CHEEKY CALYPSO 78 ON THE LYRAGON CALYPSO LABEL from

MARIE BRYANT with MIKE McKENZIE QUARTET

TOMATO  

b/w   RHUMBOOGIE ANNA 

(featuring Bertie King on Sax)

Marie Bryant

Born in New Orleans, this daughter of bandleader and longtime Apollo MC Willie Bryant, entered showbiz at 16 at the Cotton Club, had an ongoing association with Duke Ellington, appears in several films, notably The Duke Is Tops (1938), dancing in Gang War (1940) and sings On the Sunny Side of the Street in the famous jazz short Jammin' The Blues (1944), and appears as a singer in the film noir classic, Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night (1949) and in the Betty Grable musical, Wabash Avenue (1950) and in one of Elllington's soundies.  

She made her British debut in April 1952 and within a month married an Indian engineering student who was 21. She gave her name as Marie Neal Bryant and her age as 34.  She was in Britain at least until 1954 and recorded both jazz and Caribbean material.  She recorded four highly regarded jazz sides with Humphrey Lyttelton and then recorded a number of calypso and mento influenced sides with both Lyragon and London from 1952 to 1954.

She reportedly died in 1978. 

DISC DETAILS

UK LYRAGON CALYPSO  J 701  10" 78rpm SHELLAC

Condition - E-/V+

LIGHT SCUFFS BUT PLAYS GREAT

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