Blue Lu Barker

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Louisa "Blue Lu" Barker (also Blu Lu Barker , born November 13, 1913 in New Orleans as Louisa Dupont , † May 7, 1998 ibid) was an American jazz and blues singer .

Life

Blue Lu Barker had been married to Danny Barker since she was 14 and moved to New York City in 1930 . In the 1930s and 1940s, she performed frequently with Cab Calloway and Jelly Roll Morton . She made recordings with her husband's orchestra between 1938 and 1939 and then again in the 1940s, in which Charlie Parker was also involved in one session . Her best-known tracks were I Got Ways Like The Devil, New Orleans Blues, He Caught The B and O and Don't Make Me High (from 1938), also “Don't You Feel My Leg?” And “Leave My Man Alone” ". The singer could land only two hits in the Billboard Top 30 , in November 1938 "Don't Make Me High" (# 15) for Decca , accompanied by Benny Carter , Buster Bailey , Sam Price , Danny Barker and Wellman Braud . 1946 followed with Danny Barker's sextet further recordings for Apollo; In 1947 she appeared on the radio show This Is Jazz , accompanied by Wild Bill Davison , George Brunies , Albert Nicholas , Joe Sullivan , Danny Barker, Pops Foster and Baby Dodds .

In Los Angeles in 1948 Barker recorded titles such as "What Did You Do for Me?" And the Harvey Brooks song "A Little Bird Told Me" for Capitol with orchestral accompaniment , with which she reached # 4 on the R&B charts in December 1948 came; other tracks were written in New Orleans in 1949, accompanied by Danny Barker and his band. In the 50s she took u. a. also Willie Pajeaud 's New Orleans Band on; 1955 with Doc Souchon ("I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate"), 1965 with George Finola. After their return to New Orleans in 1966, Blu Lu and Danny Barker were active as music educators and mentors for young musicians of the New Orleans jazz tradition. The last recordings were made in 1989 when she performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with Danny Barker & His Jazz Hounds. In the field of jazz she was involved in 21 recording sessions between 1938 and 1998. In 1991 she was honored by St. Mary's Academy; In 1997 she was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame . Her funeral was televised.

Despite her small vocal range , she influenced the young singer Billie Holiday with suggestive songs like “Don't You Feel My Leg?” And her ladylike stage presence .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 1, 2017)
  2. ^ Sally Asher: Stories from the St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans . 2015
personal data
SURNAME Barker, Blue Lu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dupont, Louisa (maiden name); Barker, Louisa (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and blues singer
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1998
Place of death New Orleans