Mildred Bailey

Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on a farm in rural Tekoa, Washington.[5] Her mother Josephine was a member of the Coeur d'Alene people[3] and a devout Roman Catholic.[4] Bailey's great-grandfather, Bazil Peone, was a well known head speaker and song leader of the Coeur d'Alene at the turn of the 20th century. His ability to create indigenized Catholic hymns helped guide the tribe during difficult times of active colonization by Jesuit missionaries.[6]

Bailey and her siblings grew up near De Smet, Idaho, on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. Her father played fiddle and called square dances. Her mother played piano every evening and taught her to play and sing. Her younger brothers included Miles, Al, a vocalist and composer, and Charles, a lyricist.[7] The family often hosted Saturday night gatherings, creating small music and dance hall in the home for local ranchers with both Josephine and Mildred at the piano. Mildred also accompanied her mother to traditional native ceremony where she heard and practiced the traditional songs and lyrics that would later influence her unique singing voice. [6]

Josephine died from tuberculosis at the age of 36, threatening Mildred's ability to remain connected to her native family and traditions in a way that she was able to while her mother was alive. Soon after Josephine's death, Mildred's father remarried, bringing a daughter and creating a tumultuous and unhappy house where Mildred and her siblings were systematically pushed out of by her new stepmother.[6] Given an ultimatum to his father to choose his children or his new wife, Mildred's father sided with his wife and Mildred moved out of the home and in with her aunt and uncle in Seattle. She and her aunt were involved in a serious car accident a short time later which killed her aunt and left Mildred with serious physical and emotional scars.[6]

At age 17, Rinker moved to Seattle and worked as a sheet music demonstrator at Woolworth's. She married and divorced Ted Bailey, keeping his last name because she thought it sounded more American than Rinker,[4] which was of Swiss (German) origin.[3]

She toured with a West Coast revue and finished in California where she obtained work at radio station KMTR and at a speakeasy in Bakersfield called The Swede's.[8] With the help of her second husband Benny Stafford, Bailey became an established blues and jazz singer on the west coast of the United States. According to Gary Giddins in his book Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years 1903–1940, she found work for her brother Al Rinker and Bing Crosby, who had started performing in Spokane, Washington. They had traveled from Spokane to join her in Los Angeles. Giddins says Crosby heard about Louis Armstrong from Bailey, who urged him to hear Armstrong if Crosby was to be a serious jazz singer. She also played Crosby records from her collection by Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith.[4]

Crosby helped Bailey in turn by introducing her to Paul Whiteman in Los Angeles.[4] She sang with Whiteman's band from 1929 to 1933. Whiteman had a popular radio program for Old Gold Cigarettes, and when Bailey debuted on it with her version of "Moanin' Low" on August 6, 1929,[9] favorable public reaction was immediate. However, Bailey's first recording with Whiteman did not take place until October 6, 1931 when she recorded a song called "My Goodbye to You".[10] Her recording of "All of Me" with Whiteman the same year was a hit in 1932.[11]

Her first two records had been as an uncredited vocalist for a 1929 session by the Eddie Lang Orchestra ("What Kind o' Man Is You?", a Hoagy Carmichael song that was issued only in the UK), and a recording on May 8, 1930 of "I Like to Do Things for You" for Frankie Trumbauer.[12] She was Whiteman's popular female vocalist through 1932 (recording in a smooth, crooning style) but left the band later that same year over salary disagreements. She recorded four sides for Brunswick in 1931 with the Casa Loma Orchestra.[13] and there were further recordings for the label in 1933 accompanied by the Dorsey Brothers. Bailey was part of an all-star session with Benny Goodman's studio band in 1934 featuring Coleman Hawkins, Dick McDonough, and Gene Krupa.[14] After leaving Whiteman, Bailey sang on the radio shows of George Jessel and Willard Robison.[15]

In 1933 Bailey married Red Norvo, a xylophonist, improviser, and band leader who had worked with Paul Whiteman. A dynamic couple, they were married until 1942 and were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing".[3] They worked much of the time in New York City. They remained friends after their divorce.[8] She worked as a solo act, singing in clubs in New York, such as the Café Society and the Blue Angel. In 1944 she had her own radio show on CBS which aired from September 1944 until February 1945.[16] Her last major engagement was with Joe Marsala in Chicago in 1950.[15]

From 1936 to 1939, Norvo recorded for Brunswick (with Bailey as primary vocalist), and Bailey recorded for Vocalion, often with Norvo's band. Some of her other recordings featured members of Count Basie's band. The two continued to record together intermittently until 1945. Bailey was featured on Benny Goodman's Camel Caravan radio program and sang on a number of Goodman's Columbia recordings in 1939 and 1940, most notably "Darn That Dream" which was a hit in 1940.[17]

A large woman, she suffered from diabetes. Due to her health, she was hospitalized in 1938, 1943, and 1949. She went into retirement for a time in 1949 on a farm she owned in Poughkeepsie, New York. Often in financial difficulties, she was bailed out on a number of occasions by Bing Crosby.[13]

Bailey died of heart failure on December 12, 1951[18] in St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York at the age of 44.[3]

• In 1989, Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz describes Bailey as "the first white singer to absorb and master the jazz-flavored phrasing...of her black contemporaries."[3]
• In 1994, a 29-cent stamp was issued by the US Postal Service in Bailey's honor;[19] it was designed by Howard Koslow, based on the photograph by jazz photographer William Gottlieb (at the head of this article) of Bailey performing at Carnegie Hall.[3] The 1907 birth year on the stamp is incorrect.
• In 2012, the Coeur d'Alene Nation introduced a resolution honoring Bailey to the Idaho state legislature. They were seeking acknowledgement of the singer's Coeur d'Alene ancestry as well as to promote her induction to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Hall of Fame in New York City.[3]

In 1938, Bailey had two number one hits with Red Norvo and His Orchestra. "Please Be Kind" reached number one on the Hit Parade chart on May 7. She also sang lead vocals with Norvo on "Says My Heart", which reached number one during the week of June 18, 1938.[20]

Bailey sang lead vocals on "Darn That Dream", recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, which reached number one for one week in March 1940 on the U.S. pop singles chart.[21]

• Sweet Beginnings (The Old Masters, 1994)
• Band Vocalist (The Old Masters, 1994)
• The Rockin' Chair Lady (GRP, 1994)
• The Blue Angel Years (Baldwin Street Music, 1999)
• Me and the Blues (Savoy, 2000)
• The Legendary V-Disc Sessions (Vintage Jazz, 1990)
• The Complete Columbia Recordings of Mildred Bailey (Mosaic, 2000)

• The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900-1950 by Roger D. Kinkle (Arlington House Publishers, 1974)