Noble Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975)
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May Aufderheide (May 21, 1888 – September 1, 1972) May Frances Aufderheide Kaufman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and an American composer of ragtime music. The participation of women in the world of ragtime should not come as a great surprise. May Aufderheide was perhaps the most famous woman to pen rags. She learned to play the classics on the piano from her aunt May Kolmer, a noted musician, and was treated to the best music Europe had to offer when her parents took her on the traditional “grand tour.” She received training in art music and visited Europe a grand tour, yet decided to compose in ragtime. May Aufderheide was a member of the Indianapolis ragtime community that included Paul Pratt, Cecil Duane Crabb, J. Russel Robinson, Will B. Morrison, Julia Lee Niebergall, and Gladys Yelvington. Despite a serious grounding in art music, Aufderheide turned her attentions to ragtime. Her first rag, “Dusty,” was published in 1908, the same year that she wed Thomas Kaufman. The early years of her marriage inspired a series of other compositions, among them “The Richmond Rag,” “The Thriller Rag,” and the “Novelty Rag.” By the 1920s, however, Aufderheide had stopped composing. Problems with an alcoholic husband and a deeply troubled adopted child allowed her no time or peace for artistic activities. After their deaths in the late 1950s, crippling arthritis and a series of strokes made it impossible for her to return to the piano. Aufderheide died in California in September 1972. Additional Resource http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Aufderheide Noble Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) Noble Sissle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and died in Tampa, Florida. He was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright. Noble Sissle sang several vocals on the last album recorded by James Reese Europe, conductor of the 369th Infantry Regiment (United States) “Harlem Hellfighters” Band, recorded and released in March 1919. He also accompanied the band on the tour that continued through May, 1919, and was given charge of the band by Europe, who died that night, May 9, 1919, to continue to the next stop on that tour. Sissle is noted for his collaboration with songwriter, Eubie Blake. The pair first per- formed in Vaudeville and later produced the musicals Shuffle Along and The Chocolate Dandies. Sissle is also, famously, the only African-American artist to appear in the Pathé film archives. Shortly after World War I, Sissle joined forces with performer Eubie Blake to form a vaudeville music duo, “The Dixie Duo”. After vaudeville, the pair began work on a musical revue, Shuffle Along, which incorporated many songs they had written, and had a book written by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles. When it premiered in 1921, Shuffle Along became the first hit musical on Broadway written by and about African Americans. The musicals also introduced hit songs such as “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and “Love Will Find a Way.” In 1923, Sissle made two films for Lee DeForest in DeForest’s Phonofilm sound-on-film process. They were Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake featuring Sissle and Blake’s song “Affectionate Dan”, and Sissle and Blake Sing Snappy Songs featuring “Sons of Old Black Joe” and “My Swanee Home”. Blake also made a third film in Phonofilm, playing his composition “Fan- tasy on Swanee River”. These three films are preserved in the Maurice Zouary film collection at the Library of Congress. Sissle was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. His rendition of the song “Viper Mad” was included in the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown. Additional Resource http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Sissle Cole Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, to a wealthy Baptist family; his maternal grandfather, James Omar “J.O.” Cole, was a coal and timber speculator who dominated his daughter’s family. His mother started Porter in musical training at an early age; he learned the violin at age six, the piano at eight, and he wrote his first operetta (with help from his mother) at 10. Porter’s mother, Kate, recognized and supported her son’s talents. She changed his legal birth year from 1891 to 1893 to make him appear more precocious. Porter’s grandfather J.O. Cole wanted the boy to become a lawyer, and with that career in mind, sent him to Worcester Academy in 1905 (where he became class valedictorian) and then Yale University beginning in 1909. In 1915, his first song on Broadway, “Esmeralda”, appeared in the revue Hands Up. The quick success was immediately followed by failure; his first Broadway production, in 1916, See America First (with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs), was a flop, closing after two weeks. Hitchy-Koo of 1919 with star Raymond Hitchcock closed after 56 performances. Many of Porter’s songs have become jazz standards. In 1956, Ella Fitzgerald recorded an album called ‘Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook’, following in 1972 with ‘Ella Loves Cole’. Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Stephane Grapelli and Dionne Warwick have all dedicated albums to covers of Porter’s hits. His life was depicted in the 1946 film ‘Night And Day’, a Warner Brothers production in which Cary Grant took on the lead role; however the story was highly fictionalised. His life was also recounted in the more true-to-life ‘De-Lovely’, directed by Irwin Winkler, with Kevin Kline portraying the composer and Robbie Williams, Mick Hucknall and Elvis Costello contributing to the soundtrack. Cole Porter’s Steinway piano is currently located at the Waldorf-Astoria Tower in New York, where he lived from 1939 to 1964. Official Websitehttp://www.coleporter.org/ Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) Hoagland Howard Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana. His father was an itinerant laborer who moved his family throughout the Midwest looking for steady work, always returning to Indiana. “Home” was back in Bloomington, where they’d left his wife Lida’s golden oak piano. She helped support the family by playing at the local mov- ie house and for university dances. “Ragtime was my lullaby,” Hoagy said, and though his mother was thrilled when he picked out a tune on the golden oak, she warned him: “Music is fun, Hoagland, but it doesn’t buy you cornpone.” Many years later, when an audience saw the mature Hoagy sitting at the piano singing “Lazybones” or “Ole Buttermilk Sky” in what he called his ‘native wood-note and flat- sy- through-the-nose voice,’ it looked so natural and relaxed that it was easy to assume he’d led a charmed life. But Hoagy’s road to success was just as bumpy and lurching as his friend Bix’s was smooth and quick. .After a modest but deceptive early success with “Washboard Blues” and “Riverboat Shuffle,” Hoagy packed a bag and went to New York. But he soon found himself scuf- fling around the cold, lonely town; not selling anything but bonds in a bottom-end job at a Wall St. brokerage house. “I’m singing the music publisher’s theme song-it ain’t a commercial,” he wrote back to Monk. He tried to give up--more than once--but the words of another old friend kept him going. Reggie Duval, a black barber and dance hall pianist in Indianapo- lis, was the only teacher Hoagy ever had besides his mother. Reggie had taught Hoagy how to make music ‘jump’ and also gave him a creed to live by: “Never plays anything that doesn’t sound right. You might not make any money--but at least you won’t get hostile with yourself.” ‘Hoagy’ was no longer a peculiar name; he was a star, even an American icon. He was also someone you knew, a guy you wished you could have a drink and share a laugh with. He had the same joys and desires, disappointments and fears you had, and some of his songs--”Lazy River,” “Heart and Soul”-- became so familiar they sounded as if no one had written them, they’d just always been there. Official Websitehttp://hoagy.com/index.htm Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) Leroy Carr was born in Nashville, and died in Indianapolis, Indiana. He moved with his family to Indianapolis in 1912. A self-taught pianist, Carr was on the road working with a travelling circus when still in his teens. In the early 20s he was playing piano, often as an accompanist to singers, mostly in and around Covington, Kentucky. In the mid-20s he partnered with Scrapper Blackwell. Carr’s singing style, a bittersweet, poetic interpretation of the blues, brought a patina of urban refinement to the earthy, rough-cut intensity of the earlier country blues singers. Even though he rarely worked far afield, his recordings of his own compositions, which included ‘Midnight Hour Blues’, ‘Hurry Down Sunshine’, ‘Blues Before Sunrise’ and, especially, ‘How Long, How Long Blues’, proved enormously influential. Although he died young, Carr’s work substantially altered approaches to blues singing, and powerful echoes of his innovatory methods can be heard in the work of artists such as Champion Jack Dupree, Cecil Gant, Jimmy Rushing, Otis Spann, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson and T-Bone Walk- er, who, in their turn, influenced countless R&B and rock ‘n’ roll singers of later generations. An acute alcoholic, Carr died in April 1935. Additional Resource http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Carr Eddie Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) Albert Edwin Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, and died in New York City, New York.