The Men Behind The Bluesmen: Lester Melrose

Lester Melrose was born on December 14, 1891 and he passed away on April 12, 1968. He was one of the first producers of blues records.

According to Wikipedia;

...a freelance A & R man, combining the roles of talent scout and record producer. He started to promote many blues artists who became popular, recording them mainly in Chicago. His first big success was "It's Tight Like That" with Tampa Red and soon-to-be gospel music legend Thomas A. Dorsey, then still known as Georgia Tom.

He worked for several record companies simultaneously in the 1930s, including RCA Victor and its subsidiary Bluebird records, Columbia records, and Okeh Records. Among the artists he recorded and brought to the world's attention were Joe "King" Oliver, Big Bill Broonzy, the first Sonny Boy Williamson, Memphis Minnie, Roosevelt Sykes, Lonnie Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Bukka White, Washboard Sam, Champion Jack Dupree, Jazz Gillum, Big Boy Crudup, Victoria Spivey and Leroy Carr.

You can read about Lester Melrose and many of the early pioneers of blues music in the book below;

Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Cultural Studies of the United States)

musicians @SML who worked with Lester Melrose

Tampa Red,
Big Bill Broonzy ,
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Memphis Minnie,
Lonnie Johnson,
Victoria Spivey,
Leroy Carr,

The SqueezeMyLemon All Stars

Every now and then you find a clip on YouTube that is just so delightful. This is an example, I call this clip the "SqueezeMyLemon All Stars." I would have loved being at this show. But it just so happens that this was filmed in 1963, I was two years old at the time.

Can you imagine seeing Otis Spann, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Joe Williams, Willie Dixon, Victoria Spivey, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson and Memphis Slim all on the same stage.

American Folk Blues Festival 1963

Classic Female Blues

The Classic Female Blues music is a part of the blues that I love to high light for many reasons. According to Wikipedia;

The classic female blues spanned from 1920 to 1929 with its peak from 1923 to 1925. The most popular of these singers were Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ethel Waters, Ida Cox, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace, Alberta Hunter, Clara Smith, Edith Wilson, Trixie Smith, Lucille Hegamin and Bertha “Chippie” Hill. Hundreds of others recorded including Lizzie Miles, Sara Martin, Rosa Henderson, Martha Copeland, Bessie Jackson (Lucille Bogan), Edith Johnson, Katherine Baker, Margaret Johnson, Hattie Burleson, Madlyn Davis, Ivy Smith, Alberta Brown, Gladys Bentley, Billie and Ida Goodson, Fannie May Goosby, Bernice Edwards and Florence Mills.

They sang often backed behind their bands consisting of piano, several horns and drums. These women were pioneers in the record industry: they were among the first black singers recorded, they were the first blues singers recorded, and they were instrumental in spreading the 12-bar blues form throughout the country. In terms of performing, they often wore elaborate outfits and sang of the injustices of their lives, bonding with their audience’s sorrows. Their schedules were grueling, staying on the road most of the time with tent shows in the summer and theatres during the winter. With the crash of Wall Street in 1929, the popularity of the blues singers declined. Some went back home, took up jobs or moved to Hollywood. In the '60s with the blues revival, Sippie Wallace, Alberta Hunter, Edith Wilson and Victoria Spivey returned to the stage.

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, from Georgia, was the “Mother of the Blues,” and lived from 1886–1939. She was the first woman to incorporate blues into her act of show songs and comedy. In 1902, she heard a woman singing about the man she’d lost, and quickly learned the song. From then on at each performance, she used it as her closing number calling it “the blues.” She recorded over 100 songs and wrote 24 of them herself. “Bessie Smith (and all the others who followed in time), wrote jazz historian Dan Morgenstern “learned their art and craft from Ma, directly or indirectly.” Young women followed Ma Rainey’s path in the tent show circuit, since black performers were not allowed to be in venues. Eventually most singers were booked on the T.O.B.A. (Theatre Owners Booking Association) circuit.

Books on Classic Female Blues

Albertson, Chris. Bessie. New York: Stein & Day Publishers, 1972. ISBN 0-300-09902-9

Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. New York: Random House, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-679-77126-3

Harrison, Daphne Duval. Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the '20s. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8135-1279-4

Lieb, Sandra. Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey. Amhearst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981. ISBN 0-87023-394-7

Placksin, Sally. American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present. Los Angeles: Wideview Books, 1982. ISBN 0-87223-756-7

Stewart-Baxter, Derrick. Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers. New York: Stein & Day Publishers, 1970. ISBN 0-8128-1321-9

Victoria Spivey - Black Snake Blues Video

One of the things I love about going back and looking at the prewar blues musicians is discovering those who I have not heard of before. Here is an example. I was searching for a different video clip for Lonnie Johnson. I posted a video of him singing "Another Night to Cry" last month, to compliment some mp3s of his that I had posted earlier.

And I came across this little gem, Victoria Spivey - Black Snake Blues. I am not that familiar with Mrs. Spivey's music, but I'm now busy as you read this coming up to speed on her. I hope to be able to post more of her stuff soon.

Notice that in this video she is being backed by Sonny Boy Williamson and Lonnie Johnson.

The reason that I was looking for a Lonnie Johnson is because it was in this month back in 1970 that he died after being struck by a car in Toronto. And I wanted to remember him by sharing some more of his music, and I think that this video is a fitting remembrance to him.

Great selection of Victoria Spivey ram files @ redhotjazz.com


file under;
video, blues, music, Victoria Spivey