One of my top blog posts is “Women of the Big Band Era that Everyone Should Know” that I wrote in 2016. Since then, I have written several more collections on the talented women of the era, that you can find HERE.

Today’s post is not a collection of women from this era but a focus on just one…..the incredibly talented Maxine Sullivan.

Note: If you have NEVER heard Maxine’s voice, you are in for a real treat. Her voice is so smooth and gorgeous you will be instantly a fan.

Maxine Sullivan Black Jazz Singer in 1947 — Maxine Sullivan-1947 via Wikipedia

Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know: MAXINE SULLIVAN

Overview of Maxine’s life:

Maxine Sullivan, born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, May 13th 1911 and began singing & playing music at a young age.

Although none of her family members were trained musicians, many of her relatives played musical instruments and contributed to the sounds of what she fondly called the family’s “front porch orchestra”— an informal type of musical education common across the United States in the early twentieth century.

Sullivan while working on her singing skills during this time also occasionally played the flugelhorn and the valve trombone.

In 1936 Marietta got a gig as a singer for Homestead’s local speakeasy the Benjamin Harris Literary Society.

She was then discovered by pianist Gladys Mosier (then working in Ina Ray Hutton’s big band–another one of my “Women you should know” blog posts) and headed off to New York City.

Shortly thereafter, Sullivan became a featured vocalist at the Onyx Club in New York City, also known as “Swing Street“.

During this period, she began forming a professional and close personal relationship with bassist John Kirby, who became her second husband in 1938 (she would be married 4 different times).

Sources: National Museum of African American History & Culture & Wikipedia

Maxine Sullivan at the Onyx Club – 1938: Trumpeter Charlie Shavers is hiding under the hat; John Kirby is on bass, and Buster Bailey on clarinet.) — *Maxine Sullivan at the Onyx Club – 1938: Trumpeter Charlie Shavers is hiding under the hat; John Kirby is on bass, and Buster Bailey on clarinet.* Source-Swingandbeyond.com

1938 vintage photo of Black Jazz Singer Maxine Sullivan

Maxine finds her hit song!

Early sessions with Kirby in 1937 yielded a hit recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song “Loch Lomond“. The song captured widespread attention and catapulted young jazz singer Maxine Sullivan to stardom. The song, her only big hit, followed her over the course of a 40-year career (Source).

This early success “branded” Sullivan’s style, leading her to sing similar swing arrangements of traditional folk tunes mostly arranged by pianist Claude Thornhill, such as “If I Had a Ribbon Bow” (Source).

Personal note about this song: My in-laws are from Glasgow, Scotland (born & raised) and Loch Lomond is not that far away. At my wedding, the mother / son dance was to this version. Their was not a dry eye in the house.

(Video Link)

Hollywood comes a knocking

Her early popularity also led to a brief appearance in the 1938 movie Going Places with Louis Armstrong. (Video Link)

Her early popularity also led to a brief appearance in the movie Going Places with Louis Armstrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQXyiH5ddnQ

Her other big film was the 1939 St. Louis Blues. Both films placed Maxine in the few roles open to African American women at the time, maids and singers (Source).

In the clicp below, Maxine performs her great swing version of “Loch Lomond” in the 1939 film “St. Louis Blues”. (Video Link)

1939 Maxine joins the short lived Swingin’ the Dream

An Al Hirschfeld caricature featuring Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong graced the cover of the 1939 Playbill for “Swingin’ the Dream.”Credit...Playbill.com — An Al Hirschfeld caricature featuring Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong graced the cover of the 1939 Playbill for “Swingin’ the Dream.”Credit…Playbill.com

Maxine returned to New York City in 1939 and quickly rejoined Armstrong to star opposite him and many other Black entertainers in Swingin’ the Dream. The musical, a jazzed up version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in 1890 New Orleans, ran for only nine performances and went down in history as a disaster.

