Miriam Moffitt

Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt (* 1884 in New Bedford (Massachusetts) as Miriam Leona Seals ; † 17th October 1954 in Mashpee , Massachusetts) was an American jazz - pianist and bandleader.

Live and act

Miriam Moffitt, who was also called "Mamie Seals" and later "Mamie Moffitt" in the course of her career, is now considered a pioneer of jazz in Massachusetts. She had African American and Native American roots and began her career in her hometown of New Bedford and Cape Cod before moving to New York. She worked as an accompanist for dance troupes, in silent film theaters and cruise ships, both as a soloist and in ensembles.

In 1901 Mamie Seals married John Thomas, with whom she went to New York, where she continued her career and also taught. Her students also included Noble Sissle and, for a short time, Lionel Hampton . After separating from John Thomas, she returned to New Bedford with her two daughters and in 1918 married the cornetist Wallace Moffitt, who lived in Worcester, Massachusetts , where she lived from then on and soon became a well-known figure on the jazz scene in central Massachusetts.

In the early 1920s, Mamie Moffitt founded her first jazz ensemble in Worcester, "Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds". In addition to Mamie Moffitt on piano, the band included her husband Wallace Moffitt (cornet), his brother Alfred Moffitt (saxophone), Alfred's nephew Harold Black (violin and banjo), John Byard (trombone, the father of Jaki Byard ) and "Boots" Ward (Drums), but no recordings exist. This group, with which the trumpeter Wendell Culley played occasionally , existed until 1928. For health reasons, Mamie Moffitt withdrew from the music scene at the end of the 1920s. In the early 30s she and her husband Wallace ran the restaurant "The Chicken Coop" in Worcester. In 1949 the two moved to Mashpee, where they ran a boarding house.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jazz History in New England database