JAZZ

Nat King Cole Sang “sang “Unforgettable and Louis Armstrong sang “A Kiss to Build a Dream On”.

1951

The Oldest Boomer is 5 years old.

Median Family Income: $3,700 Minimum Wage: 75 cents/hr.

New Car: Oldsmobile: $2,558 Desoto: $4,278. / Gallon of Gasoline 27 cents

Movies :“The African Queen,” A Streetcar Named Desire,” An American in Paris, “Decision Before Dawn,” A Pace in the Sun,” “Strangers on a Train,” “Quo Vadis?” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Show Boat,” “The Enforcer,” Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm.” “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.” Ronald Reagan starred with a chimpanzee in “Bedtime for Bonzo.” “A Christmas Carol,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

TV: “I Love Lucy,” Amos ’N’ Andy” ,”See It Now,” new with Edward R. Murrow. “The Dianh Shore Show,” “ Ernie in Kovaksland,” Ernie Kovacs. “The Red Skelton Show.” “Sky King,” “Roy Rgers,” {Dragnet,” “Search for Tomorrow,” “NFL Football,” “Hallmark Hall of Fame, “Love of Life.” Simlin’ Ed McConnell and his Buster Brown Gang.

Music: Ruth Brown, “Teardrops From My Eyes..” Joe Turner, “chains O Love.” Hank Williams, “Cold, Cold Heart.” Eddy Arnold, “I Wanna Play House With You.”

Broadway: “The King and I,” “The Mikado,: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” “Paint Your Wagon,”

From the book BOOMERS How We Changed The World

by Richard A. Jordan

Good Eve-nin’ Everybody!!! That’s what you heard from Louis “Pops” Armstrong at the beginning of all his concerts and performances. Then the show was on. “Ambassador Armstrong” was without a doubt the leading exponent of jazz improvisation before it had a name. He reached the pinnacle of his craft without any book-learned knowledge of such things as theory, harmony or counterpoint. Ole’ Satchmo was a pioneer in that he paved the way for all of us who are practitioners or lovers of America’s only original art form. I like to compare him to the 17th and 18th century frontiersmen who crossed the American wilderness on horseback, chopping down trees to make a path for the covered wagons and mule trains that followed.
I remember when I was a member of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show Band, “Pops” was a guest. Johnny Carson asked him if he played folk music, he replied: “sure, I play folk music. All music is folk music. Folks play it don’t they? You have never seen any trees playing it, have you?”…….
Dr. Clark Terry – Introduction from the book:
The Louis Armstrong Odyssey: from Jane Alley to America’ Jazz Ambassador By Dempsey J. Travis

”Entrenched artist, or the entrenched society, always attack anything new, coming in, in religion, in social upheavals, in any field. It has something to do with living and dying and the fear among the old of being replaced by the new. Louis Armstrong never played our music, but that shouldn’t have kept him from feeling or understanding it. Pops thought that it so as the leader of the old school, “Pops” felt that it was his duty to attack us. At least he could gain some publicity, even if he was overwhelmed musically”. Following the Bebop vs. Jazz words of war, Armstrong and Gillespie appeared together publicly for the first time on January 7, 1959, on the Timed All-Star Jazz Show television on CBS and moderated by Jackie Gleason. Armstrong’s acceptance on the gig was an indication that he accepted the olive branch that the “Beboppers” had extended. It was also a symbol from the warring music makers that the territory was large enough to accommodate both traditional and modern jazz. The truce between the warring factions was ratified when Louis and Dizzy interchanged trumpet and vocal solos playing “The Umbrella Man” on the Timex show. They both held their ground in showmanship and trumpet technique. They were funny when they involuntarily spit in each other’s face while singing a duet. Dizzy wiped his face, indicating that Armstrong’s parasol had a big hole in it also. Both Pops and Dizzy agreed that it was more fun arguing with music than with words.

From the book The Louis Armstrong Odyssey: from Jane Alley to America’s Jazz Ambassador By Dempsey J. Travis

Pops was cool and so is the book.

It was Billy (Eckstine) who explained why Redd refused to have me sing at his live shows. “Don’t take this badly, Ruth,” he began, “but the simple truth is you don’t look the way Redd thinks a chick singer should. He’s got this thing about ladies bein’ petite. He feels that the glamor vultures in spots like Vegas won’t buy anything else.” I was left in charge of the house when Redd took off, the Cinderella who had not been invited to the ball. A few weeks later Herb , the one’time Ellington singer and ex-Bronze Buckaroo form the all[black westerns in the thirties, dropped by the shipping department where Earl and I worked. he was a friend of our boss, Gino, and asked to put a call through to Las Vegas. I overheard enough to gather Herb was begging off a singing engagement. A jazz club was short one singer? I waded straight in. “Let me go in your place,”
I badgered him. “you’re R and B, they want jazz,” he told me. I can sing anything,” I replied. “Look Herb, I don’t care about the money, get me that job.”
He did, and he got a plane ticket to get me there as well. It turned out that the Tender Trap wasn’t on the Strip, but over on Flamingo Road, and it was the only jazz club in the city. I also found out that I had to do what they called “ups,” meaning that every hour I was required to sing for forty minutes, then take twenty off. For six hours on the trot! I was shocked, but that was the deal. It led to a booking at the Gilded Cage at Circus Circus. The place really was a circus, with acrobats, clowns and all; when the circus acts were off, the music was on. What gave me tremendous satisfaction was our position on the Strip, slap across from the Thunderbird, where Redd’s show was still running. With my name on a marquee just a stone’s throw form his, there was no way he could miss it. so only Les Petites could make it to Vegas, huh? and check out the irony to end all ironies: the vocalist the Thunder bird had chosen to share Redd’s bill was none other than the far-from svelte Dell Reese

