Lovie Austin

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reginaaaa says that :Lovie Austin (born September 19, 1887 in Chattanooga, Tennessee; died July 10, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American popular Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer, and arranger during the 1920s classic blues era. She and Lil Hardin Armstrong are often ranked as two of the best female jazz blues piano players of the period. Mary Lou Williams cites Lovie Austin as her greatest influence.

Life and Career

Born Cora Calhoun in Chattanooga, Tennessee, studied music theory at Roger Williams University and Knoxville College in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1923, Lovie Austin decided to make Chicago her home, and she lived and worked there for the rest of her life. Austin was a fancy dresser and a well-liked person. She was often seen racing around town in her Stutz Bearcat with leopard skin upholstery dressed to the teeth. Her early career was in vaudeville where she played piano and performed in variety acts. Accompanying blues singers was Lovie's specialty, and can be heard on recordings by Ma Rainey ("Moonshine Blues), Ida Cox ("Wild Women Don't Have The Blues"), Ethel Waters ("Craving Blues"), and Alberta Hunter ("I Want Somebody All My Own") She lead her own band, the Blues Serenaders, which usually included trumpeters Tommy Ladnier, Bob Shoffner, Natty Dominique, or Shirley Clay on cornet, trombonist Kid Ory or Albert Wynn on trombone, and Jimmy O'Bryant or Johnny Dodds on clarinet, along with banjo and occasional drums. Austin would work with many of the other top jazz musicians of the 1920s, namely Louis Armstrong. Austin's skills as songwriter can be heard in the classic "Down Hearted Blues," a tune she co-wrote with Alberta Hunter. Singer Bessie Smith turned the song into a hit in 1923. Austin was also a session musician for Paramount Records.

When the classic blues craze began to wither in the early 1930s, Austin settled into the position of musical director for the Monogram Theater, at 3453 South State Street in Chicago where all the T.O.B.A. acts played. She worked there for 20 years. After World War II she became a pianist at Jimmy Payne's Dancing School at Penthouse Studios, and performed and recorded occasionally.

In 1961 recorded, Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, as part of Riverside's Living Legends series. Austin's songs included "Sweet Georgia Brown," "C-Jam Blues," and "Gallon Stomp."

Selective discography

Year	Title	Genre	Label
1994	1924-1926	Jazz blues	Classic
1961	Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders	Jazz	Allegro Corporation

Footnotes

External links

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Last updated on Monday March 03, 2008 at 10:18:23 PST (GMT -0800)
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