Helen Humes
Encyclopedia
Helen Humes was an American
jazz
and blues
singer.
Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie
, saucy R&B
diva
and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.
, Kentucky
, United States
was spotted by the guitarist
Sylvester Weaver
and made her first recordings in 1927, her true young voice
consorting oddly with bizarre material like "Garlic Blues".
She moved to New York City
in 1937 and became a recording vocalist with Harry James
' big band
. Her swing
recordings
with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream Can't I", Jimmy Dorsey
's composition "It's The Dreamer In Me
", and "Song of the Wanderer".
Humes became one of the vocalists with the Count Basie Orchestra
in 1938, replacing Billie Holliday as lead female vocalist. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
" and "Moonlight Serenade
".
During the 1940s and 1950s, Humes became a solo
performer and worked with different bands and other vocalists including Nat King Cole
. She sounded very sprightly on the jump blues
Be-Baba-Leba (Philo
, 1945) and Million Dollar Secret (Modern
, 1950).
In 1950 Humes recorded Benny Carter
's "Rock Me to Sleep". She managed to bridge the gap between big band jazz swing and rhythm and blues
. She appeared on the bill at the Monterey Jazz Festival
in 1960.
She moved to Hawaii
and then to Australia
in 1964, returning to the US in 1967 to take care of her ailing mother. Humes was out of the music industry for several years but made a full comeback in 1973 at the Newport Jazz Festival
, and stayed busy up until her death, performing all over Europe, for instance, including at the prestigious Nice Jazz Festival
in the mid-70s. She received the Music Industry of France Award in 1973, and the key to the city of Louisville
in 1975.
Helen Humes died of cancer
at the age of 68 in Santa Monica, California
. She is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery
, Inglewood, California
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer.
Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, saucy R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
diva
Diva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.
Career
Humes was born in LouisvilleLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was spotted by the guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver
Sylvester Weaver was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues.-Biography:On October 23, 1923, he recorded in New York City with the blues singer Sara Martin "Longing for Daddy Blues" / "I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind" and two weeks later as a soloist "Guitar Blues" /...
and made her first recordings in 1927, her true young voice
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
consorting oddly with bizarre material like "Garlic Blues".
She moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1937 and became a recording vocalist with Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
' big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
. Her swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream Can't I", Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...
's composition "It's The Dreamer In Me
It's the Dreamer in Me
It's The Dreamer In Me is a 1938 song composed by Jimmy Dorsey and Jimmy Van Heusen and was first recorded by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Bob Eberly on vocals. The song is a jazz and pop standard....
", and "Song of the Wanderer".
Humes became one of the vocalists with the Count Basie Orchestra
Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie. The band survived the late '40s decline in big band popularity and went on to produce notable collaborations with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella...
in 1938, replacing Billie Holliday as lead female vocalist. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
"Between the devil and the deep blue sea" is an idiom meaning a dilemma—i.e., to choose between two undesirable situations .-Possible origins:...
" and "Moonlight Serenade
Moonlight Serenade
Moonlight Serenade is an album by the American singer-songwriter Carly Simon. It is her 22nd studio album , and her fourth album of pop standards....
".
During the 1940s and 1950s, Humes became a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
performer and worked with different bands and other vocalists including Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
. She sounded very sprightly on the jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
Be-Baba-Leba (Philo
Aladdin Records
Aladdin Records was a post-World War II United States record label, with headquarters in Hollywood, California. The label was founded in 1945 by brothers Eddie, Leo, and Ira Mesner and was originally called Philo Records, before changing to its better-known name in April 1946.Aladdin Records...
, 1945) and Million Dollar Secret (Modern
Modern Records
Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...
, 1950).
In 1950 Humes recorded Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
's "Rock Me to Sleep". She managed to bridge the gap between big band jazz swing and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. She appeared on the bill at the Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
in 1960.
She moved to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and then to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1964, returning to the US in 1967 to take care of her ailing mother. Humes was out of the music industry for several years but made a full comeback in 1973 at the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
, and stayed busy up until her death, performing all over Europe, for instance, including at the prestigious Nice Jazz Festival
Nice Jazz Festival
The Nice Jazz Festival, held annually since 1948 in Nice, on the French Riviera, is "the first jazz festival of international significance." At the inaugural festival, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars were the headliners...
in the mid-70s. She received the Music Industry of France Award in 1973, and the key to the city of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
in 1975.
Helen Humes died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at the age of 68 in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. She is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood Park Cemetery was founded in 1905 in Inglewood, California. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed here.-List of notable and celebrity interments at Inglewood Park:...
, Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
.
Discography
- Midnight at Minton'sMidnight at Minton'sMidnight at Minton's is a 1941 album by jazz musician Don Byas. It is a live recording of a jam session at Minton's Playhouse, the famous New York nightclub at which the emerging style of bebop was being pioneered....
- Don ByasDon ByasCarlos Wesley "Don" Byas was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, long-resident in Europe.- Oklahoma and Los Angeles :...
- 1941 - Helen Humes, 1959
- Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do, 1959
- Songs I Like to Sing, 1960
- Swingin' with Humes, 1961
- Helen Comes Back, 1973
- Let the Good Times Roll, 1973
- Sneakin' Around, 1974
- On the Sunny Side of the Street (live), 1974
- Helen Humes, 1974
- Talk of the Town, 1975
- Helen Humes with Red Norvo and His Orchestra, 1975
- Deed I do (live), 1976
- Helen Humes and the Muse All Stars, 1979
- HelenHelen (album)Helen is an album released by Helen Humes in 1981 on Muse MR 5233, her second for that company. The album was in the final nominations for the 24th Annual Grammy Awards in the category of “Best Jazz Vocal Performance.” -Personnel:* Helen Humes - vocals...
, 1981 - The New Year's Eve, 1980
Awards
- Hot Club of France Award for Best Album of 1973
- Key to the City of Louisville, 1975, 1977
External links
- [ Biography] at Allmusic websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...