Beryl Audrey Bryden was born in Norwich, the only child of
Amos and Elsie Bryden. Her love of jazz music began in her teenage years and
she joined the local branch of the National Rhythm Club movement at the age of
seventeen and became the Norwich club’s secretary by 1941. On a visit to London she heard black
musicians playing at the Jigs Club in Soho, which was to have a profound
influence on the course of her life.
In 1942 Beryl moved to Cambridge, where she ran the city’s
Rhythm Club and began singing Billie Holiday’s songs. At the end of the war she
moved to London determined to become part of the jazz world. She sang semi-professionally and met and
worked with Humphrey Lyttleton, Clinton Maxwell, George Webb, Cy Laurie and
John Haim’s Jelly Roll Kings, and made her recording début in 1948 with the
trumpeter Freddy Randall. She sang early
songs by Bessie Smith and accompanied herself on a metal washboard.
In May 1949 Bryden formed Beryl’s Back-Room Boys, with whom
she broadcast before joining the trumpeter Mike Daniels as commpère and singer
at his Delta Jazz Club in Soho. It was there, in 1952, that she met the French
clarinettist Maxime Saury; he engaged her to sing with his band at the Vieux
Colombier in Paris, which was her first professional engagement. It was in
Paris that she befriended notable American expatriates, among them the
trumpeter Bill Coleman, the singer Billie Holiday, and the pianist Mary Lou
Williams, with whom she recorded.
As European re-creations of pre-war traditional jazz grew in
popularity in the 1950s, Bryden sang and recorded with the trombonist Chris
Barber and played the washboard with his guitarist Lonnie Donegan; their record
of Rock Island Line (1956) sold 2 million copies and entered the British and
United States hit parades.
She later graduated to the Monty Sunshine jazz band, where
she covered Bessie Smith ("Young Woman's Blues", "Gimme a
Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)") and long-term favourite "Coney
Island Washboard Blues", which demonstrated her washboard technique.
Here's a solo effort on the Columbia label from 1962 with accompaniment directed by Ken Jones.
She continued to travel in Europe, where she worked with the
Dutch Swing College Band and then, as the ‘trad boom’ became big business in
Britain, was heard with the genre’s more sophisticated representatives such as
the trumpeter Alex Welsh.
Bryden did not make her American debut until the 1970s,
although in the years to follow she toured the U.S. on a regular basis,
appearing both as a solo performer and in tandem with jazz players like Pete
Allen; while abroad, she also recorded the 1975 LP Way Down Yonder in New
Orleans. She also became the only British female jazz musician to be awarded
the freedom of the City of New Orleans.
Bryden announced her retirement during the early 1980s, but
she continued appearing live on a regular basis for years to follow. She played
with the Metropolitan Jazz Band, Digby Fairweather and her own Blue Boys. Beryl
was a larger-than-life figure who dressed in zebra-striped gowns, wore
sculptured blonde wigs, and played a star-spangled washboard. Though her repertoire was from the lighter
side of jazz she earned respect for her sincerity and interest in authenticity.
She travelled widely and practised her hobbies of photography and deep-sea
diving, she lived for many years at 166 Gloucester Terrace, Paddington, London.
Her last recording session was to take place in Holland in
March 1997 alongside her old mate, Nat Gonella, after which her health began to
fail and sadly on the 14th July 1998, Beryl died from lymphatic cancer at St
Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London, aged 78. (Info edited from Wikipedia &
AMG & mainly norfolkwomeninhistory.com)
Below is a clip taken on the 21st June 1997, at The Kings Head in Swinton Street, London and
this is probably the last time that Beryl appeared in 'public'. The event was a
50th Anniversary reunion of John Haim's Jellyroll Kings, with which Beryl
sometimes sang. She was accompanied here by Alan Wickham trumpet, Cy Laurie
clarinet, Ray Foxley piano and John Westwood drums.
6 comments:
For “Beryl Bryden – Queen of Blues & Washboard” go here:
http://www99.zippyshare.com/v/RuuBlFNe/file.html
1. Ace in the hole
2. Downhearted Blues
3. Way down yonder in New Orleans
4. Tishomingo Blues
5. New Orleans
6. Runnin' Wild
7. The preacher
8. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
9. Trombone Cholly
10. Nobody knows you when you're down and out
11. Coney island washboard
12. The boy from New Orleans
13. Alabama jubilee
14. Muddy Water
15. Jazz Me Blues
16. At the Darktown strutter's ball
17. Jenny's ball
18. Melancholy Blues
19. Of all the wrongs you've done to me
20. Three little words
How cool, but the link's expired. Pleas post a new, live, link if possible.
Thanks, in advance - David
Hello David,
Links usually are active for 30 days unless accessed. But do not fear here's a new one
http://www54.zippyshare.com/v/yqejn0ED/file.html
Regards, Bob
Hi Bob - Link is still inactive (no newer one for a year now). :-(
Any assistance (i.e., new link) will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, David
Hi David, Had no PC for a while but now ok.
Sorry but this will have to be the last re-up of this album. Again link available for 30 days ONLY.
http://www14.zippyshare.com/v/jYF1wR2h/file.html
Just found your blog. I was one of Beryl's London friends in the fifties, we met at Cooks Ferry Inn where she was singing with Freddy Randall. Shortly after that I moved into her flat when she got her first Paris gig and I remained there when she returned. It was convenient for both of us as she began touring a lot and working abroad and I could attend to her post, phone-calls, etc and generally be a sort of PA for her. I left London in 1959 for married life on the Isle of Wight and Beryl came to my wedding, but first of all she dedicated a song to me that morning on the BBC jazz programme at, I think 10.30 am? It was 'Gimme a Pig-Foot and a Bottle of Gin'. We remained friends for the remainder of her life and she worked at least once a year on the Isle of Wight when she would stay with me for a week or so, enjoying the beach and the chance to relax. Walking down nostalgia lane I remember so many great times with Beryl, including twice accompanying her on tours in Holland and meeting virtually every jazz person who visited London, including Billy who she looked after like a mother, Ella, Lionel Hampton et al.
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