Winston Holmes

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Winston Holmes (born August 10, 1879 , † December 6, 1946 ) was an American country blues singer and music promoter and producer in the field of blues and jazz who was active in Kansas City .

Live and act

Holmes first worked in vaudeville , as a prize boxer and piano tuner for the Starr Piano Company , then as a singer and manager of a music store in Kansas City, the Winston Holmes Music Company . In 1925 he founded the record label Meritt , on the 78er the blues musician Hattie McDaniel , the band leader George E. Lee and Lena and Sylvester Kimbrough appeared, but also religious music by Reverend Gatewood. Other labels used his studio to record in Kansas City. Holmes only pressed 400 copies each and sold the Meritt records for 75 cents in his shop on 18th Street. Meritt existed until 1929 and before the 1940s was the only African-American label outside of the big cities. Holmes himself recorded under his own name in Kansas City in 1924 and later for Paramount. and worked in the 1920s a. a. with guitarists Charlie Turner ("Death of Holmes' Mule"), Millus Pruett and Lottie Kimbrough ("Wayward Girl Blues"). In 1923 he brokered a recording contract with Okeh Records for Bennie Moten .

Discographic notes

  • Lottie Kimbrough and Winston Holmes: Kansas City Blues ( Document Records , 1993)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John Randolph: A Pioneer Race Recorder . Jazz Journals, no.2 (1957)
  2. ↑ Yonder Come the Blues: The Evolution of a Genre . 2001, page 269
  3. ^ Robert MW Dixon, John Godrich: Recording the blues . 1970, page 32
  4. ^ Frank Driggs, Chuck Haddix Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop - A History . 2006, page 242
  5. ^ Edward Komara, Peter Lee Blues Encyclopedia . 2004, page 690
  6. ^ Robert Ford: A Blues Bibliography . 2008, page 445
  7. ^ Bob L. Eagle, Eric S. LeBlanc: Blues: A Regional Experience , 2013, 62
  8. ↑ Bart Plantenga Yodel in Hi-Fi: From Kitsch Folk to Contemporary Electronica . 2013, page 36
  9. ^ Todd Bryant Weeks Luck's In My Corner: The Life and Music of Hot Lips Page . 2014. page 74.
personal data
SURNAME Holmes, Winston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues singer, promoter, and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1879
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1946