Carline Ray (1925-2013)

Jazz guitarist, bassist, activist and vocalist passed away. 
 I never felt strange about being a woman in music. (Carline Ray)
Hans Koert

Last month US vocalist, bassist and guitar player Carline Ray passed away, 88 years young, her daughter Catherine Russell reported.  I met Catherine at an in-shop concert at The Drvkkery in Middelburg (The Netherlands) a few years ago and then she told me that her mother was still active in singing. I learned that Catherine Russell’s father was the well known band leader Luis Russell, but about her mother I didn't know more then that she had been part of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm for a few years. I love to honour this special woman.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm with leader - vocalist Anna Mae Winburn and guitarist Carline Ray and bass player Edna smith somewhere at the back (photo: ca. 1946) ( source: Carline Ray Collection)

When I found the DVD The All Girl Bands “Accent On Girls”, released in 2005 by Storyville  Films (Denmark) in its series Jazz Legends, I found several shorts by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm featuring Carline Ray at the guitar in nine tracks.


Although its leader and vocalist Anna Mae Winburn draws attention from the camera, a young Carline Ray can be seen at the far left somewhere at the back of the band next to bassist Edna Smith.

Carline Ray - publicity photo (late 1940s) (source: Carline Ray Collection)

Carline Ray was born in New York City, April 1925. Her father played now and then in James Reese Europe’s band, which visited France during World War I.

Edna Smith

Carline sang and played the piano as a kid and joined the Juilliard School of Music at the age of 16. She came into contact with jazz thanks to a friend of her, Edna Smith, who also introduced her to the bass.  Ray’s first gig must have been a taxi dancehall date, somewhere in the early 1940s, when she was still a student at Juillard's. When she and Edna graduated they were offered a job in the then well known International Sweethearts of Rhythm; Edna on bass and Carline on guitar, but also as a vocalist now and then.  ...........She would continue to sing at an advanged age and she must have forwarded these skills to her daughter Catherine Russell, who started a solo carreer a few years ago after a long career in pop background choirs for great pop-artists like Paul Simon. David Bowie an the band Steely Dan.  

Carline Ray in actie ( waarschijnlijk jaren vijftig)

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was originally founded to give the poor kids of Piney Woods, a school for poor and Afro American children, most were orphaned, a living …..  “It was a time when American thought it improper for women to make a sax wail or let loose hot licks on skins.” I found in the book Take-Off – American All-Girl Bands During WWII by Tonya Bolden “But the advent of World War II dispatched many men overseas, giving women the chance to finally strut their stuff on the bandstand.

Carline Ray ( detail of the The Internationale Sweethearts of Rhythm photo above ( ca. 1946)
 
All-girl bands, like the International Sweethearts of Rhythm kept moral high on the home front and on USO tours of military bases across the globe. At the same time, they helped to establish America’s distinguished legacy of jazz music”.
All-Girl bands, Damesorkesten in Dutch, like The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were extreme popularlate 1930s - early 1940s, not only in the States but also in Holland, where bands like Clara De Vries and her Jazzladies and saxophone players like Annie Van't Zelfde ( aka Annie The Same) draw full houses, until the nazis forbid to play this kind of Entartete Musik.



The International Sweethearts of Rhythm would develop into one of the most popular US All-Women bands of the 1940s, but when Carline Ray and Edna Smith joined, the popularity of the orchestra was over the hill. In 1948 the band was disbanded and Carline started in Erskine Hawkins Orchestra as a vocalist and guitarist playing at the so-called black theatre circuit.


Luis Russell with his daughter Catherine ( ca. 1958) (photo courtesy: Carline Ray collection)

During the 1950s Carline joined the Manhattan School of Music and graduated in 1956. In the 1950s she founded with Edna Smith and Pauline Braddy Williams a trio, which performed in New York clubs.  In one of the clubs, Luis Russell, the former band leader and Louis Armstrong’s musical director, was the manager …… Ray and Luis felt in love and married.  In 1956 Catherine was born.

