MILDRED ANDERSON

MILDRED ANDERSON/ Complete Recordings

           

It's hard to believe that a fine female singer like Mildred Anderson who started her recording career with several top notch and famous bandleaders like Albert Ammons, Bill Doggett or Hot Lips Page, waxed two LP's for Prestige Bluesville in the early 60's, is so ill-documented.

            No real article, interview or whatsoever of her in any known blues and jazz magazine (as far as I know), elusive liner notes about herself and her whereabouts, nothing really substantial!

            So, and I guess it's the first time in my Blue Eye blog, here are the complete recordings of Ms Marion Anderson, a very good singer between jazz and blues, that I wasn't able to find much about! She is probably from the East Coast States like so many African Americans who resettled in the New York area during the 1940's. And she was probably born in the twenties! That's all!

            She anyway started to sing and be recorded with maestro piano man Albert Ammons in 1946, is reported to have been - although briefly - the singer of Hot Lips Page's band, then with Bill Doggett during 1953, waxing three nice tracks... And then a gap before she was again in the studios, this time in 1960 for two albums for the then fledgling Prestige-Bluesville label. Once again she is backed by some of the finest jazzmen of the era: Eddie Lockjaw Davis (she might have been her band singer at that time?), Al Sears, organists Shirley Scott and Ernie Hayes, guitarist Lord Westbrook for a jazz and blues programme. Mildred is a very fine gritty alto singer and is able to breathe a strong blues feeling in any song.

            What did she become after 1960? Of course those albums - like most of the Bluesvilles - certainly didn't sell very well and I remember seeing dozens of her two LPs on sale for a couple of Francs at the Saint Ouen Flee Market in the early 1960's! But it is very strange that judging her talents, her location (New York City!) and her pedigree, she wasn't more documented and she didn't resurface later....

            Anyway, she leaves us a strong musical legacy which one is able to hear entirely over here.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

Thanks to Marc for his help

Bob Eagle, author of the essential reference book Blues/ A regional experience adds those great facts about Mildred Anderson:

Gerard: post-recording info re Mildred Anderson: Mildred and Hortense worked together at the Key Club, 1325 Washington Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota during April 1961, backed by Gene (Bowlegs) Miller and his band. Mildred married Philadelphia-based businessman Bob Freeman in about September 1961. Hortense Allen was also involved with Rufus Rockhead at Montreal, Quebec, Canada, during July 1962, also featuring Mildred Anderson. Mildred almost lost her voice in the 1960s. In November 1970, having recovered her voice, she substituted for Candy Rae at Cyrus Scott’s Sahara Supper Club, Philadelphia .

Fin de la discussion

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Albert Ammons, pno; Ike Perkins, g; Israel Crosby, bs; Jack Cooley, dms. Chicago, Ill. 2 April 1946

01. Doin' the boogie woogie

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Hot Lips Page, tpt; Afred Cobbs, tb; Teddy Smalls, a-sax; Paul Quinichette, t-sax; Freddie Washington, pno; Carl Wilson, bs; Joe Booker, dms. New York City, 7 March 1951

02. That's the one for me

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Hot Lips Page, tpt; Bernard Flood, tpt; Alfred Cobbs, tb; Teddy Smalls, a-sax; Sam Taylor, t-sax; Dave Smalls, b-sax; Bill Doggett, pno: Leroy Kirkland, g; Walter Page, bs; Art Taylor, dms. New York City, 3 May 1951

03. I want to ride like the cowboys do

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Percy Francis, t-sax; Bill Doggett, og; Shep Shepherd, dms. New York City, 18 Februaryer 1953

04. No more in life

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Percy Francis, t-sax; Bill Doggett, og; Mickey Baker, g; Carl Pruitt, bs; Shep Shepherd, dms. 28 August 1953

05. You ain't no good

06. Your kind of woman

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, t-sax; Shirley Scott, og; George Duvivier, bs; Arthur Edgehill, dms. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 22 January 1960

07. Person to person

08. Kidney stew blues

09. Connections

10. I'm free

11. Please don't go

12. Hello little boy

13. I didn't have a chance

14. Good kind daddy

Mildred Anderson, vcl; Al Sears, t-sax; Robert Banks, og; Lord Westbrook, g; Leonard Gaskin, bs; Bobby Donaldson, dms. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 26 September 1960

15. What more can a woman do

16. I'm lost

17. Everybody's got somebody but me

18. I ain't mad at you

19. Hard times

20. That old devil called love

21. Mistreater

22. No more in life

23. Roll'em Pete