Julia Lee (musician)

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Julia Lee (born October 31, 1902 in Boonville (Missouri) , † December 8, 1958 in San Diego ) was an American jazz and blues musician ( pianist and singer ). She is considered the most famous jazz, blues and rhythm and blues pianist and singer from Kansas City .

Live and act

Lee grew up in Kansas City and, as a child, had made music with her father's stringed instrument trio, at church events and at house parties . Her brother was the band leader George E. Lee . She became a full-time pianist and singer in 1917, initially in ragtime style as a cinema pianist accompanying silent films, but also in the clubs along 12th Street. There she became known for performing blues numbers with ambiguous texts.

Afterwards she played as a pianist in the orchestra of her brother George E. Lee , a so-called Territory Band of the region, which was founded around 1920 and competed with McKinney's Cotton Pickers , but was also considered the strongest competitor of the Bennie Moten Orchestra. In the 20s Lee's band seems to have been better known and more attractive in Kansas City, not least thanks to his and his sister's singing with funny lyrics. Mary Lou Williams also remembers Julia Lee as the city's most important pianist alongside Margaret Johnson . Julia worked in her brother's orchestra for 15 years before she started her solo career in 1935 after first recordings for the Merritt label (1927).

In 1944 she was included in the "History of Jazz" series by Capitol Records ; she now sang in front of the bands of Jay McShann and Tommy Douglas . She later appeared mainly in a small cast as Julia Lee and her Boy Friends . Among the boyfriends included musicians such as Benny Carter , Vic Dickenson , Ernie Royal , Red Norvo , Red Nichols , Nappy Lamare and Tommy Douglas. After she was able to land a real hit in the jukeboxes and on the radio with “Come On Over To My House Baby” , she received a permanent contract in 1946. In 1947 she was number 1 on the rhythm and blues charts for twelve weeks with “Snatch It And Grab It” . The record had found a respectable half a million buyers at the time. More hits followed. Two years later she held first place on the charts for nine weeks with "King Size Papa". In 1949, Julia Lee played in the White House at the invitation of Missouri-born US President Harry S. Truman . It continued to produce in the 1950s, but was only moderately successful. A year before her death, she played a small role in Robert Altman's Kansas City film The Delinquence.

Lee's music represents an early transition from Kansas City jazz to rhythm & blues. According to a list by the US music magazine Billboard , she was number 12 among the most successful rhythm and blues artists in terms of record sales from 1942 to 1949 - ahead of Dinah Washington , Billy Eckstine , Wynonie Harris , Charles Brown and Roy Milton .

literature

  • Linda Dahl, Stormy Weather. The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen. Quartet Books, p. 67
  • Article Julia Lee. In: Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .

Discography

  • Julia Lee, Kansas City Star ( Bear Family Records BCD 15770, 5 CD set).
  • Julia Lee, Snatch And Grab It: The Essential Julia Lee (CD, Indigo).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lee, Julia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and blues musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Boonville, Missouri
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1958
Place of death San Diego