1945 - August 31

"Pigmeat" Alamo Markham – August 31 1945

 

The Record Changer , December 1945 

How Long — How Long Blues / Biues Before Sunrise Blue Note 48 

Back in the '30's I used to go up to the Apollo in Harlem. They had visiting bands but permanent comedians. One great comedian was Pigmeat. He sang, played at comedy and danced. He was a great dancer. Truckin' and Suzy-Q were his specialties. He says that he started both these dance crazes plus the later boogie-woogie. (Dances are not created quite in such a single fashion but it is very possible that he, in doing them so well, started them on their famous path.) I know that I never saw any one do Truckin' any better than he and the way he would screw his head around to go in another direction I will never forget. He was the perfect example of real theatre, actor-dancer-singer. But as many times as I frequented the Apollo I never re- member him singing as does he on these Blue Note records and he never featured himself as a blues singer. 

Pigmeat, in spite of his active life, is still a young man and has accomplished a great deal as a comedian, dancer and singer. Besides his legitimate show business (his is the best legitimate theatre) he has been in films and has written for them. He is another one of those who have been discovered late — one of those doing fine stuff but a kind of stuff that has not been preserved. His singing, like Jimmy Yancey's playing, has been a side line and it is this side line which is so easy to preserve and for which there is a market and waiting public. 

How Long opens with a very excellent trumpet chorus by Oliver Mesheux. A fairly straight rendition of the 8-bar blues full of warmth and good brass. Pigmeat has great variety from one chorus to the next. From the first 

How long 

How long to the last verse 

Lord a nickel 

Here's a nickel  

He keeps your attention by making you visualize the pictures his words intend. Pigmeat has a full voice, in fact in a few places on this side a little too full. There is nothing, however, of the voiced Negro singing spirituals.

There is a complete blues attack and a " born to sing " the blues attitude. 

Sandy Williams takes two excellent choruses before Pigmeat's last stanza. His trombone with Oliver's trumpet gives great variety to the record both in his accompaniment of Pigmeat and in the instrumental solos. 

In Blues Before Sunrise Pigmeat has none of the large voice quality noticeable in How Long. Here his voice is blues all the way through. I would say that he gives more interest to the words on this side. As you sit and listen you can either take it as fine blues singing backed by Williams and Oliver or you can listen intently to his handling of the words. Each time the different subtilties of his interpretation arouse a different emotion in the listener. 

Jimmy Shirley starts this side with a very instrumentalized guitar solo. Behind him is Tommy Benford with a soft cymbal rhythm. Williams backs Pigmeat with some very musical phrases. Oliver takes the chorus before the end. There is plenty to listen to either in the instrumental accompaniment and solos or in the whole authoritative dominance of Pigmeat himself. 

I look forward to seeing a lot of his records, a library of the blues and early Negro " pops." It is a great satisfaction to listen to him and to remember that you did listen to him 

The Record Changer – January 1946 

Blue Note 509 

You've Been A Good Old Wagon, one of those double meaning songs so popular in the Negro shows, now gets a rebirth in Pigmeat's hands. This song is full of emotional content in which the words lose the vulgarity of the usual obvious double meaning song and become instead rather tragic symbols. 

I think it a mistake to compare Pigmeat too much with Bessie Smith. That whole era whether simply stated by the lesser lights or richly stated by Bessie Smith is quite different in feeling. Pigmeat is great in his own way whether that way is equal to the other or not. We can "go" all the way for Pigmeat without comparing. His singing, as objective as it is, is far more subjective than Bessie's. When a singer, like Bessie, can at the same time be so objective and so close to our emotion, then we are perilously near the end of what can be said in song. Pigmeat is a great singer living the part he sings with every inch of his body and voice. These two sides are fine examples of the rolling quality of a song when in the hands of a singer who is so alive to the tempo of a piece. 

New York Folklore Quarterly Summer 1947 Volume 3 Issue 2 

By Edgar B. O’Hara 

FOLKLORE EXPERTS, who today writhe and groan because the origin of a folksong continually eludes them as it winds further and further into the past and spreads out to many areas and countries, should be happy that they didn’t wait another fifty years to start studying the blues, or they might be working much longer and harder. For today in New York City, a resident of that city pops up and sings the blues in the old, gutty, authentic style of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. 

Alamo Markham from 1933 on, billed as “Pigmeat,’’ was the comedian at the Apollo, Harlem’s biggest vaudeville house. Now he has recorded for Blue Note four blue sides in the old tradition: “See See Rider,” “You've Been A Good Old Wagon,” “How Long—How Long Blues,” “Blues Before Sunrise.’’ The best review of these records is Pigmeat’s own words: “I hope all the people will enjoy hearing them, because we really enjoyed making them. They are the blues.” 

Alamo Markham was born in 1905 in Durham, North Carolina. At the age of fourteen he ran away with a carnival. After that he toured the South with Ma Rainey, the first great blues singer. Of her, Pigmeat says. “I believe Ma was the first to sing the low-down blues professionally, but—first or not—she was the greatest.” After that he toured with Bessie Smith and then, sick of the South and hearing about the freedom up North, he came to New York. 

