Kitty White (July 7, 1923 – August 11, 2009) was a jazz
vocalist, who for years was a nightclub favourite among audiences in Los
Angeles, known for her sophisticated songs with well-travelled lyrics. Kitty
picked up her catchy jazz name legitimately by marrying songwriter Eddie White
in the 1940s.
She recorded mostly on the West Coast with top jazz
musicians like Buddy Collette, Gerald Wiggins, Chico Hamilton, Bud Shank and
Red Callender. She sang many demo recordings for her friend, the prolific Los
Angeles blues composer Jessie Mae Robinson, including "I Went to Your
Wedding," a No. 1 hit for Patti Page in 1953.
Kitty Jean Bilbrew was born on July 7, 1923 in Los
Angeles, California. She was raised in a musical family—her parents were
singers, and her uncle was a well-known vaudevillian and disc jockey. She
started her career at the age of sixteen as a singer and a pianist. She
appeared in local night clubs in her home town Los Angeles like the Hob Nob,
the Club Gala, the Haig and The Captain's Table. When Kitty branched out and
opened at the Black Orchid in Chicago, Illinois, she was introduced to the
executives of Mercury Records, and she became a Mercury recording artist.
Her twin sister, Maudie Jeanette, also sang and briefly
worked with Duke Ellington's revue, Jump for Joy, but never pursued an active career.
Their mother, known as A.C. Bilbrew, organized an all-black chorus that
performed in the 1929 film Hearts of Dixie. A.C. later recorded the 1955
protest song "The Ballad of Emmett Till" for Dootone Records.
Kitty White worked in several films. She sang "The
Lullaby Song" that accompanied the magical scene of the children floating
down the Ohio River in a rowboat in Charles Laughton's 1955 classic The Night
of the Hunter, after composer Walter Schumann, who wrote the song, discovered
her in a small club. She sang "Crawfish" with Elvis Presley in his
1958 film King Creole; the duet appeared on the soundtrack album.
She voiced the song "Rather Have the Blues" for
actress Mady Comfort in Robert Aldrich's 1955 cult film noir Kiss Me Deadly,
accompanied by pianist Earl Grant, who is best known for the 1958 pop hit
"The End." She also sang the title theme of Riders to the Stars in
1954 and The Magnificent Matador in 1955.
Kitty released a few singles during the 50's and 60's on the KEM, Mercury, GNP, Dot and Clover labels. Her only chart entry being with "A Teenage Prayer" in 1955. But here's her Mercury release "I'm Gonna be Fool next Monday" from the same year.
In the 1960s, she recorded for the jazz division of
Mercury Records with hits including "The End", The Ballad of Emmett Till",
"Roly Poly", "Rather Have the Blues" and "I Went to
Your Wedding". She also performed and recorded with jazz artists, Duke
Ellington, Laurindo Almeida, Red Callendar, Buddy Collette and Ben Webster. She
only recorded seven LPs during her lifetime, the last in 1978.
She moved to Palm
Springs, California in 1967 and sang at the Spa Hotel for sixteen years.
White died of complications from a stroke on Aug11, 2009
at Palm Springs Health Care and Rehabilitation Centre. She was 86 years old.
(Info mainly Wikipedia)
Here’s the original acetate version of Crawfish recorded
January 15, 1958 at Radio Recorders, Hollywood. From the motion picture
"King Creole".
4 comments:
For “Kitty White - A New Voice in Jazz” go here:
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/EBT73vPN/file.html
01. Skylark (Carmichael-Mercer)
02. Among My Souvenirs (Nicholls-Leslie)
03. If You Were Mine (Malneck-Mercer)
04. So Many Beautiful Men (E. & K.White)
05. With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair (Edwards-Lawrence)
06. With Every Breath I Take (Rainger-Robins)
07. Lets Go Around Together (Wright-Ecton)
08. Softly (Beal-Greene)
09. Porgy (G. & I. Gershwin)
10. See Saw (Jessie May Robinson)
11. Out Of This World (Arlen-Mercer)
12. Talk Me Some Sweet Talk (D.Goodwin)
13. Please Be Patient (White-Austin)
14. When The Wind Was Green (Don Hunt)
15. Of Thee I Sing (G. & I. Gershwin)
16. Where Or When (Rodgers-Hart)
17. Forever Young (Richiardi-Coates)
18. So Help Me (Van Heusen-DeLange)
19. I Know That You Know (Youmans-Caldwell)
20. Lazy Afternoon (Moross-Latouche)
21. Dats Love (Bizet)
22. It Was So Beautiful (Freed-Barris)
23. Alone Together (Schwartz-Dietz)
KITTY WHITE, vocals accompanied by:
Tracks #1-11: Georgie Auld, tenor sax; Gerald Wiggins, piano; Barney Kessel, guitar; Red Callender, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums. Hollywood, April 21, 1955
Tracks #12-23, Collective personnel: Harry Sweets Edison, trumpet; Benny Carter, alto sax; Ted Nash, tenor sax & flute; Larry Bunker, vibes & conga; Jimmy Rowles, piano; Laurindo Almeida, Spanish guitar; Bill Pitman, guitar; Red Callender, bass; Alvin Stoller, drums & bongo; Carlos Vidal, bongo & conga. Hollywood, April 3, 4 & 5, 1958
Original recordings produced by Bob Shad (1-11) and Bill Loose (12-23)
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Looks like I missed this one - could you re-up, please.
A superb site. It amazes me how you research and put them up so regularly.
The Decca cutting will be a great help for me - session was 16 February 1951, her first and only for Decca.
Hi Daddy Cool, here's the re-up
https://www.mediafire.com/file/6cl1nosqp0hv8xm/Kitty_White.rar/file
Regards, Bob
Many thanks
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