Videos: Martha Davis and Spouse

Even if you're up on past female jazz stars, odds are you've never heard boogie-woogie pianist Martha Davis. Davis came up in the 1930s playing in Chicago clubs and in 1939 married her bassist, Calvin Ponder. In the late 1940s, as the number of Los Angeles record labels proliferated following the settlement of the first musicians' ban in 1944, Davis and Ponder moved to California and began recording for Jewel Records in late 1947, with Ralph Williams on guitar and Lee Young on drums. In the spirit of Fats Waller and Louis Jordan, Martha Davis and Spouse used conversational humor in their duo act that often played off her size or tapped into observational folk jive. She had R&B hits in 1948 with Little White Lies and Daddy-O as well as Don't Burn the Candle at Both Ends with Louis Jordan.

Martha Davis and Spouse made several shorts, a couple of LPs and appeared on TV. As you'll see in the following videos, Davis's appeal stemmed from her jovial charm, iron-clad self-confidence and enormous keyboard talent. Unfortunately, her hit appeal in the late 1940s never carried over into the '50s. Davis died from cancer in 1960 at age 42 and Ponder died in 1970 at age 53. For more information, go here, here and here.

Here's Vip-ity-Vip-ity Vop...



Here's We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye...



Here's Martha's Boogie...



Here's Davis's Goodbye, Honey Goodbye...



Here's Martha Davis and Spouse with Perry Como on his TV show in 1956 singing I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter...



Here's Life Is So Peculiar and Sittin' on Top of the World on the Perry Como Show...