Dardanelle

Dardanelle , (born December 27, 1917 in Avalon , Massachusetts as Marcia Marie Mullen , † August 8, 1997 in Memphis , Tennessee ) was an American blues and jazz singer , vibraphonist and pianist .

Live and act

There is uncertainty about her real name, mostly Marcia Marie Mullen is accepted, sometimes Dardanelle Breckenridge. She chose the stage name Dardanelle early in her career. Her official name was Marcia Hadley after her later marriage.

Dardanelle began her musical career in the 1930s; she led her own trio ( Dardanelle Trio ) in the mid-1940s , which performed in the Copa Lounge in the Copacabana nightclub in New York City and which also included guitarist Tal Farlow and bassist Paul Edenfield. Her repertoire included hot numbers, blues tracks and some original compositions, novelty songs and older jazz standards . In addition to playing the piano, she also sang. In 1946 she recorded for Victor. In 1951 she got the opportunity to record for Columbia Records . Like many of her colleagues, she concentrated more on her family and disappeared from the music business for a while; she then worked as a musician and actress for radio and television stations in the 1960s. Outside of Chicago , she had her own show that featured her sons Skip (a drummer) and Brian as musicians. From 1966 to 1984 she lived in Glen Rock (New York) and had a comeback as a jazz singer in the late 1970s. The two albums Songs for New Lovers and The Colors of My Life appeared on Stash , on which Dardanelle was accompanied by Bucky Pizzarelli , George Duvivier and Grady Tate . She also toured with her trio.

Dardanelle still played a few albums on the Audiophile label in the 1980s ; her album New York, New York - Sounds of the Apple , on which Slam Stewart had a guest appearance, was nominated for a Grammy . In 1985 she moved to Oxford (Mississippi) , where she taught as Artist in Residence at the University of Mississippi in 1986 . In 1994 she played on the liner Queen Elizabeth 2 . She began to write her memoirs in the late 1980s, but they never appeared during her lifetime. However, she read excerpts from it that were broadcast on National Public Radio for 13 weeks .

She had her last public appearance in May 1997 in Greenwood (Massachusetts) ; soon afterwards, at the age of 79, she died after complications from a heart valve operation.

Discographic notes

• The Colors of My Life (Stash, 1978)
• New York, New York - Sounds of the Apple (Vintage Jazz, 1980)
• Down Home (Audiophile, 1985)
• That's My Style (Audiophile, 1994)

swell

• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .

Web links

• The Mystery of Dardanelle, biography with photo
• Biography of Ron Wynn on Allmusic
• Dardanelle in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Dardanelle: Piano, Vibes + Voice Portrait by Marc Myers (2017)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dardanelle Trio, Victor 1946