Jazz, blues and nostalgia, by Sjaak Roodenburg. Forgotten celebrities.
There was Evalyn Tyner, the incarnation of self-will, who hated music notation and improvised freely because of that. Or Tess Gardena as Aunt Jemima, who sang ‘Showboat’s’ showstopper ‘Can’t help lovin’ that man’, her only record. Or celebrities such as Bob Manning (wiped out by the exact same sounding Dick Haymes), the exotic Lorez Alexandria, cool Chris Connor, Dodo Greene with her bulldozer voice (who was the first female singer to record an album for the Blue Note label), and Sue Raney, who simply rised from the ranks at the wrong time. Or ‘yodeling blues singer’ and ‘trick singer’ Emmett Miller, chirping singing black pianist with long white gloves Rose Murphy, the forgotten orchestra of Guy Lombardo, substitute singer in Xavier Cugat’s band Bobby Capo (who would’ve gotten a contract if he had been slightly whiter), the ‘black Marilyn Monroe’ Dorothy Dandridge, the British Sinatra and singing chimney Matt Monroe, and delicate sounding blues singer Lil Green. In short: Digging for treasures in the Kingdom of Oblivion.