Catherine Russell (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

She started to play fender bass in bands like Skitch Henderson Big Band, where she was the only woman in the band, but she never felt that as something special …. I never felt strange about being a woman in music. I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m all business. We’re musicians first. Ray became also an activist for women's liberation for equal rights. She played in all kinds of orchestras, too much to list here, but I love to mention her cooperation with Melba Liston ( Melba Liston and Company) and a concert with the All-Women band Aerial, featuring Ray at the 1979 Newport Jazz Festival. In those days she studied the acoustic bass at Major Holley's.

Carline and her daughter Catherine in duet ( photo courtesy: Joseph A. Rosen)

Carline Ray can be heard on dozens of record albums, made by great names like Red Richards en zangeres Ruth Brown, to list some, but she never made one by herself. 
Thanks to her 88th birthday, spring 2013,  her daughter Catherine Russell released Ray's debut's album Vocal Sides.  I hope to review this album later .... a debut album by a very special woman who loved to play her jazz music in a band with most  male artists ....  I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m all business. We’re musicians first.

Carline Ray passed away 88 years old ( 1925-2013).

MY JAZZ LINKS: Carline Ray - Catherine Russell

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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Carline Ray started to play the guitar at the famous All-Girl band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, but was also active as a bass player, a vocalist and champion for women rights. She passed away last month 88 years old. A few months ago she made her debut as a singer on the first album under her own name Vocal Sides, produced by her daughter, jazz vocalist Catherine Russell. Enjoy the story of this special woman: Carline Ray. 

 Retrospect
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Carline Ray (1925-2013)

Jazzgitarist, bassist, activiste en zangeres overleden. 
Ik heb me nooit bijzonder gevoeld. (Carline Ray) (vrij vertaald)
Hans Koert

Afgelopen maand overleed de Amerikaanse zangeres, bassist en gitarist Carline Ray op 88-jarige leeftijd, meldde haar dochter Catherine Russell.  Ik ontmoette Catherine tijdens een in-shop concert in De Drvkkery in Middelburg een paar jaar geleden en ze vertelde me toen over haar ouders, waarbij haar moeder,  nog steeds, op hoge leeftijd, actief was in de muziek.  Catherine’s vader, Luis Russell was een bekende bandleider in de jaren derig en jarenlang musical director van Louis Armstrong ……  Carline kende ik alleen als één van de “girls” uit The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, waarin ze in de jaren veertig van de vorige eeuw, gitaar speelde en soms zong.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm met leider en zangeres Anna Mae Winburn en Carline Ray, verstop, achterin op gitaar (foto: ca. 1946) ( foto: Carline Ray Collection)

Toen ik onlangs bij toeval de DVD The All Girl Bands “Accent On Girls”, vond, in 2005 uitgebracht door het Deense Storyville in haar serie Jazz Legends, vond ik verschillende “shorts”, waarop de International Sweethearts of Rhythm te zien en te horen waren met Carline Ray op gitaar in negen filmstracks. 

Aangezien de cameratechnieken in die tijd nog vrij primitief waren en er vooral vanuit één standpunt gefilmd werd, gaat alle aandacht uit naar de leider en zangeres Anna Mae Winburn, maar wie goed oplet vindt een jonge Carline Ray links achterin het orkest.

Carline Ray - publiciteitsfoto (eind jaren veertig) (foto: Carline Ray Collection)

Carline Ray werd geboren in New York City, april 1925. Haar vader speelde af en toe bij James Reese Europe’s band, waarmee hij tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog ook Frankrijk aan deed. 

Edna Smith

Hij speelde ook in het New York Philharmonic. Carline zong en speelde als kind piano en ging als tiener op 16-jarige leeftijd naar the Juilliard School of Music. Daar leerde ze, dankzij een vriendin, die daar studeerde, Edna Smith, de bas kennen.  Ray’s eerste betaalde optreden moet begin jaren veertig geweest zijn, tijdens een zgn. taxi dancehall date. Samen met Edna konden ze meteen na hun slagen terecht bij  The International Sweethearts of Rhythm; op de filmfragmenten zie je dan ook Edna op bas, naast Carline op gitaar.  Af en toe mocht Carline ook zingen ….. iets wat ze tot op hoge leeftijd zou volhouden en die kwaliteit heeft ze ongetwijfeld doorgegeven aan haar dochter, Catherine Russell, die, na een leven in popachtergrondkoortjes, momenteel met verve een(jazz) carrière aan het opbouwen is.

