It may seem surprising that Duke Ellington, who took over Elmer Snowden’s Washingtonians in 1924, did not have a regular vocalist until late in 1931. Through the decades, Ellington wrote quite a few songs that, when given lyrics, became well-known standards. But while he employed many distinctive instrumentalists in the 1920s and ’30s, the only full time vocalist who was part of his big band before 1940 was Ivie Anderson.
In the 1920s, most jazz orchestras, when wanting to feature a singer on a song, either employed studio singes from outside their usual musical world or had one of their instrumentalists take an occasional vocal. Fletcher Henderson did not have a regular vocalist and surprisingly neither did Isham Jones, whose original songs would have benefited from being recorded with a singer. Only Paul Whiteman seemed to be able to afford to have full time singers in his orchestra, and even he did not regularly employ a female until Mildred Bailey in 1929.
But despite only having one band singer during his first 15 years of leading his orchestra, Duke Ellington actually recorded with 39 different vocalists during 1924 through mid-1942. Many were one-time affairs and some of the singers are long forgotten, but it makes for an interesting if little-known legacy in his remarkably productive career.
Duke Ellington, who turned 25 in 1924, was the pianist with banjoist Elmer Snowden’s Washingtonians, a sextet that early on also included trumpeter Bubber Miley, trombonist Charlie Irvis, altoist Otto Hardwicke, and drummer Sonny Greer. A dispute over money resulted in Snowden departing and the musicians agreeing that the distinguished-looking Ellington should be their new leader. In Nov. 1924 with George Francis playing banjo in Snowden’s former place, the band sounded quite recognizable on their two first recordings: “Choo Choo” and “Rainy Nights.”
During that same month, Ellington also recorded five numbers with part of his band and four different singers: Alberta Hunter (under the pseudonym of Alberta Prime), Jo Trent (Ellington’s forgettable “Deacon Jazz”), Florence Bristol, and Sonny Greer whose enthusiasm on “Oh! How I Love My Darling” almost makes up for his limited voice. Greer tried again on Mar. 30, 1926, with the nine-piece Ellington Orchestra although very few listeners remember his versions of “Wanna Go Back Again Blues” and “If You Can’t Hold The Man You Love.” Also from what could be considered Ellington’s pre-history are two numbers from Oct. 19, 1926, featuring Alberta Jones along with Duke and Hardwicke.
After two years of erratic recordings due to many changes in personnel, the Duke Ellington Orchestra found its sound on its Nov. 29, 1926, session that resulted in the band’s theme “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” and “Birmingham Breakdown.” And other than two times, the pianist and his sidemen would no longer be in the situation of anonymously backing blues and vaudevillian singers. Those exceptions found Evelyn Preer doing her version of “If You Can’t Hold The Man You Love” and Marguerite Lee paying tribute to the late Florence Mills with two songs on Nov. 14, 1927.
The first significant vocal recording with Ellington’s orchestra took place on Oct. 26, 1927. Adelaide Hall (1901-93) was a major stage star, having sung in several important shows including Shuffle Along and Running Wild (introducing James P. Johnson’s “Old Fashioned Love”) and touring Europe with the Chocolate Kiddies revue which featured some of Ellington’s music. She and Duke were touring in the Dance Mania show where she heard and liked his new song “Creole Love Call.” In turn he enjoyed her wordless singing. Ellington persuaded her to record “Creole Love Call” (considered one of the first wordless vocals on record) with his orchestra and it became a big hit. She also recorded “The Blues I Love To Sing” that same day and “Chicago Stomp Down” on Nov. 3. After the Duke Ellington Orchestra became the house band at the Cotton Club (starting on Dec. 4, 1927), Adelaide Hall was part of its Rhythmania revue which included her again singing “Creole Love Call.” While they soon went their separate successful ways, Ellington and Hall came back together on Jan. 7, 1933, when she recorded excellent versions of “I Must Have That Man” (later made famous by Billie Holiday) and “Baby” with his big band.
