When Valaida Snow made a handful of hot records in Copenhagen during
October of 1940, she had no idea that her recording career was about to
be violently interrupted for nearly five years by people working for
Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany had already occupied Denmark when these
"degenerate" jazz records were surreptitiously created in violation of
the Nuremberg laws. In a horrible twist of fate, Snow was arrested by
the Gestapo, charged with theft and drug use -- two activities at which
the Nazis themselves excelled -- and spent many months in a
concentration camp before being rescued by influential friends and sent
back to the U.S. weighing about 70 lbs. Everything she'd owned had been
confiscated, including the gold trumpet given her by Queen Wilhelmina.
It took Snow several years to recuperate and gather her strength for a
comeback. Her last two authentic swing records are placed at the
beginning of this disc. These are amazingly gutsy performances of nice
old songs, and she scats beautifully during "Carry Me Back to Old
Virginny." The contrast between this pair of pleasant, cheerful stomps
and the rest of the material in the chronology -- beginning with the
Apollo session of 1945 -- is startling. Recording in New York for the
first time since 1933 and sounding at times like young Dinah Washington,
Snow sings three torchy ballads and a novelty bounce backed by Bobby
Smith, his alto sax and orchestra. The bounce in question is called
"Around the World" and features two harmonizing Valaidas in an early
example of overdubbing. Her next couple of recording dates took place in
Los Angeles, where prevailing pop production values seem to have
infected the atmosphere alarmingly. Eight sides issued on the Bel-Tone
label prove that Snow was a powerful singer who could flourish in front
of any ensemble, even the huge orchestra with strings, flutes, and a
keening vocal group billed as the Daydreamers. Snow prevails throughout,
especially on "Lonesome Road," where her passionate singing transcends
the entire ungainly production menagerie. On the second Bel-Tone
session, Snow navigates well through the "exotic" orchestral score of
"Caravan." Her ominously paced version of "Solitude" makes for an
interesting comparison with Billie Holiday's approach to this Ellington
opus. After a pokey, pouty, and slightly insane-sounding lament bearing
the almost too-appropriate title "Frustration," Snow sails into "I Must
Have That Man." With a brassy big band behind her, the singer sounds
more at home than on any of the previous seven selections. From here on
out Valaida Snow's story shifts into R&B territory. Recording for
the Derby label in January of 1950, she was backed with a rocking jump
band led by Jimmy Mundy, spiked with the fiery presences of baritone
saxophonist Dave McRae and hot trumpeter Jonah Jones. "Tell Me How Long
the Train's Been Gone" is the cooker. "Chloe" begins with bass clarinet
tones and delivers an incredible emotional charge as Snow belts out the
lyrics with theatrical intensity. "Coconut Head" is a calypso novelty
number, somewhat of a trend in 1950 -- even Sarah Vaughan did a number
like this back then. The saga of Valaida Snow tapers off abruptly with
two exciting R&B performances recorded in Chicago in 1953. "I Ain't
Gonna Tell," a funky baritone sax rocker, is a tantalizing taste of
further developments the world would never get to hear from this tough
little woman. Underappreciated and grievously underpaid, she struggled
to establish herself as a performer in a country where the public had
never been all that aware of her existence. Following a performance at
New York's Palace Theatre she was felled by a stroke and passed away at
the age of 50 in a Brooklyn hospital on the 30th of May 1956.
by arwulf arwulf
Tracklist:
1
Some of These Days 2:36
Shelton Brooks
2
Carry Me Back to Old Virginny 2:49
James A. Bland
3
The More I Know About Love 2:21
Valaida Snow
4
Around the World 2:33
Bennie Benjamin / George David Weiss
5
Porgy 2:45
Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
6
My Heart Is Such a Fool 2:00
Valaida Snow
7
Fool That I Am 3:04
Floyd Hunt
8
It's the Talk of the Town 2:57
Jerry Livingston / Al J. Neiburg / Marty Symes
9
Lonesome Road 2:55
Gene Austin / Nat Shilkret
10
If I Only Had You 2:42
Valaida Snow
11
Caravan 2:55
Duke Ellington / Irving Mills / Juan Tizol
12
Solitude 2:52
Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
13
Frustration 2:54
Irving Mills
14
I Must Have That Man 2:10
Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
15
Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone 3:07
Traditional
16
When a Woman Loves a Man 2:34
Bernie Hanighen / Gordon Jenkins / Johnny Mercer
17
Chloe 3:08
Neil Moret (Chas. N. Daniels)
18
Coconut Head 2:55
Valaida Snow
19
I Ain't Gonna Tell 2:36
Rudy Toombs
20
If You Don't Mean It 2:56
Valaida Snow
