ADELAIDE HALL

                               





                                        


                            

                 

        Adelaide Louise Hall (octubre 20, 1901 - noviembre 07, 1993) fué una cantante de Blues y Jazz que nació en el Reino Unido aunque muy pronto se trasladó a  Estados Unidos . Su larga carrera abarcó más de 70 años desde 1921 hasta su muerte, como una  figura importante , participó en el renacimiento de Harlem. Entró en el Libro Guinness de los Récords en 2003 como artista de grabación más  que más grabaciones ha efectuado  del mundo después de haber lanzado material de más de ocho décadas consecutivas. Estuvo durante mucho tiempo acompañanda de  grandes artistas como Art Tatum ,  Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fela Sowande  Rudy Vallee  y Jools Holland, y grabó como cantante de jazz con Duke Ellington (con quien hizo su más famosa grabación, "Creole Love Call " en 1927)  y con Fats Waller. 

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Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her long career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death and she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hall entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world's most enduring recording artist having released material over eight consecutive decades. She performed with major artists such as Art TatumEthel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fela Sowande Rudy Vallee and Jools Holland, and recorded as a jazz singer with Duke Ellington (with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call" in 1927)and with Fats Waller.

Early years

Adelaide Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Elizabeth and Arthur William Hall. Hall began her stage career in 1921 on Broadway in the chorus line of Noble Sissle's and Eubie Blake's hit musical Shuffle Along and went onto appear in a number of similar black musical shows including Runnin' Wild on Broadway in 1923, in which she sang James P. Johnson's hit song "Old-Fashioned Love." In 1925, Hall toured Europe with the Chocolate Kiddies revue that included songs written by Duke Ellington. In 1926, Hall appeared in the short-lived Broadway musical My Magnolia that had a score written by Luckey Roberts and Alex C. Rogers, after which she appeared in Tan Town Topics with songs written by Fats Waller.Hall then starred in Desires of 1927, (with a score written by Andy Razaf and J. C. Johnson),which toured America from October 1926 through to September 1927.

Marriage, 1924[

In 1924, Hall married a British sailor born in Trinidad, Bertram Errol Hicks. Soon after their marriage he opened a short-lived club in Harlem, New York, called 'The Big Apple' and became her official business manager.

Chocolate Kiddies European tour, 1925

Hall was hired to join the cast of the Chocolate Kiddies revue in New York, where they rehearsed before setting sail for Europe. The initial tour started at Hamburg, Germany, on 17 May 1925, and ended in Paris, France in December 1925 visiting many major cities in-between.The revue was designed to give Europeans a sampling of black entertainment from New York.[30] Included in the cast were The Three Eddies, Lottie Gee, Rufus Greenlee and Thaddeus Drayton, Bobbie and Babe Goins, Charles Davis and Sam Wooding and his Orchestra. After the initial tour disbanded, Sam Wooding and his Orchestra continued touring the Chocolate Kiddies revue for several years later.

Tan Town Topics, Small's Paradise and Desires of 1927

In 1926, upon Hall's return to New York after touring Europe with the Chocolate Kiddies, she was featured in Tan Town Topics, a revue containing songs written by Fats Waller and Spencer Williams. The cast included Fats Waller, Eddie Rector and Ralph Cooper, Adelaide Hall, Maude Mills, Arthur Gaines, Leondus Simmons and a dance troupe called the Tan Town Topics Vamps. The show opened at Harlem’s Lafayette Theatre on 5 April followed by a short road tour on the eastern Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) circuit taking in Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. 

During July 1926, Hall appeared in residency with Lottie Gee and the Southern Syncopated Orchestra at Small’s Paradise, New York. On Tuesday, 5 October, Hall appeared again at Small’s Paradise at a special party, "Handy Night", hosted by the venue to honour W. C. Handy and to celebrate the release of his newly published book Blues: An Anthology—Complete Words and Music of 53 Great Songs. For entertainment, Adelaide Hall, Lottie Gee, Maude White and Chic Collins provided a selection of jazz and blues numbers.

From October 1926, Hall toured America playing the TOBA circuit until September 1927 in the highly praised show Desires of 1927, conceived by J. Homer Tutt and produced by impresario Irvin C. Miller. As the Pittsburgh Courier noted: "Adelaide Hall and assistants have some show. Speed, pretty girls, catchy music, a touch of art, which touches the border line of nudity - the names of such well-known stage celebrities as Adelaide Hall, J. Homer Tutt, Henry 'Gang' Jones, the Harmony, Trio, Charles Hawkins, Arthur Porter, 'Billy' McKelvey and Clarence Nance." Billed as the star 'soubrette' of the show, Adelaide's performance included several songs, (most notably "Sweet Virginia Bliss"), flat foot dancing and accompanying herself on the ukelele whilst singing.

Recordings with Duke Ellington

In October 1927, Hall recorded her wordless vocals on "Creole Love Call", "The Blues I Love To Sing" and "Chicago Stomp Down" with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra The recordings were worldwide hits and catapulted both Hall's and Ellington's careers into the mainstream.

       

                 




The story behind "Creole Love Call"'s conception is interesting to recount: In 1927, Hall and Duke Ellington were touring in the same show, Dance Mania. The show opened at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on 14 November and played there for one week before travelling to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to appear at the Standard Theatre. Hall closed the first half of the bill and Duke was on in the second. Duke had a new number, "Creole Love Call", which he included in his set. Hall recounted, "I was standing in the wings behind the piano when Duke first played it ("Creole Love Call"). I started humming along with the band. He stopped the number and came over to me and said, 'That's just what I was looking for. Can you do it again?' I said, 'I can't, because I don't know what I was doing.' He begged me to try. Anyway, I did, and sang this counter melody, and he was delighted and said 'Addie, you're going to record this with the band.' A couple of days later I did". When Duke was recounting the incident to a reporter he explained, "We had to do something to employ Adelaide Hall," and then added, "I always say we are primitive artists, we only employ the materials at hand … the band is an accumulation of personalities, tonal devices."

On 4 December 1927, Ellington and his Orchestra commenced their residency at Harlem's Cotton Club in a revue called Rhythmania. The show featured Hall singing "Creole Love Call".[41] In 1928, "Creole Love Call" entered the Billboard song charts at #19 (USA).

On 7 January 1933, Hall and Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra recorded "I Must Have That Man" and "Baby".