Artist: Helen Humes

Helen Humes was an American jazz, blues and R&B singer.

At age 14, Humes recorded in St. Louis in April 1927, singing four blues songs, though only two of the sides were ever issued. A second recording session was held in New York, and this time she was accompanied by pianist J. C. Johnson. 

Count Basie first heard and approached Humes while she was performing at the Cincinnati Cotton Club in 1937. Humes eventually moved in 1937 to New York City, where John Hammond, a talent scout and producer, heard her singing with Sears's band at the Renaissance Club. Through Hammond, she became a recording vocalist with Harry James's big band. Her swing recordings with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream, Can't I?", Jimmy Dorsey's composition "It's the Dreamer In Me", and "Song of the Wanderer". In March 1938, Hammond persuaded Humes to join Count Basie's Orchestra, where she stayed for four years. 

In the Count Basie Orchestra, Humes sang ballads and popular songs. While she was also a talented blues singer, Jimmy Rushing, another member of the orchestra at the time, held domain over the blues vocals. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Moonlight Serenade". 

On December 24, 1939, Humes performed with the Count Basie Orchestra, and James P. Johnson, at the second From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, produced by John Hammond.

While home again in Louisville in 1942, Humes was called by John Hammond and invited to sing at Café Society in New York. She performed frequently there, accompanied by the pianists Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum.

Further information about Helen Humes is found here.

This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Humes, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).