Duke Ellington’s new manager Irving Mills (1894-1985) first recorded with Ellington on a spirited version of “Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now” on June 8, 1925. Mills was a hard-working jazz promoter and song plugger, a major music publisher, an organizer of bands for engagements and recordings, the founder of a few record labels, and an occasional lyricist. He gained his greatest fame as Duke Ellington’s manager during 1926-39. Because he listed his name as the co-writer of many of Duke’s songs in the 1930s (their contract had him owning 50% of Duke Ellington Inc.), he has often been painted as a bit of a villain although he helped Ellington in many ways. Mills also proved to be a decent singer who on July 10, 1928, recorded a couple of songs with Ellington (“Diga Diga Doo” and ”Doin’ The New Lowdown”) that Jimmy McHugh had composed for the Cotton Club shows.
Relatively little is known about Baby Cox whose real name was Gertrude Fox and appeared on Broadway in the late 1920s. Clearly hired to take Adelaide Hall’s place, she scats up a storm on the exciting “Hot And Bothered” (based on “Tiger Rag”) with Ellington on Oct. 1, 1928, trading off in stirring fashion with trumpeter Bubber Miley. She also recorded a wordless version of “The Mooche” that day and on Oct. 30 returned to share “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” with Irving Mills. It is a pity that Ellington did not hire her as his regular singer.
The Oct. 30, 1928 session also includes Ozie Ware effectively singing “No, Papa No” with the Ellington Orchestra. Originally known as Eliza Brown (1903-83), she not only recorded under that name as a blues singer but also as Ozie McPherson in addition to Ozie Ware during 1925-29. Ware pops up on several Ellington dates during 1928-29 including being accompanied by Duke’s “Hot Five” and the Whoopee Makers. She takes a particularly odd vocal on “Bandanna Babies,” performs the forgotten “Hit Me In The Nose Blues,” and fares best on “It’s All Coming Home To You” on which Ellington is her only accompanist. Ware’s musical activities after 1929 are unknown.
Otherwise, during 1929-31 Ellington did not record with any other female singers. 1929 found his band having their new member trumpeter Cootie Williams doing his best on “Hot Feet” and “Who Said ‘It’s Tight Like This,’” while Sid Garry sounds indifferent on “Sloppy Joe.” The orchestra joins tap-dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who sings two recent non-Ellington pieces (“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and “Doin’ The New Lowdown”), band members Cootie Williams and Sonny Greer are featured on “Six Or Seven Times” with Ellington’s Six Jolly Jesters, trumpeter Freddy Jenkins joins in on “Goin’ Nuts,” and Irving Mills (as Sunny Smith) in early 1930 sings several songs, none of which were composed by Ellington.
This was a particularly odd trend for Duke Ellington during that era. It seems that whenever he used a singer, they performed tunes that he did not write. One would think that the bandleader and Mills would be pushing Ellington’s originals but perhaps he was primarily seen at the time as someone who wrote instrumentals. Certainly vocal versions of such tunes as “Black And Tan Fantasy,” “Washington Wobble,” and “Jubilee Stomp” were unlikely but some of Ellington’s more atmospheric pieces had vocal potential that went unrealized.
Instead during 1930-31, one heard such outside studio singers as Frank Marvin (“My Gal Is Good For Nothing But Love”), Dick Robertson (“Accordion Joe,” “You’re Lucky To Me,” “Runnin’ Wild,” “Is That Religion” and others), Chick Bullock (“Ring Dem Bells,” “Them There Eyes,” “Rockin’ Chair”), Benny Payne with Robertson ( “Wang Wang Blues”), Smith Ballew (“Nine Little Miles From Ten Ten Tennessee”), and Sid Garry (“Blue Again”) singing other writers’ material. Even in the 1930 movie Check And Double Check, the ex-Paul Whiteman Rhythm Boys (ghosting for three musicians from the band) sang “Three Little Words” rather than an Ellington song, while Bing Crosby on Feb. 11, 1932, in his one solo recording with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, performed “St. Louis Blues.” In hindsight, it is all a bit of a mystery.
