SWEET EMMA BARRETT

"Sweet Emma" Barrett (March 25, 1897, New Orleans, Louisiana – January 28, 1983) was a self-taught jazz pianist and singer who worked with the Original Tuxedo Orchestra between 1923 and 1936, and in the early 1960s became an iconic figure with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. from discogs Sweet” Emma Barrett was an early jazz pianist and vocalist from New Orleans. A physically distinctive and eccentric figure in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band pantheon who performed with the Original Tuxedo Orchestra in the 1920s and 1930s, Barrett worked with countless jazz greats during her life, including Oscar “Papa” Celestin, Armand Piron, John Robichaux, and Paul Barbarin. She was commonly identified by her signature red skullcap and came to be known as the “Bell Gal” because she wore matching red garters adorned with bells that chimed while she played. A trailblazer among women in jazz, she recorded as leader of her own ensemble read more...