Despite the vast re-issue market both here and abroad, some jazz artists, sadly, continue to be overlooked. One of those is guitarist Mary Osborne. Despite appearing on 40 known jazz sessions and leading 10 dates, only a clutch of her sides is in print at iTunes and just a few at Spotify. Osborne led record dates as early as 1946 and '47 for Signature, Aladdin, Decca and Coral. She also had a beautiful singing voice. Then came a session with Elliot Lawrence in 1956, A Girl and Her Guitar in 1959 and finally a Stash release in 1981. She died in 1992.
What happened in between? Born in Minot, N.D., in 1921, Osborne first worked professionally at KDKA in Pittsburgh in the late 1930s. In 1941, she work with jazz violinist Joe Venuti, moving to New York in 1945. She then recorded with Mary Lou Williams, Coleman Hawkins, Mercer Ellington and pianist Beryl Booker in 1946, leading her own groups from 1945 to '48. She appeared on an early TV show called Adventures in Jazz on CBS in New York in January 1949 with Lester Young.
In the 1950s, Osborne played with the Elliot Lawrence Quartet on Jack Sterling's radio program on CBS between 1952 and '63, and recorded The Music of Elliot Lawrence in a Lawrence septet in 1956 for Mobile Fidelity. Four tracks were recorded with female and male jazz artists on Cats Versus Chicks in 1954. Then she recorded with trombonist Tyree Glenn followed between 1957 and '59. She's also on The Mighty Two with Gene Krupa and Louie Bellson in 1963.
By the late 1960s, Osborne moved to Bakersfield, Calif., a country music hub, where she opened The Osborne Guitar Co. with her husband, trumpeter Ralph Scaffidi. She also taught music locally and in Los Angeles. In 1981, she appeared at the Kool Jazz Festival in New York, where tracks recorded there were issued by Stash.
A complete compilation of her recordings is long overdue.
JazzWax tracks: Here's Osborne singing and playing on No Moon at All on the Coral label in 1944...
Here's “How High the Moon“ in 1959.
Here's “When Your Lover has Gone“ in 1959.
JazzWax clips: Here's Osborne in 1958 at Art Ford's Jazz Party...
Here's Osborne with Billie Holiday in 1958...
What happened in between? Born in Minot, N.D., in 1921, Osborne first worked professionally at KDKA in Pittsburgh in the late 1930s. In 1941, she work with jazz violinist Joe Venuti, moving to New York in 1945. She then recorded with Mary Lou Williams, Coleman Hawkins, Mercer Ellington and pianist Beryl Booker in 1946, leading her own groups from 1945 to '48. She appeared on an early TV show called Adventures in Jazz on CBS in New York in January 1949 with Lester Young.
In the 1950s, Osborne played with the Elliot Lawrence Quartet on Jack Sterling's radio program on CBS between 1952 and '63, and recorded The Music of Elliot Lawrence in a Lawrence septet in 1956 for Mobile Fidelity. Four tracks were recorded with female and male jazz artists on Cats Versus Chicks in 1954. Then she recorded with trombonist Tyree Glenn followed between 1957 and '59. She's also on The Mighty Two with Gene Krupa and Louie Bellson in 1963.
By the late 1960s, Osborne moved to Bakersfield, Calif., a country music hub, where she opened The Osborne Guitar Co. with her husband, trumpeter Ralph Scaffidi. She also taught music locally and in Los Angeles. In 1981, she appeared at the Kool Jazz Festival in New York, where tracks recorded there were issued by Stash.
A complete compilation of her recordings is long overdue.
JazzWax tracks: Here's Osborne singing and playing on No Moon at All on the Coral label in 1944...
Here's “How High the Moon“ in 1959.
Here's “When Your Lover has Gone“ in 1959.
JazzWax clips: Here's Osborne in 1958 at Art Ford's Jazz Party...
Here's Osborne with Billie Holiday in 1958...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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