It featured some INCREDIBLE names on the bill, like:

Louis Armstrong
Benny Goodman
Count Basie
Maxine Sullivan
The Dandridge Sisters (including Dorothy Dandridge)
Butterfly McQueen (Prissy from Gone with the Wind)
Jackie “Moms” Mabley (Comedic actress)

Despite the failure, the musical featured Maxine introducing the world to the beloved jazz standard “Darn that Dream” as Queen Titania (Source).

1940-Sullivan and Kirby become the FIRST Black jazz stars to have their own weekly radio series

From 1940 through 1941, Maxine and then-husband John Kirby headlined the popular CBS radio show “Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm.” The pair were among the first African Americans to star on a nationally syndicated radio program and included many of their friends within the jazz community, including fellow singer Ella Fitzgerald (Source).

1940s and On….

Maxine continued to work throughout the 1940s performing with a wide range of bands as well as appearing at many of New York’s hottest jazz spots such as the Ruban Bleu, the Village Vanguard, the Blue Angel, and the Penthouse. In 1949, Sullivan appeared on the short-lived CBS Television series Uptown Jubilee, and in 1953 starred in the play, Take a Giant Step (Source).

In the 1950s she opted towards staying home with her children and fourth husband Cliff Jackson as performing opportunities slowed down.

**Art Kane’s Photograph ‘A Great Day in Harlem‘-1958**

A Great Day in Harlem’ is black-and-white photograph of 57 jazz musicians in Harlem, New York, taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for Esquire magazine on August 12, 1958.

Maxine was 1 of the 3 female musicians in the photo.

s a black-and-white photograph of 57 jazz musicians in Harlem, New York, taken by freelance photographer Art Kane for Esquire magazine on August 12, 1958

After stepping away from music life (1958) and focusing on being a nurse, mother and service to her community, she returned to the stage in 1966 performing in jazz festivals alongside her fourth husband Cliff Jackson.

Sullivan continued to perform throughout the 1970s and made a string of recordings during the 1980s, despite being over 70 years old. She was nominated for the 1979 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (won by Carlin Glynn) for her role in My Old Friends, and participated in the film biography Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love,shortly before her death (Source).

Maxine Sullivan at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World, 1975 — Sullivan at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World, 1975

Maxine Sullivan died aged 75 in 1987 in New York City after suffering a seizure. She was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

Maxine Sullivan African American Jazz Singer during the Big Band Era

I hope you enjoyed learning all about Maxine Sullivan!

Let me know if you are a big fan of Maxine or maybe a new fan thanks to this blog, by leaving a comment in the section below.

Other Blog Posts in the Series: “Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know”:

Stay safe and thanks for dropping by!

Liz

This Weekend in NYC I am attending a celebration of life for one of the most amazing woman I have ever met, Dawn Hampton (she passed away Sept 25th, 2016). She was an awe-inspiring woman who achieved so much in her life and what she gave to the Lindy Hop world alone will never ever be forgotten.

It is also Black History month, so I think it’s important that the planet (or at least my readers) learn a bit more about the unforgettable Dawn and her accomplishments.

Black History Month: Dawn Hampton was an American cabaret and jazz singer, saxophonist, dancer, and songwriter. Hampton began her lifelong career as a musical entertainer touring the Midwest as a three-year-old member of the Hampton family's band The Hampton Sisters in the late 1930s

“The Light Is On”- Let’s Meet Dawn Hampton

15 Awesome Facts!

1. Dawn was born in 1928, in Middletown Ohio and was one of 12 children in her family.

2. Her father Clark Deacon Hampton, Sr., had a family band and vaudeville act, which was part of a traveling carnival. Dawn grew up listening to the music of the family band, ‘Deacon Hampton’s Pickaninnys’.

