Betty Roche
Betty Roche or Roché (born January 9, 1920 as Mary Elizabeth Roach in Wilmington , Delaware ; † February 16, 1999 in Pleasantville , New Jersey ) was an American swing jazz singer . She sang in the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Live and act
Betty Roche grew up in Atlantic City and came to New York in 1939, where she sang first with Lee Young and then from 1941 to 1942 with the Savoy Sultans of Al Cooper . In 1943/44 she was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, in which she replaced Ivie Anderson . Ellington used her as a soloist in The Blues (from the Suite Black, Brown And Beige ). In 1952/53 she sang again with Ellington. Her most important title in the Ellington Band was Take the "A" Train , which she also performed in the musical film Reveille with Beverly ; their version of this classic had a longer scat part.
Ellington appreciated her singing style, which contained soul and bop influences, but was also influenced by Anita O'Day . Under his own name, Roché recorded the '78 I Love My Lovin 'Lover and the Standard Body and Soul in 1952 ; In the mid-1950s and early 1960s a few more albums followed. a. for the Bethlehem and Prestige labels . There her bop singing can be heard especially in the Charlie Parker title Billie's Bounce (on the album Singin 'and Swingin' ); Another number was a version of Take the “A” Train, in which she strung together the headlines of over a dozen song titles in an overly long scat passage . After that, she stopped working as a jazz singer. During her career, Roche also made records with Earl Hines , Gerald Wilson and Hot Lips Page .
Discographic notes
- Betty Roché: Singin 'and Swingin' (Fantasy / OJC, 1960); Lightly and Politely (Fantasy / OJC, 1961)
- Duke Ellington: The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concert, January 1943 (Prestige, 1943)
- Duke Ellington: Live at Birdland 1952 (Jazz Unlimited, 1952)
- Earl Hines: 1942-1945 (Classics); Earl Hines & The Duke's Men (Delmark, 1944-47)
- Gerald Wilson: 1945–1946 (Classics)
swell
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 4th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Bielefeld Jazz Catalog, 2001
- Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-WIERT, 1992. ISBN 3-85445-075-3
Web links
- Betty Roche in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Betty Roché at Allmusic (English)
- Betty Roché at Discogs (English)
- Obituary (English)
Remarks
- ↑ Several live recordings exist with Roche and the Ellington Orchestra from the two periods; but she was not involved in studio recordings beyond the album Ellington Uptown (1952).
- ↑ According to Morton & Cook, it is reminiscent of the style of Abbey Lincoln .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Roche, Betty |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Roach, Mary Elizabeth (maiden name); Roche, Mary Elizabeth; Roché, Betty |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 9, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wilmington , Delaware , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 16, 1999 |
| Place of death | Pleasantville , New Jersey , United States |