Alberta Hunter in Chicago - early 20th Century

from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, page 87:

[Alberta Hunter ran away from home at the age of eleven, went to Chicago, and eventually started singing the blues in clubs.]

Then I went over to the Panama, on Thirty-Sixth and State, and there I was makin' seventeen-fifty a week--and that was money! The Panama had an "upstairs" and a "downstairs"--five girls and a piano player downstairs and another five girls and a piano player upstairs.

And do you know who was workin' downstairs all at the same time? There was "Bricktop," Cora Green, Florence Mills, Mattie Hite (a fine singer), and Nettie Compton. And don't leave out …   more >>

cite as

Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (London, 1992), p. 87. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1433875176907 accessed: 29 March, 2024

location of experience: Chicago

Listeners

Alberta Hunter
blues singer, jazz singer
1895-1984

Listening to

hide composers
blues singing, female voices performed by Glover Compton, Goldie Crosby, Mamie Carter, Mattie Hite, Nellie Carr, Nettie Compton, Twinkle Davis, Ada "Bricktop" Smith, Florence Mills, Alberta Hunter, Cora Green

Experience Information

Date/Time early 20th Century
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Originally submitted by 5011Henning on Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:39:37 +0100
Approved on Tue, 23 Aug 2016 21:08:56 +0100