On this episode we look at the first Black Canadian artists to record.
THE BOHEE BROTHERS;
Two brothers, James and George, born in New Brunswick in the 1850's, the Bohees were a highly successful Minstrel duo as a banjo playing song & dance duo. In the 1880's their career would take them to Britain where they would stay, becoming a popular act with an office in Leicester Square in London from which they would tour, publish sheet music and market their own line of banjos.
They would also give private banjo lessons with one of their fans and customers being none other than the Prince of Wales, the later King Edward VII.
In 1889 or so they recorded a single making them the first known Black artists to record anywhere. James Bhoee died in 1897 and his younger brother would stay on in Britain continuing to perform into the early 1920's when he returned to New York, now in the Jazz Age where died, a forgotten figure in 1925.
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JAMES LIGHTFOOT;
James Lightfoot from Hamilton Ontario (1871) was a singer and musical director with the Canadian Jubilee Singers, a popular vocal troupe who toured the Eastern Seaboard in the 1890's and 1900's.
Lightfoot would quit in 1898 and move to New York and join the troupe led by the famous Sisteretta Jones, known as the Black Patti, then another troupe led by the Broadway stars Williams & Walker. Later he formed his own group the Right Quintet who would become a fixture on the New York cabaret and club scene in the 1910's.
The Right Quintet would record a single version of two songs by the Black composer Will Marion Cook in 1915 after cook's own version had been unsuccessful.
THE RIGHT QUINTET
The Right Quintet would break up during the start of the Jazz age and James would spend the next twenty years performing in supporting roles on the Broadway stage including with his friend Paul Robeson. He is believed to have died in the 1940's when he disappeared from the public records.
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NATHANIEL DETT;
Dett, from Drummondville Ontario was a classically trained pianist, composer and professor who got his start as a teen playing in hotels and restaurant before becoming the first Black music student to attend Oberlin College in Ohio and achieve a PHD in musical studies and becoming a respected professor at a number of Black colleges.
His teaching position would allow him the time to become a composer and he would be invited to be the first black pianist to make piano rolls and make a record in 1919 for Broome Records, the first Black owned record label.
Dett would return to his teaching profession and writing where he would continue until World War Two when the 60 year old Dett volunteered to perform with then USO but died in 1943. He was buried in Niagara Falls Ontario where a plaque and choral society are named after him. His work continues to be played today.
SONGS USED IN THIS EPISODE;
1. Wilmer Watts ~ Banjo Sam (opening) ~ (1927)
2. Jimmie Strothers ~ Corn Shucking Time ~ (1936)
3. Jimmie Strothers ~ Jaybird ~ (1936)
4. Cousins & DeMoss ~ Who Broke The Lock ~ (1898)
5. Cousins & DeMoss ~ Poor Mourner ~ (1898)
6. The Right Quintet ~ The Rain Song ~ (1915)
7. The Right Quintet ~ Exhortation ~ (1915)
7. Nathaniel Dett ~ Baracole ~ (1919)
8. Ray Noble Orch w/ Al Bowlly ~ Midnight The Stars & You (closing) ~ (1934)
Note; In the pod I mention that the Jimmie Strothers tracks were recorded by Alan Lomax but they were actually recorded by his father John Lomax. My bad.
Tune in for the next episode we'll move into the Jazz Age with figures like Shelton Brooks and Tiny Parham.
EPISODE HERE;
PATREON POD LISTEN HERE;
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sepiatone-1-135523834?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
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COUSINS & DeMOSS ~ "WHO BROKE THE LOCK" & "POOR MOURNER";
