One of the forgotten links these days in female jazz vocalist was Alberta Hunter (1895-84)who’s career is respectfully reconstructed here on this 4 cd set. She, along with Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Ethel Waters, mixed jazz, vaudeville and ragtime to eventually usher in the swing era, of which only Hunter was able to partake.
What Hunter, and most female singers at the time, was strongest at was the blues, which were the hip-hop of the turn of the century. The first couple of discs comprise music that pre-dates the Swing Era, and the first disc’s recording quality reflects the primitive recording devices at the time. She is featured in a variety of jazz orchestra settings, such as with Eubie Blake, and Henderson’s Dance Orchestra, and while the rhythms are a bit stiff at this evolutionary period, Hunter is in strong and firm voice with her distinctive warble. The duets with pianists ranging from Blake to Fletcher Henderson and even Fats Waller are most attractive, with some real grit on songs like “Vamping Brown.”
The last couple discs have her more in the Swing Era, with Jack Jackson’s Orchestra, and she sounds much more polished on “Miss Otis Regrets” and “Someday Sweetheart.” A couple more duet sesstions with Waller in this era are gripping, with “Sugar” and “Beale Street Blues” white knucklers, and a bit of blues with Clarence Williams on “You For Me, Me For You.” The thing that is great about singers of this era is that they are all true originals, being influenced by no one else because there was no one else! More than a history lesson!