Valaida Snow

Valaida Snow was born on June 2, 1904, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Valaida grew up on the road, performing with her father’s ensemble starting when she was five. Very gifted musically, she could play ten instruments by the time she was 15: trumpet, saxophones, clarinet, accordion, harp, banjo, violin, cello, mandolin, and bass. As if that were not enough, she also sang and danced.

By the time that she began her solo career a few years later, Valaida Snow was concentrating on her singing, dancing, and trumpet playing. She performed in the various revues and musicals, including Bamville, a Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake show that included Josephine Baker.

An exciting performer whose trumpet playing was inspired by Louis Armstrong (who was an admirer), she was the headliner at Chicago’s Sunset Café in 1928 and performed in the Soviet Union, the Middle East and Europe in 1929. In 1933 Snow made her recording debut, singing “Maybe I’m To Blame” with the Earl Hines big band, her only recording in the United States until 1946.

She moved to move to Europe where during the next eight years she had success that was unimaginable for most black performers in her homeland. She appeared in the Blackbirds of 1934 in England, worked with Noble Sissle the following year, and led a series of record dates in London (1935-37), Stockholm (1939), and Copenhagen (1940).

In 1942 Valaida Snow was imprisoned in Copenhagen for theft and possession of illegal drugs. She was sent to a treatment center until she had kicked the habit and then deported back to the US. The experience left her health compromised.

After her return to the United States, Valaida Snow continued to work but was no longer a headliner. She appeared on a couple of Soundies in 1946 and recorded 20 sides during 1945-50 as a vocalist and one final selection in 1953 without much success. Oddly, no label took advantage of her availability to turn her colorful personality loose in a recording studio and let her engage in heated swing trumpet playing.

Valaida Snow passed away on May 30, 1956, while backstage during a performance at the Palace Theater, three days before her 52nd birthday.

Scott Yanow

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.