Bixie Crawford

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bixie Crawford (also Birdie Bixie Crawford , Bixie Harris , Birdie Bixie Wyatt , born August 20, 1921 in Guthrie , Logan County , Oklahoma as Birdie Marjorie Hairston , † August 12, 1988 in Culver City , Los Angeles County , California as Birdie Marjorie Wyatt ) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues singer.

Live and act

Crawford's father was a dentist and her mother (from whom she also had her first music lessons) ran a café. Between 1938 and 1942 she studied music (piano, alto saxophone, congas) at Lincoln University in Jefferson City (Missouri), then at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Benny Carter discovered her at an open-air concert and brought her in 1945 (as Bixie Harris ) in his orchestra ("Patience and Fortitude", 1946); then she was band vocalist with Jimmie Lunceford shortly before his death in July 1947. She was then a short time singer with the Count Basie Orchestra , then with Louis Jordan (1949/50), Gene Gilneaux and Hunter Hancock , and then as a teacher in Los Angeles work. In 1949 she released the single “Be Fair with Me” / “Maybe Some Rainy Day” (King 4309) under her own name, 1951 (with the Ernie Freeman Orchestra) “My Man's A Devil / Waitin 'Around” (RCA-Victor) . She was accompanied by the Fletcher Smith Quartet in "Go 'way Blues" (C note 106).

When Count Basie revived his big band in 1951, Crawford stayed in the orchestra for three years, toured Europe with Basie's band in 1994 and took part in recordings, to be heard in titles like "Like a Ship at Sea", " Three Little Words " or "My Man's a Devil ". In 1956 she presented the singles “Rock And Roll Wedding” (Empire 102) and “How Big a Fool” (Empire), and in 1960 the doo-wop number “I Miss Those Lonely Nights” (Indigo 104). From the beginning of the 1960s she worked again in the school service, as deputy principal of the Exceptional Children's Opportunity School ; She presented her last single in 1976 ("What Will I Tell My Heart / I'm Still in Love with You"). The discographer Tom Lord lists them in the field of jazz between 1949 and 1954 with nine recording sessions.

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Billboard Aug. 13, 1949. It was accompanied by Buddy Banks & His Notes, with Wallace Huff (tb), Fletcher Smith (p), Bill Pyles (git), Basie Day (kb) and Monk McFay (dr)
  2. ↑ Jat, August 30, 1962
  3. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 21, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Crawford, Bixie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Crawford, Birdie Bixie (full name); Harris, Bixie; Wyatt, Birdie Bixie; Hairston, Birdie Marjorie; Wyatt, Birdie Marjorie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and rhythm & blues singer
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Guthrie , Logan County , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1988
Place of death Culver City , Los Angeles County , California