Carline Ray in actie ( waarschijnlijk jaren vijftig)

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm ontstond oorspronkelijk in een school in Piney Woods, een instituut voor kansloze kinderen met een Afro American achtergrond, meest wezen, die door dit orkest een middel van bestaan konden opbouwen. It was a time when American thought it improper for women to make a sax wail or let loose hot licks on skins. ( = Het was een tijd, waarin de doorsnee Amerikaan het ongepast vond als een vrouw zich op een saxofoon uitleefde met wilde uithalen en hot licks …. ), zo vond ik in het leuke boekje Take-Off – American All-Girl Bands During WWII van Tonya Bolden: But the advent of World War II dispatched many men overseas, giving women the chance to finally strut their stuff on the bandstand. ( = .... maar bij het uitbreken van de Tweede Wereldoorlog gingen veel mannen naar het front en kreeg de vrouw eindelijk de kans om hun plaats op het podium op te eisen). 

Carline Ray ( detailfoto van The Internationale Sweethearts of Rhythm ( ca. 1946)
 
All-Girl bands, Vrouwenorkesten zoals The International Sweethearts of Rhythm waren eind jaren dertig en begin jaren veertig uitermate populair, ook hier in Nederland. Denk aan Clara de Vries, die met haar Jazzladies, die hier volle zalen trok. In de VS hielden bands als The International Seeethearts of Rhythm  het moreel van de troepen hoog zowel thuis als op het front en de band werd herhaaldelijk uitgezonden op USO tours naar militaire bases, waarbij ze  de Amerikaanse muziek naar alle uithoeken van de wereld brachten.



The International Sweethearts of Rhythm zou één van de meest populaire All-Girls bands  worden van de jaren veertig, maar toen Carline Ray en Edna Smith zich bij het orkest aansloten, was de populariteit al over haar hoogtepunt heen. In 1948 werd de band opgeheven en begon Carline sbij het orkest van Erskine Hawkins als zangeres en gitarist en trad ze op in het zgn. black theatre circuit. 


Luis Russell met zijn dochter Catherine ( ca. 1958) (foto: Carline Ray collection)

Carline kreeg de kans om verder te studeren op de Manhattan School of Music en slaagde in 1956. In de jaren vijftig vormde ze, samen met Edna Smith en Pauline Braddy - Williams een trio, waarmee ze in jazzclubs in New York optraden. In één van die clubs was  Luis Russell, de voormalige bandleider en music director van Satchmo, de uitbater en van het één kwam het ander ………….. Ray en Luis werden verliefd, trouwden en in 1956 werd Catherine geboren. 

Catherine Russell (foto: Hans Koert)

Ray begon op Fender bas  bij o.a. de Skitch Henderson Big Band, waar ze de enige vrouw was in het orkest, maar, zo vertelde ze,  ze voelde zich nooit bijzonder …... I never felt strange about being a woman in music. I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m all business. We’re musicians first. Ray speelde in allerlei orkesten, teveel om hier allemaal op te noemen. Noemenswaardig was haar samenwerking met Melba Liston ( Melba Liston and Company) en een concert met een All-Girl band, genaamd Aerial, waarmee ze op het Newport Jazz Festival van 1979 optrad. In die tijd was Carline ook actief als voorvechtster voor Vrouwenemancipatie. Ze studeerde ook korte tijd bij Major Holley akoestische bas.

Carline met haar dochter Catherine in duet ( foto: Joseph A. Rosen)

Carline Ray speelde op veel platen mee, met grote namen als Jimmy Smith, Mary Lou Williams, Red Richards en zangeres Ruth Brown om er een paar te noemen.

Ter gelegenheid van haar 88ste verjaardag, voorjaar 2013, bracht ze, dankzij haar dochter Catherine Russell, die de plaat produceerde, haar debuutalbum uit, getiteld Vocal Sides.  Ik hoop deze plaat binnenkort te beluisteren en te bespreken - het debuut album van een heel bijzondere vrouw, die tijdens haar ruim 65-jarige carriere in de muziek bewees, binnen het jazzorkest, haar mannetje te staan: Carline Ray werd 88 jaar ( 1925-2013).

