Lovie Austin (Cora Calhoun) 1897

Pianista e caporchestra statunitense (Chattanooga Tennessee, 19.9.1897 – Chicago, Illinois, 10.7.1972). Studia musica alla Roger-Williams University di Nashville e debutta professionalmente a Chicago, suonando nelle orchestre dei vaudeville e delle riviste, oppure accompagnando il numero di varietà del suo secondo marito e partner.

Agli inizi degli anni ’20 forma un piccolo gruppo, i Lovie Austin’s Blue Serenade, che accompagna per l’etichetta Paramount, molte cantanti di blues: da Ida Cox (1923) a Bertha Chippie Hill (1946)  e Alberta Hunter (1961), passando per Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Edmonia Henderson, Viola Barlette cc. È stata a lungo direttrice musicale di vari teatri di Chicago, poi insegnante privata in un corso di danza.

Pianista modesta e riservata (i suoi assolo sono rari e senza grande rilievo), Lovie Austin ha saputo abilmente circondarsi di musicisti di prim’ordine tra cui il più in vista fu Tommy Ladnier. Ma bisogna citare anche Jimmy O’Bryant, Buster Bailey, Charlie Green, Johnny Dodds, Joe Smith e Kaiser Marshall.
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[A.C.]

American pianist and orchestra leader (Chattanooga Tennessee, 19.9.1897 - Chicago, Illinois, 10.7.1972). She studied music at Roger-Williams University in Nashville and made her professional debut in Chicago, playing in vaudeville and revues orchestras, or accompanying the variety number of her second husband and partner.

In the early 1920s, he forms a small group, Lovie Austin's Blue Serenade, which accompanies many blues singers on the Paramount label: from Ida Cox (1923) to Bertha Chippie Hill (1946) and Alberta Hunter (1961), passing through Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Edmonia Henderson, Viola Barlette cc. For a long time, she was the music director of various Chicago theaters, then a private teacher in a dance class.

Modest and reserved pianist (his solos are rare and of no great importance), Lovie Austin has skillfully surrounded himself with first-rate musicians, among which the most prominent was Tommy Ladnier. But we must also mention Jimmy O'Bryant, Buster Bailey, Charlie Green, Johnny Dodds, Joe Smith, and Kaiser Marshall.
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[A.T.]