Thelma Carpenter (1922-97) was a fine singer and a skilled actress. She performed in New York City clubs as early as 1938, was discovered by John Hammond, and sang with Teddy Wilson’s big band when she was 17. She worked with the Coleman Hawkins Orchestra (1940) and Count Basie (1943-45), broke racial barriers by being featured regularly on the Eddie Cantor radio show during 1945-46, was a popular night club attraction, and recorded a few albums. As an actress she was part of several Broadway shows including replacing Pearl Bailey in Hello Dolly, was on television as early as the 1940s, and appeared in such films as The Wiz and The Cotton Club.
Producer-manager Alan Eicher worked with Thelma Carpenter in her later years. He put together this new CD from the Jasmine label which is titled The Eddie Cantor Sessions. 18 selections from the program open up the release. Ms. Carpenter was generally featured doing a little bit of comedy with Cantor and singing one song during each of the weekly programs. Among the numbers on this set are “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe,” “How Deep Is The Ocean,” “All By Myself,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and “Symphony.” The 23-year old displays a warm voice, a solid sense of swing, and the ability to dig deep into the lyrics that she was interpreting.
Also included on this CD are a previously unreleased alternate take of “Why Begin Again” with the Teddy Wilson Orchestra in 1939, two numbers with Count Basie from a 1943 radio broadcast, her V-Disc recording of “The Last Thing I Want Is Your Pity,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” from a 1948 telecast of the Eddie Condon Floor Show (the trumpeter is probably Bobby Hackett, not the listed Wild Bill Davison), four numbers with pianist Garland Wilson, and two songs (“Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me” and “Something To Live For”) with the 1951 Duke Ellington Orchestra from a television show.
Thelma Carpenter excels in each of these settings. She deserves to be remembered.
Thelma Carpenter • The Eddie Cantor Sessions
Jasmine JASMCD 2786
www.jasmine-records.co.uk
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.
