Adelaide Hall - 1936 C.F. Martin 0-18T acoustic tenor guitar, made in USA, ser. no. 62402, formerly owned and extensively used by jazz legend Adelaide Hall; Back and sides: mahogany, taped over hole to the rib, various scratches and dings throughout; Top: natural spruce, heavy wear to the upper bouts, further minor dings; Neck: mahogany, neck repair with reinforcement brass bar fitted; Fretboard: ebony; Frets: worn; Hardware: Grover tuners with possibly replaced buttons, assorted bridge pins with one missing; Case: later soft bag inscribed internally 'Mrs. A. Hall Hicks, 54 Fairholme Road, London, W14 98Y, 01-385-9103' *Sold with Adelaide's original plaited rope strap; an autographed black and white photograph of Adelaide Hall playing the guitar dated 1937; a black and white photograph of Adelaide Hall holding the guitar on stage within the BBC studio, 1946; a copy of 'Sophisticated Lady - A Celebration of Adelaide Hall' written by the vendor Stephen Bourne; a copy of 'Underneath A Harlem Moon - The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall' by Iain Cameron Williams and a selection of old used guitar strings found within the guitar's case **Provenance: Adelaide Hall (1901-1993) was a central figure in the great resurgence of African American music that began in the early 1920s and was popularly known as the Harlem Renaissance. As a young singer, Adelaide helped to create the sound of jazz alongside other innovators, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Her most notable professional partnership was with Duke Ellington and it began accidentally when they were both touring America's Vaudeville circuit in 1927. Standing in the wings, listening to Duke and his orchestra playing Creole Love Call, Adelaide began to improvise a counter-melody. Ellington was impressed, and asked her to perform it on stage with him. He also invited her to make a recording on 6 October 1927, with Adelaide's wordless vocal counterpoint and her matchless 'scat' technique, this was innovatory as a use of the voice as a pure jazz instrument. With The Blues I Love to Sing on the flip side, the record has become one of the great jazz classics. Consequently, Adelaide influenced a generation of younger African American female singers including Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne. There were numerous career highlights. In 1928 she starred on the Broadway stage with the legendry tap dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson in the revue Blackbirds of 1928. It was this show that brought her to the Moulin Rouge in Paris in 1929 where she was a sensation. In the early 1930s she starred at The London Palladium and New York's famous Cotton Club before making a new home in Paris in 1934 with her husband, Bertram Hicks, a Trinidadian and her manager. They opened a popular nightclub, which they named La Grosse Pomme (The Big Apple), and Adelaide was its star attraction. Its regular guests included such famous celebrities as Maurice Chevalier and Josephine Baker. With the threat of a Nazi invasion, Adelaide and Bertram relocated to London in 1939 where they opened another nightclub, The Florida Club, in Mayfair. During The Second World War, Adelaide entertained the troops and the British public and joined ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association). After the war, Adelaide continued her career in Britain with cabaret shows, West End musicals, and many television and radio appearances. In 1951 she took part in The Royal Variety Show and was presented to Princess Elizabeth, soon to become Queen. In 1974 she sang at a memorial concert for Duke Ellington at St Martin in The Fields in London. In 1989 she was the subject of the documentary film Sophisticated Lady which featured her in concert at The Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London, at the age of 87. In 1991 she celebrated her 90th birthday with an all-star tribute concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in London's South Bank. She passed away in 1993. In 1994 stars of stage and screen, including Michael Parkinson and Dame Cleo Laine, attended a memorial service for Adelaide at St Paul's, known as the actor's church, in London's Covent Garden. Stephen Bourne befriended Adelaide Hall in 1983 and worked as the historical consultant on her 1989 film Sophisticated Lady. In 2001 Stephen's short biography Sophisticated Lady - A Celebration of Adelaide Hall was published to coincide with the centenary of her birth. Dame Barbara Windsor and Lena Horne both contributed forewords to the book. In 2021 Adelaide Hall's Martin guitar dating from the 1930s was presented to Stephen Bourne by Kate Greer, a mutual friend. Ask a Question

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