Monday, January 27, 2014

Birthday with Hot lips

It's my birthday on this particular Music Monday. Among musicians with a birthday today, most famous is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791). I'm not much into Mozart's style though. So, who else? There's "Hot Lips" Page - he sounds interesting and, as it happens, today while we're out and about I could possibly find myself not very far from his city of birth.

Oran Thaddeus Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He was better known as Hot Lips Page by the public, and Lips Page by his fellow musicians. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist. (From Wikipedia)
His life was cut short, aged 46 by heart attack, followed by pneumonia.

A brief bio by Scott Yanow
One of the great swing trumpeters in addition to being a talented blues vocalist, Hot Lips Page's premature passing left a large hole in the jazz world; virtually all musicians (no matter their style) loved him. Page gained early experience in the 1920s performing in Texas, playing in Ma Rainey's backup band. He was with Walter Page's Blue Devils during 1928-1931, and then joined Bennie Moten's band in Kansas City in time to take part in a brilliant 1932 recording session. Page freelanced in Kansas City and in 1936 was one of the stars in Count Basie's orchestra but, shortly before Basie was discovered, Joe Glaser signed Hot Lips as a solo artist. Although Page's big band did alright in the late '30s (recording for Victor), if he had come east with Basie he would have become much more famous. Page was one of the top sidemen with Artie Shaw's orchestra during 1941-1942 and then mainly freelanced throughout the remainder of his career, recording with many all-star groups and always being a welcome fixture at jam sessions.

St James' Infirmary is a favourite blues number of mine, so a version with vocal by "Hot Lips" with Artie Shaw's orchestra:



And with Pearl Bailey ~ Baby It's cold Outside


14 comments:

Sonny G said...


Happy Birthday~!!!!

you were born on a 9 day:) you have a major mission in this life.
I have no doubt you'll achieve it.

have a wonderful day and don't forget to make a wish..

Sonny

Twilight said...

Thank you kindly Sonny!
My mission today is just to keep warm!
:-)

mike said...

Wishing you a magnificent 39th birthday, Twilight! Make sure anyjazz caters to your every need today...it's your day to play it up!

“My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
Above the farms and the white horses
And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.” Dylan Thomas, Collected Poems

DC said...

Happy Birthday Annie....
here's a fellow Jan.27ther you might have missed ;)
here

LB said...

Happy Birthday, Twilight! Wishing you all the best. Stay warm and have fun today.:)

xoxoxo

Twilight said...

mike, DC, LB ~ Thank you all for the good wishes! :-)

We're in Denton, Texas, tonight just north of Dallas, tootled over to McKinney for lunch at Churchill's, a British pub/restaurant. I had my favourite Yorkshire Pud filled with veggies and minced beef - they do it as well as any pub in England too.
Anyjazz was persuaded to try another Brit favourite Chicken Tikka Mesala and a beer.
(I've probably spelled it wrongly)
He declared both excellent.

Very very cold, biting wind here. We investigated the antique stores.I have a raincheck on my birthday present - maybe tomorrow, there a few more antique stores on road home..... ;-)


DC ~ That one is an improvement on Chief Justice John Roberts - another 27 Jan. :-)

Anonymous said...

Many Happy Returns! Good luck with the birthday gifting: Lynn Koiner says Venus Rx great for antiquing, never mind she's in Cap just now.

Twilight said...

Sabina ~ Thank you! Gifting still to come - nothing has yet inspired me! It's good to have one still pending. ;-)

R J Adams said...

Ooops! Almost missed this one. Belated birthday wishes, Twilight. AnyJazz should buy you a selection of Mozart's finest works. You might get to appreciate his genius!

;-)

Twilight said...

RJ Adams ~ Thanks RJ! Please do not put ideas into his head. Once a Philistine always a Philistine. ;-)

Rossa said...

Happy Birthday Twilight from this side of the pond in rainy, miserable Yorkshire! Hope your taste of Yorkshire was only a bit soggy with the gravy......lol

London for my birthday (55) on Monday. Champagne on the London Eye and dinner with a cabaret in the evening. First class on the train for the first time ever. Didn't have a 50th as my grandfather died so been waiting 5 years to have a big blow out.

Venus Rx is fine for me.

My pressie is a ring from a unique jewelry designer, called Marsha Nelson, in good ole Tennessee. Have a look at eyezjewelry.com and she's on Etsy where I found her. Taken nearly 3 weeks to get here but hoping it'll be delivered Friday once it gets through Customs. Ordered something from China last week and it's already here. It really is a lot slower West to East. No wonder we're the 'Old' world now.

Rossa

Twilight said...

Rossa ~ Thank you Rossa! The pud was a bit soggy, but none the worse for it. I'll take what I can get!
;-)

Wow! A pre-happy birthday to you for Monday. Your day sounds like a plan and a half! Enjoy, enjoy!
(I've not been on the London Eye but did take a spin on it's sister wheel in Manchester on my last visit to the UK in 2005....no champagne though!)

I'll look for Marsha Nelson - thanks for the recommendation.
I used to have a link to a great handmade jewellery website, lost it when my computer crashed once, have never been able to find it again.

Speaking of ordering stuff from abroad - I ordered a CD from Korea 2 days after Christmas, it still hasn't arrived....must be lingering in customs, they're probably testing it for terrorism links! ;-)
:-)

Vanilla Rose said...

Belated birthday greetings!

Twilight said...

Vanilla Rose ~ Many thanks VR! :-)