MY JAZZ LINKS: Carline Ray - Catherine Russell

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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Carline Ray, debuteerde als gitariste in The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, maar was ook actief als zangeres, bassiste en voorvechtster voor vrouwenemancipatie. Ze overleed vorige maand op 88-jarige leeftijd. Dit voorjaar debuteerde ze met een eigen album, geproduceerd door haar dochter, Jazzzangeres Catherine Rusdsell, getiteld Vocal Sides: Een vrouw die ruim 65-jaar lang bewees binnen de jazz haar mannetje te staan .

 Retrospect
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Dan Block: Duality

 Duo specials. 
Dan Block had the audacity to record one of the most basic elements in improvisation: the duet 
 Hans Koert

It must be one of the most basic forms of improvising – just two musicians playing together: call and respond ..... one of the most basic elements of jazz, born a century ago ...... Dan Block had the audacity to record almost a dozen duets ......  
The Oude Stijl Jazzfestival in Breda, one of the leading traditional jazz festivals in The Netherlands during the 1980s, started to schedule a series of concert in its program, entitled: Duo Specials -  it became one of the most popular (and exciting) parts of the festival. Dan Block, reeds player, recently published a new album, entitled Duality, which should suit well at that festival .….

 Dan Block - Duality (Miles High Records MHR 8620 ) (Illustrations courtesy: Emma Block)

Dan Block raised in St. Louis, studied at the Juillard School, located at the  Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. He studied classical music, but became fascinated by jazz music.  

He started his career in one of Charles Mingus last recording groups. In January 1978 he is part of a band that records under the supervision of Charles Mingus, who was already incurable, suffering from ALS ( = Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and couldn’t play his bass any longer. Mingus passed away January 1979, 56 years old.

In March 1988 Dan was part of the Bill Warfield Big Band, which recorded for Interplay. One of the members of that band was Ted Rosenthall, who is Dan’s opponent in improvisation in the opening track Long Ago and Far Away.  Most of the musicians he invited for this album, are old friends, like bass player Lee Hudson, who was part of his combo's since the late 1990s.   The latter can be heard in I'm Bringing a Red Red Rose .... a Tin Pan Alley obscurity …. I’ve never been able to get out of my head, Dan says.

Track list

One of the tracks I love best is the Chorino for Dennis (with guitarist Paul Meyers), dedicated to Dennis Irwin, bass player, who passed away a couple of years ago (March 2008).  Dan and Irwin knew each other from recording sessions with David Bergers Sultans of Swing.

Love to introduce you to the music of Dan Block with a fragment of the tune It's Allright With Me, featuring Scott Robinson (this tune is not on the album)

Dan is a jazz musician that suits in both the traditional as in the mainstream styles. He has won his spurs in bands like Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks or the bands of Marty Grosz or Marc Shane, who play in the traditional styles, but also with musicians like Toshiko Akioshi, Frank Wess and was a member of Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra too.

 Catherine Russell (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

Catherine Russell, the US vocalist, popular in this part of the world, joins Dan in the Tadd Dameron ballad  If You Could See Me Now. Lately she has been awarded in France for her album Strictly Romancin’ with the Vocal Album of The Year 2012 (Le Prix du Jazz Vocal 2012) by the French Jazz Academy (l'Academie du Jazz) and in New York City she received an award as  Outstanding Jazz Performer. Congratulations Catherine - I really like your music - you deserve it!

Mark Sherman (source: jazzmusicarchives.com)

It’s hard to make a choice what duos I like best ….. Long Ago and Far Away is great, as is the Pitter Panther Patter by Dan Block and Scott Robinson, due to the fact that the sound of the baritone always fascinates me. Also the duet with Mark Sherman in In The Dark and the Jazz Samba inspired by the Bill Evans-Jim Hall duet, as recorded originally in May 1966 for Verve, are great.( featuring bass player Saul Rubin)

This album can be ordered at Miles High Records or at Dan Blocks site.

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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It must be one of the most pure ways to improvise: the duet. Call and respond are the basic elements of jazz music, born a century ago ..... Dan Block had the audacity to make such an album, entitled Duality - almost a dozen duo-specials, featuring Dan Block in duet with pianist Ted Rosenthall, guitar player Paul Meyers, awards winning vocalist Catherine Russell, baritone saxophone player Scott Robinson, vibist Mark Sherman and a handfull of others ..... Dan Block: Duality

 Retrospect
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