Sweet Emma Barrett
Emma Barrett , called Sweet Emma (born March 25, 1897 in New Orleans , † January 28, 1983 ibid) was an American pianist and singer of New Orleans jazz . She was also called Bell Gal (bell girl) after a Christmas bonnet with bells that she wore when performing.
Barrett was self-taught (she could never read sheet music) and got her first musical inspiration from street musicians in New Orleans. From 1923 to 1936 she performed with the Original Tuxedo Orchestra under Papa Celestin and then William Ridgley . There are recordings of her from 1923 with Papa Celestin, so that she was one of the first female jazz instrumentalists to be recorded. She also appeared with the bands of Armand Piron , John Robichaux and Sidney Desvigne , also toured outside New Orleans (especially with the band of Percy Humphrey ) and from 1947 appeared regularly at the Happy Landing club .
In 1961 she had success with her debut album for the Living Legend series by Riverside Records and was then a fixture in the Preservation Hall and toured internationally with the Preservation Hall Band. In 1967 she was paralyzed on her left side after a stroke, but it continued into the 1980s.
Her outspoken barrelhouse piano style has occasionally been described as a pile driver attack .
She can also be seen in a short scene in the Cincinnati Kid with the Preservation Hall musicians at a jazz club that Steve McQueen passes by rather by accident.
Discography
- Sweet Emma, Riverside 1960
- The Bell Gall and her Dixieland Boys Music, Riverside 1961 (with Emanuel Sayles , Placide Adams , Bass, Paul Barbarin , Alvin Alcorn , Jim Robinson , Louis Cottrell junior , Don Albert , Frog Joseph , Raymond Burke )
- Sweet Emma Barrett and her New Orleans Music, Southland 1963
- Sweet Emma Barrett and her Preservation Jazz Band, Preservation Hall 1964
- Sweet Emma Barrett and her Original Tuxedo Jazz Band at Dixieland Hall, Riverside 1968
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ with a matching outfit in a red dress. Bells rang on her knees as she played the piano.
- ↑ Linda Dahl Stormy Weather , Limelight 1996, p. 16
- ^ Dahl, loc. cit.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Barrett, Sweet Emma |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Barrett, Emma; Sweet emma; Bell Gal |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pianist and singer of New Orleans jazz |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 25, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Orleans |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 1983 |
| Place of death | New Orleans |