Vi Burnside

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Viola "Vi" May Burnside (born April 19, 1915 in Lancaster (Pennsylvania) , † December 8, 1964 in Washington, DC ) was an American swing tenor saxophonist .

Burnside was a classmate of Sonny Rollins' high school. She went to the conservatory in New York City, played with the Dixie Rhythm Girls and from 1938 with the Harlem Playgirls . She then belonged to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm until the mid-1940s , also as one of the main soloists. After that she had no problems finding further engagements and continued her career as a leader of smaller combos until the 1950s. Following the Sweethearts, she played in their new editions under Anna Mae Winburn in the late 1940s and early 1950s and at the same time led her own quintet with trumpeters Norma Carson and Flo Dreyer (as well as Pauline Brady on drums and Edna Smith on bass). Also in the early 1950s she led the Burnside Orchestra and recorded an album for Abbey ( Burnside Beat ). Eventually she settled in Washington, DC , performed at a jazz festival shortly before her death, and played an active role in the local musicians' union.

She was a great influence as a role model for female jazz musicians of color (like Willene Barton ) and her powerful tenor playing in the manner of Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins was widely admired.

She is buried in her hometown of Lancaster.

literature

  • Linda Dahl Stormy Weather , Limelight 1996, p. 84
  • Sherie Tucker Swing Shift , Duke University Press 2000
  • Antoinette Handy The International Sweethearts of Rhythm , Scarecrow Press 1998

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Afro American obituary dated December 15, 1964, quoted by Antoinette Handy The International Sweethearts of Rhythm , 1998. After that, she died the previous Tuesday, December 8th.
  2. ↑ It is quoted by Linda Dahl Stormy Weather , p. 198
  3. ↑ In jam sessions with tenor saxophonist Margaret Backstrom (aka Padjo), they called themselves Lester Young and Ben Webster. Burnside was with Backstrom in both the Harlem Playgirls and Sweethearts, and Backstrom was then in the competing Darlings of Rhythm. Sherrie Tucker Swing Shift , p. 215
personal data
SURNAME Burnside, Vi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burnside, viola
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Lancaster, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1964
Place of death Washington, DC