All this time Pigmeat had been a comedian and dancer with colored shows, and his fame among Negro show producers was so great, that when the Apollo theatre opened in 1933 Pigmeat became the featured house comedian. Most of his jokes were ad libbed, as were his dance steps. Three of his impromptu routines became a part of the jitterbug craze: Truckin,’ Suzie-Q, and Boogie-Woogie. 

On the stage of the Apollo a different colored band would play each week. In each of these would be men from New Orleans like Armstrong, Noone, Bigard, Singleton, et al., and others with the southern blues bred deep into them—Hines, Simeon, Rushing. Also many of the blues singers—Georgia White, June Richmond, to name a couple—were featured on the stage. 

Waiting for the long movie show to end, these entertainers would sit in their dressing rooms and have a jam session. Usually the instruments would play too loud, so they'd cut that out and just ad lib the blues vocally in low sincere voices. Then too, in gin mills, at house-rent parties, and church socials these entertainers would get together and keep the blues alive. 

Pigmeat’s ad lib phrases became famous, and some of them became the basis of popular songs. One night he hit upon “It’s that fine, lovely Arabian stuff that dreams are made of,” and “Fats” Waller hearing it made Pigmeat’s musical theme the motif for his song, ‘““Who’s Afraid of Love?” “Fats” recorded it and after that used more of Pigmeat’s ideas. Jimmy Rushing, Count Basie’s fine blues singer, used some other of Pigmeat’s themes and words. 

Finally, in 1945, the underground had made Alamo Markham fairly famous, and Alfred Lion of Blue Note asked Pigmeat to record some blues. Pigmeat chose the tunes and was backed by a good group of musicians, little known but steeped in the blues of Harlem rather than the noisy jive of that area that ruins so many good jazz men from New York. 

These tunes were old stand-bys of Ma and Bessie and were admirably interpreted by them. Into this stream Pigmeat has added the flavor of his years in New York, a bit of humor, a bit of a wry attitude of the free life up North, and his own gutty, honest male voice. On “How Long” you find Pigmeat closing with two choruses of his original lyrics. After listening, all we have to say is, “That’s the blues, man.”

 

Lewis Eaton - The Jazz Record – January 1946 

It is a pleasure in this age of modern music to be able to review two new releases that have much of the real blues feeling so prevalent in many great artists of the past. Today we hear some singers, in rare instances, whose work is deeply rooted in the true blues tradition, and those only on the 'race" lists among the prolific pseudo-blues and jive artists. If one takes the trouble to wade through all the new releases, once in a while a real gem is uncovered and then you find that it is an old friend who has withstood the march of "progress." Even in Pigmeat Markham, we find one who is far from being a newcomer on the blues scene, having been in direct contact with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and laying the foundation for his present work from his associations and experiences in the twenties.  

Pigmeat has been a comedian and dancer for many years, his most recent and steadiest job being the house comedian at the Apollo Theater in New York. During that time, he claims to have originated the dances known as Truckin', Susie Q and the Boogie Woogie. His early life was spent touring on vaudeville circuits, tent shows and theater shows, and he spent no little time in the same acts featuring Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, both of whom he acknowledges to be the greatest exponents of vocal blues. On these records he sings the blues himself for the first time, giving us more than an "inkling of the wealth of blues expression, which should rise to even greater heights on future recordings.  

The selections made at this session are a tribute to great blues artists of the past. How Long How Long Blues and Blues Before Sunrise, by far the best record of the two, are both compositions of the late Leroy Carr. The ten inch coupling brings us See See Rider. first sung by Ma Rainey, and You've Been A Good Old Wagon, admirably interpreted by Bessie Smith. Perhaps it is unjust to compare the latter two to such classics of the past, but a comparison is inevitable. Such a comparison at once points out the only shortcomings of the records, which doesn't detract from the pleasure derived from listening to Pigmeat's phrasing and enunciation. When Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith made a tune, there wasn't any  more feeling that could possibly be expressed in a new interpretation. I would prefer to hear Pigmeat sing some of his own compositions on subsequent records and I am sure he will show off to much better advantage.

You've Been A Good Old Wagon is played at a slightly faster tempo than the Bessie recording. After the piano introduction by Vivian Smith, who, like Mesheux, is recording for the first time. Pigmeat follows the vocal pattern as outlined by Bessie, with the trumpet and trombone taking turns leading the accompaniment. See See Rider is played at a much faster tempo than the original recording and the mood is entirely alien to the thought of the tune. The story, so admirably unfolded by Ma Rainey, is a tale of unrequited love and of yearning for her man. Pigmeat sings much the same words, but in a spirited lively fashion, possibly poking fun at the idea of "shooting his gal and catching the Cannonball.” After the piano opening and three choruses by Pigmeat, we find three solo efforts, by Vivian Smith, Jimmy Shirley and Mesheux, respectively , neither of whom makes an effort to follow the melody of  the tune, except for the first three notes by Mesheux. Then Pigtneat leads the last chorus, which is even more of a burlesque of the tune. If we not have the superb record by Ma Rainey and the better than average imitations by Bea Booze, we could judge this record on its merits, which would place it high on the list of modern recordings. It is sung here in a humorous vein, as is this version of You've Been A Good Old Wagon, which suffers less by comparison, as Bessie's interpretation was also on the humorous side.  

