders, as part of the series Riverside 's Living Legends. Their best-known songs were "Sweet Georgia Brown ", "C Jam Blues " and " Gallon Stomp ".
Auswahldiskographie
- Lovie Austin: 1924-1926
- Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin 's Blues Serenaders
Links / sources
- Lovie Austin's biography at redhotjazz