Female Blues Singers Vol 1 A/B 1924 - 1932

DOCD-5505 Female Blues Singers Vol 4 C 1921 - 1930 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. The singers on this first volume demonstrate the extremes of the stylistic range of the female blues singers of this era from the southern barrelhouse style of Ora Alexander and the down-home style of Baby Bonnie to the vaudeville style of Louise Anderson and Mildred Austin. Accompanists include Theodore �Wingy� Carpenter, Lovell Bolan, Milton Davage and Corky Williams. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series, of fourteen volumes, concentrates on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. While the vaudeville theatres and travelling tent shows were probably the main venues for most of them, some sang in cabarets and others in low-down barrelhouses. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 2 B 1920 - 1928

DOCD-5506 Female Blues Singers Vol 2 B 1920 - 1928 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. This second volume of female blues singers are all in a vaudeville mould, but they display the full variety of singing and personality styles within this institution. Accompanists include Bennie Moten, Duke Ellington and Cow Cow Davenport. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 3 B/C 1923 - 1928

DOCD-5507 Female Blues Singers Vol 3 B/C 1923 - 1928 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. Volume three of this series of fourteen, concentrates on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. Accompanists include Will Ezell, Dad Nelson, Tiny Parham and Bob Fuller. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. While the vaudeville theatres and travelling tent shows were probably the main venues for most of them, some sang in cabarets and others in low-down barrelhouses. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 4 C 1921 - 1930

DOCD-5508 Female Blues Singers Vol 4 C 1921 � 1930 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. The majority of tracks on this volume are sung in a dramatic style. This style is heard often in the very early 1920s but was pretty much pass� by 1923. Some of the characteristics of the style of the early recordings may be due to the fact that these records were aimed at both white and black customers. The collection is made all the more interesting with the appearance of some fine jazz accompanists including James P. Johnson, Bob Fuller, Louis Hooper and Buddy Christian. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 5 C/D/E 1921 - 1928

DOCD-5509 Female Blues Singers Vol 5 C/D/E 1921 - 1928 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. The singers in this volume are from the �extremely obscure� end of the scale. Ruth Coleman�s She Walked Right Up And Took My Man Away feature strong down-home vocals. Madlyn Davis, best known for her 1928 recordings with Tampa Red and Georgia Tom weighs in with some excellent tracks with a raucous jazz jam at the end of Winter Blues. Jessie Derrick was remembered by the late Jimmy Rushing as a star in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These recordings made the following year with a hot New Orleans style band certainly justify her reputation, as she sounds like a slightly more refined Bessie Smith. This compilation features some surprising talent and some excellent jazz / blues helped along by such accompanists as Sidney Bechet, Harvey Brooks and Richard M. Jones. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 6 E/F/G 1922 - 1928

DOCD-5510 Female Blues Singers Vol 6 E/F/G 1922 1928 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. This volume features a mixture of styles from the down-home vocals of Dorothy Everetts to the precise performance of Cry Baby Godfrey whose vocals are typical of vaudeville where so many Classic Blues singers tread the boards. As with all of the volumes in this series, there are some great accompanists here including Porter Granger, Eubie Blake and Bubber Miley. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 7 G/H 1922 - 1929

DOCD-5511 Female Blues Singers Vol 7 G/H 1922 - 1929 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. Another cross section of mainly vaudeville style blues, this volume features, among others, two important names from blues / jazz history; Fannie May Goosby who was one of the first two blues singers to be recorded in the deep south (the other was Lucille Bogan) and W.C. Handy's daughter Katherine Handy. There are excellent tracks from Helen Gross and Sadie Green provides the risqui Alley Man and Dont Wear Your Welcome Out. Accompaniment to this fascinating collection is provided by, amongst others, Clarence Williams, Eddie Heywood, Joe Robichaux, Johnny Dunn and Bob Fuller. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 8 H1 1923 - 1928

DOCD-5512 Female Blues Singers Vol 8 H1 1923 - 1928 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. Volume eight of this A to Z of female blues singers presents five singers from the vaudeville style of the Classic Blues era. It is possible that Sister Harris is none other than Estelle Harris, one of the stars of the Savoy Theatre in Memphis between 1910 and 1913 and one of the first black vaudeville singers to become known as a blues specialist. Clara Herring shows that she was a worthy competitor to Bessie Smith and Alma Hendersons strong vocals are inspired by the first class accompaniments provided by Lonnie Johnson on guitar and DeLoise Searcy on piano. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 9 H2 1923 - 1930

DOCD-5513 Female Blues Singers Vol 9 H2 1923 - 1930 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. This ninth volume of a superb fourteen volume series of female blues singers presents the work of two vaudeville blues artists who were already established artists in the early 1900s, plus a track by an intriguing, obscure, singer and the work of one of the numerous second-line singers of the mid 1920s. Edmonia Henderson�s saucy voice is a little reminiscent of Ida Cox. She was extremely successful on the vaudeville circuit. Among the many highlights in her career she won the Paramount Blues Singer Contest and on another occasion she joined Ma and Pa Rainey, playing the �straight� part to Ma�s comedy act. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 10 H/I/J 1923 - 1929

DOCD-5514 Female Blues Singers Vol 10 H/I/J 1923 - 1929 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. The main fascinating element to this volume of fourteen is the fact that several artists featured apparently recorded under names other than their familiar ones, although the strangest name here, Bertha Idaho, was her real one. Nellie Hite is in fact Mattie Hite. Jane Howard is the same artist as Miss Frankie who can be heard on volume six of this series. Mary Jackson could possibly have been Ethel Riddley and Elnora Johnson may well be non-other than Alberta Hunter. Even the accompanists provide some intrigue with the "unknown" guitarist with Zaidee Jackson probably being Bobby Leecan and the outstanding pianist referred to as Mr Johnson by Sadie Jackson is almost certainly by James P. Johnson. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 11 J/L 1921 - 1931

DOCD-5515 Female Blues Singers Vol 11 J/L 1921 - 1931 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. Volume 11 features some outstanding musical moments from the Classic Blues era as well some intriguing discographical mysteries. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series of fourteen volumes, concentrating on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. While the vaudeville theatres and travelling tent shows were probably the main venues for most of them, some sang in cabarets and others in low-down barrelhouses. Continued...

Female Blues Singers Vol 12 M/O/P/Q/R 1922 - 1935

DOCD-5516 Female Blues Singers Vol 12 M/O/P/Q/R 1922 - 1935 Genres: Blues, Classic Blues, Female Blues, Jazz. Informative booklet notes by David Evans Detailed discography. Although all of the eleven artists appearing on this twelfth volume, of a superb fourteen volume series, would undoubtedly have been no strangers to the stages of the vaudeville circuit, the recordings of four of them are notable in the world of entertainment. Hattie Mcdaniel was best known for her non-singing roles as a maid or �mammy� in films, radio and television beginning in the early 1930�s, including a spot in Gone With The Wind (1939) for which she became the first African American to win an Academy Award. Continued...