I already knew who she was and actually have a Best Of album, but for others I linked two of the songs you mentioned, with a bonus dance from the Clark Brothers in the wonderful “Ants In My Pants.” Those are my two favorite songs too.
I’ve Got Ants in My Pants
I Wish That I Were Twins
I couldn’t find Valaida’s “I Must Have That Man” on YouTube (but here’s the lovely Annette Hanshaw’s version)
More (folks should keep in mind this is Valaida singing and playing trumpet):
“St Louis Blues”
“You’re Driving Me Crazy”
“Some Of These Days”
“Caravan”
“Singing In The Rain”
Here’s a biography segment too. Unfortunately the sound is out of sync but some of the time it doesn’t matter.
When I had a radio show back in the late '80’s I wanted to do a Women in Jazz & Blues show but I had no jazz or blues in my collection, and was only familiar with a few majors like Bessie Smith, The Andrews Sisters, Billie Holiday and a few others. I used to engineer for a firecracker octogenarian named “Old Uncle Bob” aka O-U-B or OUB (pronounced “ooob”) for short. He had a record collection of the gods from the 20’s-60’s and I raided it regularly. I discovered Valaida through him, as well as The Boswell Sisters, Mildred Bailey, Victoria Spivey, Rose Murphy, Lee Morse*, Blanche Calloway (and her Joy Boys!
), Sippie Wallace, Clara Smith**, Rosetta Tharpe and her amazing electric guitar, Memphis Minnie, the practically forgotten Libby Holman, Lee Wiley, Vanita Symthe, who looked so sweet singing a very dirty song, Lucille Bogan (aka Bessie Jackson) singing a song in 1935 that would make porn stars blush, Rosa Henderson, Mamie Smith, Alberta Hunter singing about race and sex, and so many many many others.
I have to say again, YouTube is one of the greatest inventions in all of humankind.
- That delightful song, called “T’aint No Sin To Take Off Your Skin And Dance Around In Your Bones” contains the line “No more singin’ in the bathtub with those television phones…” which is practically science fiction, considering the song was written in 1929.
** This great, nasty-sounding (lyrically) song was written by Georgia Tom, aka Thomas Dorsey, who wrote lots of great jazz/blues songs, but then he dropped that lifestyle and became a preacher. A few days after his wife and newborn child died he wrote “Precious Lord” which was made famous by Mahalia Jackson. Dorsey’s a fascinating man, he had great success as a secular writer writing for and touring with legends such as Ma Rainey, then became a legend himself as a gospel music writer. In fact he’s called the father of modern gospel. I’m a pretty hard-core atheist but my all-time favorite documentary is Say Amen, Somebody.