Artist:Valaida Snow
Song:You Bring Out the Savage in Me
Album:Until the Real Thing Comes Along
If she had been a man, Valaida Snow would have been hailed as one of the best jazz musicians in the world. She was known as Little Louis and W.C. Handy called her Queen of the Trumpet. Instead Valaida was forced to move to Europe. She was born June 2, 1904 in Chattanooga, TN. Valaida's mother was a music teacher. Her father was leader of the Pickaninny Troubadors, a group of child performers. So Valaida was on the road with her dad as a child. She could play many instruments but settled on the trumpet. She could also sing and dance. At first she performed in revues and cabarets in Harlem. On trumpet, she mostly mimicked Armstrong who called her the world's second best trumpet player besides himself of course. It was obvious that Valaida had the talent to be a great musician. She just wasn't going to get the opportunity to be a bandleader. In the 30s she moved to Europe and became the toast of London and Paris. She finally got to record in 1935 Billy Mason and his Orchestra for Parlaphone. You Bring Out the Savage in Me was written by Sam Coslow for the 1935 British film Oh, Daddy. Frances Day performed the song in the film. So the song was new when Valaida recorded it. She sings and plays the second trumpet solo. This comp is available as a digital download. Valaida also made films with her husband Ananias Berry of the dance act The Berry Brothers. She was on tour in Denmark when Nazi soldiers took over Copenhagen and she was thrown in jail. It happened again in 1941 and she landed in a concentration camp. She was released as part of a 1942 prisoner exchange. Apparently she was never the same after that though she continued to perform. Valaida Snow died of a brain hemorrhage while she was backstage at the Palace Theater in Harlem on May 30, 1956 at age 51. Here's a video of You Bring Out the Savage in Me by Valaida Snow.
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