Eva Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Eva Taylor | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Irene Joy Gibbons |
| Also known as | Irene Gibbons |
| Born | January 22, 1895 |
| Origin |  St. Louis, Missouri, USA |
| Died | October 31, 1977 (aged 82) Mineola, New York, USA |
| Genre(s) | Jazz, Blues |
| Occupation(s) | Singer Stage Actress |
| Years active | 1930s – 1940s, 1960s – 1970s |
| Label(s) | Black Swan, Okeh RecordsOkeh, Columbia |
| Associated acts | Clarence Williams, The Charleston Chasers |
Eva Taylor (born January 22, 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri; died October 31, 1977 in Mineola, New York) was an American blues singer and stage actress.
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[edit] Life and career
Born Irene Joy Gibbons in St. Louis, Missouri, on stage from the age of three, Taylor toured New Zealand, Australia and Europe before her teens.[1] She also toured extensively with the "Josephine Gassman and Her Pickaninnies" vaudeville act. She settled in New York by 1920. There she established herself as a performer in Harlem nightspots. Within a year she wed Clarence Williams, a producer (hired by Okeh Records), publisher, and piano player. The newlyweds worked together on radio and recordings. The couple recorded together through 1930s. Their legacy includes numbers made as the group Blue Five in the mid-'20s, which included such luminaries as jazz clarinetist and saxophonist Sidney Bechet, trumpet virtuoso Louis Armstrong, and some fine blues singers from Sippie Wallace to Rosetta Crawford and Bessie Smith.[2]
In 1922 Taylor made her first record for the African-American owned Black Swan Records, who billed her as "The Dixie Nightingale."[3] She would continue to record dozens of blues, jazz and popular sides for Okeh and Columbia throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Although she adopted the stage name of Eva Taylor, she also worked under her birth name as "Irene Gibbons and her Jazz Band." She was part of The Charleston Chasers, the name given to a few all-star studio ensembles who recorded between 1925 and 1930. In 1927, Eva Taylor appeared on Broadway in Bottomland, a musical written and produced by her husband, lasted for twenty-one performances.[4] During 1929 Eva had her own radio show on NBC's Cavalcade,[5] then worked for many years on radio WOR, New York (guested on Paul Whiteman Radio Show in 1932.[6] Taylor stopped performing during the '40s, but she returned in the mid-'60s following her husband's death, with tours throughout Europe.
Eva Taylor died of cancer in 1977 in Mineola, New York and was interred next to her husband, under the name Irene Joy Williams, Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.[7] Her grandson is the actor Clarence Williams III.
[edit] Selective discography
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Edison Laterals 4 | Jazz, Blues | Diamond Cut | |
| 1996 | Not Just the Blues | Jazz, Blues | Pearl |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness, page 4498, (1995) - ISBN 1561591769
- ^ Fairweather, Digby. The Rough Guide to Jazz, Rough Guides, page 864, (2004) - ISBN 1843532565
- ^ Vladimir, Bogdanov. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues, Backbeat Books, page 373, (2003) - ISBN 0879307366
- ^ Stearns, Marshall Winslow. Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance, Da Capo Press, page 150, (1999) - ISBN 0306805537
- ^ Cavalcade was broadcast over NBC
- ^ Chilton, John. Who's who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street, Da Capo Press, page 326, (1985) - ISBN 0306802430
- ^ Find a Grave: Eva Taylor
