Harlem Playgirls
Harlem Playgirls | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Midwestern United States |
| Genres | Swing |
| Years active | 1935-1940s |
The Harlem Playgirls was an African American swing band active in the Midwest and throughout the United States from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s.[1][2]
History
Organized by Milwaukee-based drummer and band leader Sylvester Rice (1905–1984)[3] in 1935 and drawing from members of the popular Dixie Sweethearts, the group toured TOBA circuits, performing in picture houses, jazz clubs, ballrooms and variety theatres. In the tradition of prior all-female bands led by musical theater stars, headliners Edna "Eddie" Crump[4] and Neliska Ann "Baby" Briscoe[5]: 271 both led the band as dancing, singing front women. Briscoe had gained prominence in New Orleans and had worked with Lil Hardin Armstrong’s all-female band and Joe Robichaux and his Rhythm Boys. Trombonist Lela Julius[4] and saxophonist Vi Burnside[5]: 266 were two of the group’s leading soloists. The group appeared at the Apollo Theater in New York City in 1937[4] and competed in the prestigious battle of the bands contest at Chicago’s Savoy ballroom against Johnny Long’s group in 1938. Many members later went on to perform with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and the Prairie View Co-eds.
See also
References
- ^ Tucker, Sherrie (2000). Swing shift: "all-girl" bands of the 1940s. Duke University Press. pp. 37, 204–206, 211. doi:10.2307/j.ctv11smw66. ISBN 978-0-8223-2817-9. JSTOR j.ctv11smw66 – via Google Books.
- ^ McGee, Kristin A. (2009). Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959. Wesleyan University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8195-6908-0 – via Google Books.
(Harlem Playgirls) quickly established a national reputation for themselves during the mid-1930s as one of the best and hardest-swinging female jazz groups in the United States. They performed throughout the country until the early 1940s; upon disbanding, many of the group's leading members went on to perform in the prestigious Darlings of Rhythm and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
- ^ Late Eli Rice, Prominent Midwest Bandleader, Once was an Oshkoshian, Oshkosh Northwestern, June 28, 1962
- ^ a b c Driggs, Frank (1977). Women in Jazz: A Survey (Media notes). p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 21, 2026 – via University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives, Idaho Harvester, Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library.
- ^ a b Tucker, Sherrie (Autumn 1998). "Nobody's Sweethearts: Gender, Race, Jazz, and the Darlings of Rhythm". American Music. 16 (3). University of Illinois Press: 255–288. doi:10.2307/3052637. JSTOR 3052637.
Sources
- Dahl, Linda (1996). Stormy weather: the music and lives of a century of jazzwomen (4 ed.). Limelight Editions. pp. 53, 84–85. ISBN 978-0-87910-128-2 – via Google Books.
- Handy, D. Antoinette (1998). Black women in American bands and orchestras (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3419-4 – via Google Books.
- Rye, Howard. "What the Papers said: the Harlem Play-Girls and Dixie Rhythm Girls (and Dixie Sweethearts)", Storyville 1996/7, ed. L. Wright. (Chigwell, England, 1997).
- L. Wright: Pieces of the Jigsaw: Harlem Playgirls, Storyville 1998/9 (Chigwell, England, 1999), 178