Since its formation in 1986 by the late Johnny Parth, the Document label has compiled a rather huge catalog with the goal of reissuing every vintage blues record from 1920-50 and beyond. Some of their releases overlap with early jazz and they also include many valuable ragtime, early country, and gospel sessions. Where else can one acquire 15 CDs of Tampa Red?
While many of the Document albums are beyond what I generally cover for the Syncopated Times, We’re Sisters Under The Skin: Female Blues & Boogie Woogie (1944-1949) should be of strong interest for listeners who enjoy small-group swing of the mid-1940s. That time period is quite fascinating because, as the swing-oriented big bands were breaking up, several different types of overlapping styles were being prolifically recorded. Bebop and Dixieland were getting most of the headlines but there were also performers whose music mixed together early rhythm & blues, traditional blues, boogie-woogie, swing standards, and jump music. Their music was a logical progression from swing and performed at a time before jazz, r&b, and blues were given artificial boundaries by those who marketed and promoted the music.
This single CD has recordings by five different performers. On evidence of the four songs from her 1944 session, Christine Chapman was an excellent boogie-woogie pianist and a shouting singer who could generate plenty of excitement. It is a pity that she did not catch on and recorded relatively little. Her frequently rollicking date has two riffing horns and, on one of its numbers, the up-and-coming singer Big Maybelle.
Three of the singers in this collection are captured live at the WNYC Jazz Festival in either 1947 or 1949. Irene Williams (the daughter of Clarence Williams and Eva Taylor) sounds fine as a teenager on two of her father’s songs with support from pianist Williams and clarinetist Albert Nicholas; unfortunately, these are her only recordings. The same is true of Ann Lewis who is completely obscure. Her two numbers with a group including clarinetist Tony Parenti and pianist Art Hodes reveal her to be an expressive, blues-oriented singer. Ruby Walker, who used the name of Ruby Smith to capitalize on being the niece of Bessie Smith’s husband Jack Gee, had several recording sessions in her career but none after her three numbers at the 1949 WNYC Jazz Festival. She revives two Bessie Smith numbers (including “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”) and also sings the current hit “Hit That Jive, Jack,” sounding spirited if not too original.
Viola Wells, who was billed as “Miss Rhapsody,” is the best-known of the performers on this CD and is featured on three four-song sessions made for the Savoy label during 1944-45. She was a superior singer, whether performing boisterous swing, ballads, or bluesy material. Her dozen selections match her with top musicians including either Emmett Berry, Frankie Newton or Freddie Webster (each of whom get to solo) on trumpet, with spots for tenor-saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Walter Thomas on tenor and alto, and one vocal-with-bowed solo by bassist Slam Stewart. Miss Rhapsody would have certainly become more famous but in 1946 she chose to drop out of music to raise a family. After that she recorded just one title (“See See Rider”) in the mid-1960s and made a little comeback in 1972, leading one album and touring with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band.
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The Document catalog deserves to be explored by anyone interested in vintage blues and blues-related music.
We’re Sisters Under The Skin: Female Blues & Boogie Woogie
Document DOCD-5700
www.document-records.com
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.
