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Odetta

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Odetta <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:Odetta2005.jpg
Odetta, 2005
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Odetta Holmes</td></tr><tr><td>Also known as</td><td colspan="2">Odetta Felious (her stepfather's surname), Odetta Gordon</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">December 31, 1930
Birmingham, Alabama</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Folk/traditional
Blues
Jazz
Spirituals
Country blues</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singer, musician</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1944-present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Fantasy Records
Tradition Recordings
Vanguard Records
RCA Victor
M.C. Records[1]
Silverwolf[2]
Original Blues Classics</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated
acts</td><td colspan="2">Leadbelly, Janis Joplin, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt[3], Harry Belafonte</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">M.C. Records</td></tr>

Odetta (b. December 31, 1930) is an African-American singer and guitarist whose repertoire consists largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. She was an important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, and a formative influence on artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Janis Joplin.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, grew up in Los Angeles, California, and studied music at Los Angeles City College. Having operatic training from the age of 13, her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944, as an ensemble member for four years with the Hollywood Turnabout Puppet Theatre, working alongside Elsa Lancaster; she later joined the national touring company of the musical Finian's Rainbow in 1949.

[edit] Career beginnings

While on tour with Finian's Rainbow, Odetta "fell in with an enthusiastic group of young balladeers in San Francisco," and after 1950 concentrated on folksinging<ref>Odetta biography, 1956: back cover of "Sings Ballads and Blues"</ref>. She made her name by playing around the United States: at the Blue Angel nightclub (New York City), the hungry i (San Francisco), and Tin Angel (San Francisco), where she and Larry Mohr recorded Odetta and Larry in 1954, for Fantasy Records.

A solo career followed, with Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1956) and a live album recorded at the Gate of Horn in Chicago in 1957. Odetta Sings Folk Songs was one of 1963's best-selling folk albums; Martin Luther King, Jr.called her "the queen of American folk music"<ref>Folk Alley radio - about Odetta</ref>, and poet Maya Angelou once said,
:"If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time."<ref>Maya Angelou, Concerted Efforts.</ref>

Having previous acting experience, Odetta has also acted in several films, notably in "Cinerama Holiday" (1955), the film of William Faulkner's Sanctuary (1961) and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974).

See Filmography.

[edit] Recent years

On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of the Arts. She continues to tour and record, having released her first studio album for 12 years, Blues Everywhere I Go, in 1999, and several new solo releases on M.C. Records followed, including Looking for a Home (a collection of Leadbelly covers) and Gonna Let It Shine in 2005.

The 2005 documentary film No Direction Home, directed by Martin Scorcese, contains a short archive clip of Odetta from a TV performance in the 1960s, highlighting her as a musical influence on Bob Dylan, the subject of the documentary. In 2005, Odetta opened shows for jazz vocalist Madeleine Peyroux, and in 2006 she toured the US, Canada, Latvia and Scotland, accompanied on piano by Seth Farber.

[edit] Influence

Among the many musicians who cite Odetta as a major musical influence have been:

  • Janis Joplin - "Janis spent much of her adolescence listening to Odetta, who was also the first person Janis imitated when she started singing"<ref>Janisjoplin.net - page about Odetta's influence on Janis Joplin</ref>
  • Bob Dylan, who said, "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers [Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues] in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson. … [That album was] just something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record. It was her first and the songs were- 'Mule Skinner', 'Waterboy', 'Jack of Diamonds', 'Buked and Scorned'." <ref>Playboy interview with Bob Dylan, March 1966. Accessed online 30 October 2006.</ref> In 1965, Odetta made an album of Dylan covers, Odetta Sings Dylan.
  • Joan Baez said "Odetta was a goddess. Her passion moved me. I learned everything she sang." <ref>Loder, Kurt (1983). "Joan Baez: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone 4/14/83 (issue # 393)</ref>

[edit] Discography

** denotes Grammy nomination.

Studio albums:

Compilations:

Albums on which Odetta features:

[edit] Filmography and TV appearances

Film/programme title Info Year
Cinerama Holiday Film 1955
Lamp Onto My Feet TV 1956
Tonight with Belafonte TV/Musical Variety 1959 (Emmy Award)
Toast of the Town TV [10] 1960
Sanctuary Drama[11] 1961
Have Gun — Will Travel
episode 159/226: "The Hanging of Aaron Gibbs" 		TV drama[12] 1961
Les Crane Show TV/Talk/Variety 1965
Festival docu. film[13] 1967
Live from the Bitter End TV - Concert 1967
Clown Town
starring Odetta & Bobby Vinton 		NBC Music Special 1968
The Dick Cavett Show TV/Talk/Variety 1969
The Johnny Cash Show TV/Musical Variety 1969
The Virginia Graham Show TV [14] 1971
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman TV film 1974
Soundstage: Just Folks
with Odetta, Tom Paxton, Josh White, Jr. and Bob Gibson 		TV - Concert Special 1980
Ramblin': with Odetta TV - Concert Special 1981
Chords of Fame doc.[15] 1984
Boston Pops
with Odetta, Shirley Verrett and Boys Choir of Harlem 		TV - Concert 1991
Tommy Makem & Friends TV - Concert 1992
The Fire Next Time TV film[16] 1993
Turnabout
The Story of the Yale Puppeteers 		doc.[17] 1993
Odetta: Woman In (E)motion German TV - Concert Special 1995
Peter, Paul and Mary: Lifelines TV [18] 1996
National Medial of Arts and Humanities Presentations C-Span TV 1999
The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack Drama[19] 2000
21st Annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards Awards ceremony[20] 2000
Songs for a Better World TV - Concert Special 2000
Later with Jools Holland
with Odetta, and Bill Weyman & His Rhythm Kings 		BBC-TV 2001
Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher TV Talk Show 2001
Late Night with David Letterman TV/Talk/Variety Show 2001
Pure Oxygen TV - Talk Show 2002
Newport Folk Festival TV - Concert Special 2002
Janis Joplin: Pieces of My Heart BBC-TV Biography Special 2002
Get Up, Stand Up:
The Story of Pop and Protest 		doc.[21] 2003
Tennessee Ernie Ford Show TV Musical Variety (Re-Broadcast) 2003
Ralph Bunch: An American Odyssey PBS-TV Biography 2003
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin PBS-TV Biography 2003
Visonary Awards Presentation PBS-TV - Award Presentation 2004
Lightning in a Bottle - Salute to the Blues doc.[22] 2004
No Direction Home doc. 2005
Talking Bob Dylan Blues BBC-TV Concert Special 2005
Odetta: Blues Diva PBS-TV - Concert Special 2005
Odetta: Viss Notiek Latvian TV Weekly Journal 2006

[edit] Notes

<references />

[edit] External links

it:Odetta no:Odetta

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