Lillian “Lil” Green em Romance in the Dark

Gosto muito desta versão instrumental com a Carrie e a compositora eh outra que a qualidade foi maior que a quantidade, principalmente começou cedo e morreu cedo, e como diria Waldemar: enfiou o pé na jaca, mas a marca e as cicatrizes estão ai.

Carrie Smith

Confessin’ the Blues

This CD reissues not only Carrie Smith’s original hard-to-find Black & Blue LP, but six selections from two other sessions including three previously unissued alternate takes. Smith, who was coming into her own during this period, is in top form on a variety of vintage material ranging from Bessie Smith songs in the 1920s to the ’50s Ruth Brown hit “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean” and Big Bill Broonzy’s “When I’ve Been Drinkin’.” It is interesting to hear some of the altered lyrics, which have been changed to reflect a female rather than a male singing; “I Want a Little Boy” is the most obvious example. Most selections find Smith backed by a quartet that includes tenor saxophonist George Kelly and pianist Ram Ramirez, while a few of the added tracks have short spots for trumpeter Doc Cheatham and trombonist Vic Dickenson. This is one of the best Carrie Smith CDs currently available.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/confessin-the-blues-r168588

Lillian “Lil” Green

Biography

by Barry Lee Pearson

 

Like so many Chicago blues artists Lil Green first learned her craft in the church and country jukes down in Mississippi. After moving to Chicago in the 1930s, she teamed up with Chicago mainstay Big Bill Broonzy and they worked the club circuit together. Her composition “Romance in the Dark” was a 1940 Bluebird hit and in 1941 she followed it with a best selling version of fellow Mississippi Joe McCoy’s minor key blues novelty “Why Don’t You Do Right?” By then she had outgrown Big Bill and the tavern scene and moved east to work as a rhythm and blues band vocalist. For the next ten years she enjoyed a successful career touring theaters and clubs and recording for RCA, Aladdin and Atlantic, all major R&B labels. When she died in Chicago in 1954 she was only thirty-five years old. Her experiences parallelled those of her male contemporaries and she made it bigger than most. From southern jukes to Chicago clubs and on to the Apollo Theater, she participated in the major blues institutions of her time during the golden age of blues history. She was no stranger to trouble. According to R. H. Harris, the leader of the legendary gospel Soul Stirrers, she served time in prision because of her involvement in a juke-joint killing. He also remembered that she sang religious songs beautifully. Her former partner, Big Bill, remembered her in his autobiography as a deeply religious woman who neither smoked nor drank and as a warm-hearted friend. Today, however few people remember her or her fine work though they may be familiar with Peggy Lee’s cover of her big hit “Why Don’t You Do Right?” We can only wonder why she has been overlooked while more obscure male guitar players with lesser output have received substantially more critical attention. Whatever the case, during her brief career, she proved to be one of the best blues vocalists of her time and her contemporary African American audience appreciated her art. She deserves her place in history and today’s listener would do well to listen to her music.

 

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lillian-lil-green-p182682/biography

 

Como disse Machado de Assis: escutei o Calado, muito das vezes a perfeição da musica tem no que sentir o físico e material e ignorar o absoluto no escutar.

A compositora Lil Green : It’s Bad with My Man and Me – Lil Green & her Orch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-gnroIdFWU

E a sua musica:

Dinah Washington – Romance in the Dark  …

Billie Holiday – Romance in the Dark …

Carrie Smith – In the dark

Eh importante vermos a sequencia de regravações e avaliar as melhoras e pioras dos arranjos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS-US-sU1CU