It always saddens me to learn that an artist I enjoy and admire passed away, and the death of Eydie Gormé last weekend was no exception. She was a wonderful vocalist – a true embodiment of American pop music during the 1950s and 1960s. With her passing a little bit of history has been lost.
Read MoreLast month Armin Büttner posted this previously unpublished 1950’s photo of Sarah Vaughan on his blog celebrating the Crown Propeller Lounge in Chicago. (For more about photo’s back story, see Doug Ramsey’s Rifftides post here.) Vaughan is enjoying a night out with friends, including boxing champion Joe Louis and trumpeter King Kolax. I love the nostalgia of these kinds of photos. They provide a glimpse into Vaughan’s life offstage, when she wasn’t performing. They’re candid and almost private, but not quite – Vaughan is clearly posing for the camera.
Read MoreI am a Seattle-based jazz historian, writer, and editor. As long as I can remember, I have loved everything musical – be it the music itself, the amazing composers and performers who create it, or the stories behind the scenes. In addition to writing and blogging about jazz and classical music, I have taught music history classes and spoken internationally about big band “girl singers” and women in jazz, including one of my favorite musicians, Sarah Vaughan. This extraordinary vocalist is the subject of my biography Sarah Vaughan: To Bebop or To Be Pop.
Hi, I’m Elaine Hayes, a historian and recovering academic, who has been studying women in jazz for almost twenty years. I write about music and popular culture, teach music history, and speak internationally on jazz vocalists, especially my favorite singer, Sarah Vaughan. She’s the subject of my first book: Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan, published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2017. When I’m not immersed in all things musical, I’m a freelance editor. I live in Seattle with my husband and son.
If you have questions about me and my work, or you just want to say “hi,” I’d love to hear from you. You can fill out this form or email me at elaine@elainemhayes.com.
Welcome to Lady Be Bop, a blog on women in music and popular culture. All music is fair game here, but I'll spend most of my time discussing jazz, in particular jazz vocalists. READ MORE
What's Elaine Reading?
A Blog Supreme
Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
All About Jazz
Alternate Takes
Analog Honking Device
Brilliant Corners
Dr. Guy’s Musiqology
Down Beat
Earshot Jazz
Eye Shot Jazz
Hardbop Jazz Journal
Jazz Beyond Jazz
Jazz Chronicles
Jazz Journalists Association
Jazz Lives
Jazz Portraits
Jazz Times
Lubricity
Nextbop
Notes on Jazz
One Working Musician
Outside-Inside-Out
Rifftides
Seattle Jazz Scene
Stomp Off
The Gig
The Jazz Breakfast
Today is the Question
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