Blanche Thomas

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Blanche Thomas (born October 5, 1922 in Orleans Parish , Louisiana , † April 21, 1977 in New Orleans , Louisiana) was an American blues , rhythm and blues and jazz singer .

Live and act

Blanche's father, Sam Thomas, was a musician who played bass and trumpet for Kid Howard and Jim Robinson . She first appeared as a fourteen-year-old member of the Kiddies Revue in the early 1930s at the Tic Toc Roof Garden on South Rampart Street; while still at school she worked as a cloakroom attendant at Club Pelican during the Depression . After leaving school, she performed at Club Bali on Bourbon Street with Adam Lambert's Six Brown Cats . In the case of a fire in the club, the musicians of the ensemble, to which Miles Davis was a brief member, lost all of their instruments. She made an appearance in Texas on a USO tour in front of 500 Japanese internees. She toured with Dodison's World Circus in the mid-1940s . After the war she returned to New Orleans, performed in nightclubs with musicians such as Alvin Alcorn , Louis Cottrell , Joe Robichaux , Sidney Desvigne and Dave Bartholomew .

Blanche Thomas made her recording debut on July 3, 1954, when she recorded You Ain't So Such a Much for Imperial Records , accompanied by Dave Bartholomew's band ; B-side was Not the Way I Love You (IM 743). The R&B song was also marketed on the Pelican jukebox label - with Little Esther's cover of Hound Dog as the B-side (JBJ 1011). Blanche Thomas' style of these recordings was reminiscent of the blues shouter singing of Big Maybelle Smith and Big Mama Thornton , who was also successful with this song. Thomas then became a band singer with Dave Bartholomew's band, which had an engagement in Dew Drop on Lasalle Street, one of the most popular nightclubs in town at the time, in which Joe Tex or Big Joe Turner were the top acts . During the 1950s, Blanche Thomas also performed at Leon Primate's 500 Club (corner of Bourbon and St. Louis Streets). After her engagement with Bartholomew, she moved to the Club Mardi Gras Lounge on Bourbon Street, owned by the white clarinetist Sid Davilla, who occasionally accompanied Thomas on her performances. The drummer Freddie Kohlman recommended Thomas to the club owners Ruth and Bill Reinhardt in Chicago , who run the Jazz, Ltd. club there . operated. In town, Thomas also sang in the Show Boat and Pick Collier clubs , with band leader Franz Jackson in 1962 at the Red Arrow Club . In 1964 she returned to New Orleans to perform with Art Hodes .

The facade of the Preservation Hall (2001)

She starred in a short sequence from the 1958 musical film King Creole with Elvis Presley , which played in the Preservation Hall . In the early 1960s she made a series of recordings with Paul Barbarin ; she also took part in his performances for US troop entertainment in 1967 in Vietnam and Thailand . In 1965 there was a recording session for Al Clarke's label Nobility ( Am I Blue ), conducted by Albert "Papa" French and with arrangements by trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph. In 1968 she appeared in an all-star band conducted by Santo Pecora at Disneyland, Anaheim , California. Around 1970 followed recordings with Louis Cottrell's band ( Bill Bailey ), in the same year she had appearances with Al Hirt in clubs of St. Louis . In the 1970s, she was a regular at New Orleans traditional jazz venues such as Dixieland Hall and Heritage Hall ; In 1974 she performed with Cottrell at New York's Carnegie Hall . In the early 1970s she played singles for the Capricorn Records label ( Bald Headed Beulah / Why Don't You All Go to New Orleans ). In the summer of 1974 she traveled to Europe for the first time when she gave a concert at the Grand parade du jazz in Nice ; another European tour took place in autumn 1975 in Dick Hyman New York Repertory Company held, in which they appear in the show The Musical Live of Louis Armstrong standards such as the St. Louis Blues and Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out in the Call and Response with trumpeter Joe Newman .

Appreciation

Blanche Thomas recorded a total of 31 tracks, of which only a few are available on CD. She was not considered an outstanding singer (the trumpeter Clive Wilson compared her to Della Reese ), but impressed with her stage presence trained in vaudeville .

Discographic notes

  • Spirit of New Orleans - The Genius of Dave Bartholomew (Imperial)
  • Paul Barbarin: New Orleans Creole Band (GHB, 1961)
  • Dixieland Hall Presents Blanche Thomas with Papa French and his New Orleans Jazz Band - Am I Blue (Nobility, 1965) with Papa French, Jeanette Kimball , Alvin Alcorn, Waldren Joseph , Joseph "Cornbread" Thomas , Frank Fields , Louis Barbarin
  • Blanch [Sic!] Thomas Meets the Last Straws in New Orleans (Shalom)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Allmusic October 16.
  2. ↑ See also Miles Davis: The Autobiography. Munich, Heyne, 2000. p. 61. According to Miles Davis, the Six Brown Cats played “modern swing”.
  3. ↑ a b c d Per Oldaeus: Blanche Thomas - New Orleans Songstress . In: Jazz archivist on Tulane University 2003  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 7.4 MB)@1@ 2Template: dead link / jazz.tulane.edu  
  4. ↑ Imperial 5000s Series at 78discography
  5. ↑ Blanche Thomas in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  6. ^ Nobility Studios
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, Blanche
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues, rhythm and blues and jazz singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Orleans Parish , Louisiana , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1977
Place of death New Orleans , Louisiana , United States