How Long How Long Blues and Blues Before Sunrise are, conversely, admirable examples of genuine blues feeling. The expressiveness and obvious sincerity in Pigmeat's powerful tone on these two selections are unequaled. That Pigmeat is a master of blues expression cannot be denied, and we can only feel that the content of this material is better adapted to his style. With Pigmeat in rare form, he inspires the accompaniment to great heights, and especially in Sandy Williams, we have a musician  who is capable of the bluest feeling in his music. Blues Before Sunrise opens with a guitar solo by Jimmy Shirley, his second solo spot on the four sides, and his playing here makes us wish for more of this kind of work. On this side Mesheux plays muted trumpet behind the vocal and Sandy can always be heard in the background, driving the blues down. Sandy again backs Mesheux during his open horn solo, followed by Pigmeat singing the last choruses.  

How Long Blues is the best side of the four. Mesheux sets the mood in a blue opening reminiscent of phrases from Down By the Levee and other great blues classics. The accompaniment behind Pigmeat's vocal is superb, with the trumpet and trombone combining to form a perfect blues background, with the tinkling honky-tonk piano of Vivian Smith breaking through to heighten the intensity of feeling. Sandy Williams has a solo spot for two choruses, with trumpet backing, which is almost the best blues trombone Sandy has ever waxed. Pigmeat closes with two Choruses of original lyrics and a depth of feeling which finds the listener hanging on every word. The impact of this discovery is terrific, and until  we hear even greater blues compositions, easily attainable in a man of his possibilities, we can only say—how long, how long! 

Down Beat December 1 1945 Volume 12 Issue 23 

"Pigmeat” Alamo Markham has made a name a name as a comedian and dancer just as Jimmy Yancey once made a name as a tap and buck and wing dancer Yancey was rediscovered several years ago as a fine blues and boogie woogie pianist. One night in a small after-hour spot in Harlem last summer Mr. and Mrs, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolfe made the startling discovery that Pigmeat was a fine blues singer. On August 31, 1945, they took him into their Blue Note recording studio and are now ready to prove, as they proved to me, that Pigmeat is one of the finest blues singers around today. 

Now available is Blue Note #18, a twelve-inch disc of How Long, How Long Blues and Blues Before Sunrise by Pigmeat Alamo Markham with Oliver “Rev” Mesheux’s Blue Six. Personnel: Markham, vocal; Mesheux, trumpet; Sandy Williams, trombone; Vivian Smith, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; and Tommy Benford, drums. Recording for Ihe first time are Markham, Oliver Mesheux, and Vivian Smith of Kansas City. Benford is, of course; the onetime Jelly Roll Morton drummer. 

The above group also made a ten-inch disc for Blue Note which is due out soon. The tunes are See See Rider and You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon. The latter is a tune familiar to Bessie Smith collectors. 

Pigmeat was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1905. He started in show business at the age of fourteen years by running away with a carnival as a comedian and dancer. The carnival toured the south until 1924 when Markham joined a revue led by Gonzales White. The revue also carried Count Basie as solo pianist. After a stint with White, Pigmeat joined Ma Rainey in Columbus, Georgia and greatly admired her blues singing. In order to come up North he left Ma Rainey and joined another revue called Sugar Cane and landed at the Lafayette theater in Harlem. 

Later in 1930 Markham appeared with Bessie Smith at the Strand theater in Philadelphia. He considered Bessie the greatest blues singer after Ma Rainey and the best show woman in the business. From 1933-37, Markham served as house comedian at the Apollo theater in Harlem, New York. In 1936, while working with Don Redman and His band, Pigmeat originated the dance called Truckin’ and also the Susie-Q and Boogie Woogie dances. He has been in three movies, two of which he wrote himself, with all colored casts made in Hollywood. 

He was signed up with the Andrews Sisters for a thirty-six week radio show emanating from the west coast. At present he is appearing with the Andrews Sisters at New York’s Paramount. His jokes are original, coming to him spontaneously on the spot, and he creates all of his own dance routines. 

 

Session Information 

Oliver "Rev." Mesheux, trumpet; Sandy Williams, trombone; Vivian Smith, piano; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; Israel Crosby, bass; Tommy Benford, drums; "Pigmeat" Alamo Markham, vocal. 

WOR Studios, NYC, August 31, 1945 

BN254-2, Blues Before Sunrise, Blue Note 48 

BN255-1, You've Been A Good Old Wagon, Blue Note 509 

BN256-0, How Long-How Long Blues, Blue Note 48 

BN257-1, See See Rider, Blue Note 509