Home » Search Center » Results: Big Mama Thornton

Results for "Big Mama Thornton"

About Big Mama Thornton

Results for pages tagged "Big Mama Thornton"...

Musician

Willie Mae Thornton, known popularly as "Big Mama," was not only a successful singer/songwriter in her own time, but a major influential voice in the development of American popular music with her original version of "Hound Dog." She herself was influenced by the famous blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Ma Rainey. She was a popular performer famous for exuberant shows. "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on," according to the Encyclopedia of Pop Rock & Soul

Article: Profile

In From the Beginning: New Orleans Music History with Deacon John Moore

by Thomas Cole
June 17, 2026

Well, you know, growing up I was the golden boy of the family, because I could sing. I recall my mother singing arias from operas to herself while doing housework and playing classical and popular music on the piano in our home while taking care of the kids--13 of us all together. Her background was classical ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Many Shades of Blues

by Jerome Wilson
April 22, 2022

This special episode deals with all manners of blues: piano blues, jump blues, harmonica blues, British blues, blues singers and more. Artists heard on the show go all the way from Memphis Slim and Big Mama Thornton to Cecile McLorin Salvant and The Microscopic Septet. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I ...

News: Obituary

Margie Evans, Iconic And Sophisticated Queen Of The Blues, Dies At 81

April 3, 2021

Margie Evans, a legendary, international Blues and Gospel entertainer, songwriter, music producer, actress, music historian, community activist and motivational spokeswoman, who broke barriers for African American female Blues performers with poise, dignity and sophistication, died on March 19, 2021. In addition to her musicianship, Evans is noted as an activist for parity in music education as ...

Article: Profile

Cotton Pickin' Blues

by Martin McFie
March 28, 2020

Blues began with enslaved African peoples' work songs in the cotton fields of the Deep South of America. The Slave Narrative of Mr. Sam Polite, given at 93 years of age, chronicles that life. It was written on St. Helena, a cotton producing Sea Island in the Carolinas, where Mr. Polite was born into slavery. The ...

Article: Live Review

Tedeschi Trucks Band with Hot Tuna and The Wood Brothers at Red Rocks

by Geoff Anderson
August 11, 2017

Tedeschi Trucks Band with Hot Tuna and The Wood Brothers Red Rocks Amphitheater Denver, CO July 29-30, 2017 The Tedeschi Trucks juggernaut continues to snowball. The band's inaugural Denver concert in November 2011 was at the Fillmore Auditorium; capacity 3,000. The venue quickly shifted to an annual summer show at Red ...

Article: Album Review

Terrie Odabi: My Blue Soul

Read "My Blue Soul" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
May 10, 2016

Blues singers have always been scarce, maybe that's why they are so special. It requires real-life experience, intense commitment and a profound sense of emotion to interpret this music, which represents so much for so many. After paying dues in her hometown of Oakland, blues singer Terrie Odabi finally steps into the national spotlight and tells ...

Article: Live Review

Charles Lloyd at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
May 6, 2015

Charles Lloyd SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA April 24-26, 2015 Even in the idiosyncratic world of jazz, Charles Lloyd stands apart. Born in Memphis in 1938, Lloyd is a master of the tenor saxophone and flute. His ethnic mix--Irish, Cherokee, African, and Mongolian--mirrors the vast number of musical styles he has crossed ...

Article: Live Review

Alexis P. Suter Band at Gwynedd Mercy University

by Wade Luquet
February 22, 2014

Alexis P. Suter Band Women in the Blues Gwynedd Mercy University Gwynedd Valley, PA February 7, 2014 A frozen night in Pennsylvania was made immensely warmer when the Alexis P. Suter Band took the stage at Gwynedd Mercy University in suburban Philadelphia. The bass-voiced blues diva electrified the crowd ...

172

Article: Album Review

5 After 4: Rome In A Day

Read "Rome In A Day" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
October 14, 2011

Rome In A Day is the sixth recording by 5 After 4. Led by drummer/composer Vito Rezza, the Canadian jazz-fusion quartet has an appealingly varied approach. Despite some 21st Century touches, such as Rezza's playful rhythmic displacements during its theme, “10,000 Days" has a down-home funky soul sound that recalls the Crusaders circa Chain Reaction (MCA, ...