That situation changed when Duke Ellington hired Ivie Anderson (1905-49). She had toured with the musical Shuffle Along, performed at the Cotton Club before Duke Ellington, worked with the groups of Paul Howard, Curtis Mosby, and Sonny Clay, and during 1930-31 was with Earl Hines’ band.
One can certainly understand why Ellington signed her up in late 1931. Ivie Anderson could embrace ballads, swing on medium-tempo tunes, scat tastefully, and was a class act. She was versatile enough to uplift any song that Ellington gave her without drawing too much attention to herself, and her warm voice was very versatile. During her 11 years with Ellington, she never failed him.
Ivie Anderson made her recording debut with Ellington on Feb. 2, 1932, having a big hit with his “It Don’t Mean A Thing.” With the release of that record, it finally became apparent that, with the right lyrics, many of Ellington’s songs could become popular hits. And while Sonny Greer and Cootie Williams would have occasional vocals which can be thought of as novelties, the Duke Ellington Orchestra finally had a major singer. Among Ivie Anderson’s other recordings with Duke in the 1930s were “Delta Bound,” “I’ve Got The World On A String,” “Happy As The Day Is Long,” “Raisin’ The Rent,” “Truckin’,” “Oh Babe, Maybe Someday,” “I’ve Got To Be A Rug Cutter,” “Rose Of The Rio Grande,” “I’m Checkin’ Out Goom’bye,” “Solitude,” “Stormy Weather,” “Five O’Clock Whistle,” and 1941’s “I Got It Bad” which by itself would have made her famous. Whether it was Ellington songs or standards from other sources, Ivie Anderson gave each tune the sincere feeling and swing that it deserved.
In addition to Anderson, a few other singers guested with Ellington’s orchestra during this era including Ray Mitchell (1932’s “Stars”), the Mills Brothers (“Diga Diga Doo”), Ethel Waters (“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Porgy”), Mae West (“My Old Flame”), trumpeter Louis Bacon (“Rude Interlude”), Scat Powell (“Love In Swingtime”), and Jean Eldridge (filling in for Anderson in Feb. and Mar. 1939 including debuting Billy Strayhorn’s “Something To Live For”). Sometimes the small group dates organized by Ellington that were led by his sidemen included spots for other vocalists, but these were essentially try outs that did make much of an impact. Those singers included Buddy Clark and Mary McHugh with Johnny Hodges, Sue Mitchell with Barney Bigard, and Jerry Kruger with Cootie Williams.
During the swing era, most jazz big bands employed both a male and a female singer. At the beginning of 1940, for the first time Duke Ellington hired a full time male vocalist. Herb Jeffries (1913-2014) had performed with Erskine Tate’s Vendome Orchestra (with Louis Armstrong’s recommendation) and the Earl Hines Big Band, making his recording debut with the latter in 1934. He had also gained some fame for being the first black singing cowboy on films (1937-39), projects that he funded himself. Jeffries had a large and friendly voice and knew how to put across a song. While he recorded some Ellington tunes during his period with the orchestra (including “Jump For Joy” and Billy Strayhorn’s “My Little Brown Book”) and would champion Duke’s music throughout his long life, ironically his biggest hit with Ellington was the ballad “Flamingo” which was composed by Ted Grouya and Edmund Anderson, two writers who had no connection with Ellington. “Flamingo,” which sold over 14 million copies, would be Jeffries’ theme song for decades.
In the early 1940s, Ellington also employed a third singer although one who was better known as a cornetist and a violinist. When Cootie Williams left Ellington to join Benny Goodman in Nov.1940, the multitalented Ray Nance (1913-76) took his place. Nance, who had worked with the big bands of Earl Hines and Horace Henderson, was the hippest and best of all of the singing instrumentalists who worked for Duke. His swinging vocalizing was an effective contrast to the crooning of Jeffries. Not only could he create a classic cornet solo on “Take The ‘A’ Train” and play emotional violin on “Moon Mist” but Nance’s singing on “A Slip Of The Lip Can Sink A Ship” was perfect for the July 1942 wartime song.
There would be many changes for Duke Ellington including in the vocal department as the 1940s progressed. The singers of his final 30 years (which contain some surprises) will be covered in this column next month.
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