The old house I rented still seemed awfully empty without them, and when a neighbor offered me a ride to the closing day of the Westbury Music Fair I gladly accepted. It was a chance to say hello to Billy Eckstine and Redd Foxx for the first time in a very long time. And, if I had only known it, to have my live turned upside yet again. I dressed in my smartest outfit for the occasion, a two-piece black pants suit with matching bandolero hat and pretty yellow blouse, and I did my makeup professionally, something I had not bothered with for ages. The fact is, I was nervous about meeting these people and figuring a way to get round their inevitable questioning. Redd had reached the top of the tree with Sanford and Son on TV and Mr. B was still riding high, whereas the only success I could talk about was getting both my boys into college from a poverty-stricken home base. Then again, that was no small thing. I talked to Billy first, and he was charming as ever, then I asked the security guard if I could speak to Mr. Foxx. He walked down the hall, knocked on his door and hollered, “Lady here says she knows you, Redd. Name of Ruth Brown.” I heard the reply loud and clear through the door: “What you say? Ruth Brown?” Redd stepped into the hall wearing just a pair of white boxer shorts covered with great big red hearts, and walked towards me in his bare feet. “what you mean standin’ out there in that hall? You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Where the hell you been, anyway? When we sat down I explained that my marriage had long since broken up. “Uh-oh,” he said, “here we go again,” I said no, it had not been like that this time, no re-run either of Jimmy Brown, Willis or Earl, simply that I was not and never could be a typical suburban housewife. “You’re lookin’ great,” he told me, then leaned forward. “Listen, Ruth, I’d like you to come to California and work with me there. There’s all kinds of things you could be doin’.” When I tried to explain that I had no money to travel, and even if I had I couldn’t leave anyway, that my kids were both at college nearby, he waved both objections away. “Ruth, everything’s gonna be on me. I’ll send you your ticket, and if there’s any emergency and you gotta get back here, that’s my treat too.” “Redd, I couldn’t—“Don’t tell me that! It’s the least I can do. Have you forgotten I owe you?” “What you talkin’ about?” “Oh, you overlookin’ that little incident in San Francisco ‘bout twenty-five years ago? Let me refresh that memory of yours. There was this comedian really struggling, down on his luck, name of Mr. Redd Foxx. He been locked out of his hotel! Then he saw that an old acquaintance of his, a real cute young singer he first met at Newport News, was headlining at the Fillmore East. Name of Miss Ruth Brown, I believe. So he finds out she’s at the Robert Lee Hotel, walks his ass over there, comes right out and asks for a hand-out. She is kindness itself and, as luck would have it, has been paid in cash for her performance. Pointing to a dresser with a towel sat on top, she explains that underneath that towel Is the night’s takings, that I should help myself and take whatever I need. When I look, there must be close on three thousand dollars sat there. I remove exactly four hundred and fifty, enough to fly me back east and make a fresh start with a career that’s headed no place. Ain’t nobody ever done nothin’ like that for me before or since. Does that that jog your memory, Miss Brown?”…………The Chauffeur who picked me up at the airport was Junior, Redd’s right-hand man. Off we swept in his Mercedes, straight to Redd’s palatial home on Mulholland Drive atop the Hollywood Hills. As soon as we pulled up Redd walked out, hugged me and said, ‘Welcome to Hollywood.’ Inside were Clifton Davis, Della Reese, Sarah Vaughan, his regular gang of poker players, who all greeted me in turn. Redd had booked me into a suite at the Bel-Air Hotel and my mouth fell open when I saw it. I arrived carrying the cheapest suitcase I’ll bet they’d ever seen, and the first thing I made sure of was I didn’t have to pay no bill. Next morning I was driven out to NBC’s Burbank Studios, the first movie lot I’d ever seen. There was a parking space with Redd’s name on it, and I bumped into Ed McMahon and Chico and the man’s Freddie Prinze before clearing reception. Redd arranged for me to share a scene in Sanford that very first day with the Beverly Hillbillies star Nancy Kulp. I stayed a month in the luxury of the Bel Air before settling into a small apartment down Wilshire, fitting it out with furniture from a thrift shop.
From the book: Miss Rhythm by Ruth Brown and Andrew Yule
She will talk to you. Her book will get your attention and not give it back. You will love the book and you will love her. Real cool.

Before Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Tina Turner, there was Ruth Brown, the legendary rhythm and blues singer best known for her hits “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” “Teardrops from My Eyes,” and “5-10-15 Hours.” Her powerhouse voice and sassy squeal brought worldwide success to the Atlantic label in the 1950s. But it took a decades-long battle with Atlantic to receive her full royalties, which inspired the creation of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.In Miss Rhythm, the singer shares candid recollections: the early days of R&B; the racism she endured on the road; and her abusive husbands and lovers. In the ’80s and ’90s, Brown earned a Tony and Grammy Award and a role as Motormouth Maybelle in John Water’s cult film Hairspray. Miss Rhythm is a story of trial and triumph, and of chart-topping success despite seemingly impossible odds.

From the book: Miss Rhythm by Ruth Brown and Andrew Yule

She will talk to you;her book will get your attention and not give it back. Real cool.