Vintage Photo of the Deacon Hampton's Pickaninnys

3. Dawn began performing at the age of 3 and two years later sang “He Takes Me to Paradise” (Source).

4. When she was very young, she wanted to be a ballet dancer then she found out that ballet does not swing (source).

5. In the mid 1950s Dawn and her sisters became the ‘Hampton Sisters’ after several of their brothers went off to study music. They had a very long career together.

1950s vintage photo of the 'Hampton Sisters' singing group featuring Dawn Hampton. Black History Month. — Hampton Sisters (left)-Carmelita, Dawn, Altera, Virtue

6. 1958 Dawn joined the cast of the Off-Broadway hit show, “Greenwich Village, U.S.A.”. The show ran for a year at New York’s legendary ‘The Bon Soir’. An original cast album of the show features several solo tracks by Dawn.

Vintage Record: 1958 Dawn joined the cast of the Off-Broadway hit show, "Greenwich Village, U.S.A.". The show ran for a year at New York's legendary 'The Bon Soir'. An original cast album of the show features several solo tracks by Dawn. — Source: Richard Skipper

7. During the early 60’s, Dawn worked as the house singer at the ‘Lion’s Den’. The Lion’s Den was also the scene of a singer’s talent competition. Barbara Streisand relates in a Vanity Fair interview that one of her first times singing on stage was at one of these competitions. She tells how she was a little unnerved, because she came on stage after Dawn, “and the lusty applause for Dawn Hampton [was] ringing in my ears.”

8. Surgery in 1964 to her vocal cords saw Dawn lose most of her vocal range BUT she never lost her eagerness or ability to perform and her optimistic spirit.

9. Dawn spent much of the next 20 years performing as a cabaret singer in clubs around New York City. Reviewers called her a “singer’s singer” and dubbed her the “Queen of Cabaret”.

10. Dawn is talented in writing music and lyrics: In 1989 Dawn collaborated with pianist/performer Mark Nadler, writing music and lyrics for the honky-tonk mini-opera ‘Red Light’ which was given the Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Award in 1990. Dawn and Mark also collaborated on ‘An Evening with Dawn Hampton’, which enjoyed an extended run at ‘Don’t Tell Mama’.

Dawn also wrote the music and lyrics for the play “Madame C. J. Walker” (Madame (1867-1919) was an African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. Eulogized as the first female self-made millionaire in America).

Lastly, she would find time to write a book with her niece, entitled ‘Two Penny Soap Opera’.

Deacon Hampton's Pickaninnys — Source: Richard Skipper

11. 1992-Dawn appeared with Frankie Manning in the Movie ‘Malcom X’.

12. In the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, Hampton took advantage of the craze for swing dance by bringing to the scene her smooth style and theatrical presence that has brought her international acclaim. She has never stopped since those early days.

Dawn Hampton and frankie Manning — Dawn Hampton with Frankie Manning (June 2007) by photographer Eli Pritykin.

Dawn Hampton, Ryan Francois, John Dokes – Splanky at Frankie’s Centennial Savoy Ball 2014 – Photo by Jane Kratchovil

13. Dawn lived in NYC and could be found in New York City dancing and listening to some of the best swing bands around.

14. Dawn and her family are in a documentary called ‘The Unforgettable Hampton Family’ that aired in 2011 (click on image to watch doc).

15. Dawn has been known to answer her phone saying “God Is Good. The Light Is On!” (source).

Dawn Hampton - Black History Month — Source: Advanced Style Blog Post

In Conclusion…

Watching Dawn dance heightens the experience of merely listening to jazz and reunites the relationship between music and movement. In Dawn’s own words, “The light IS on!”

Check out Dawn’s talk at Toronto Lindy Hop’s Sunday of TOWLHD, as well as watch her dance dance dance 🙂

Lastly, here is my husband and I with Dawn during her visit to Toronto in 2015 (We are both wearing Dawn on our shirt).

Hope you enjoyed learning about Dawn and her life. If you have any stories about Dawn, please share them in the comments section below.

FURTHER READING:

Liz

Tag: Jazz Singer