Connie Boswell—”Mama Don’t Allow” (1936)

Ella Fitzgerald once said “Who influenced me? There was only one singer who influenced me. I tried to sing like her all the time, because everything she did made sense musically, and that singer was Connie Boswell. Connie Boswell was doing things that no one else was doing at the time. You don’t have to take my words for it. Just check the recordings.”

“Mama Don’t Allow” sung by Connie Boswell, accompanied by the Decca house musicians: Sterling Bose-trumpet; Al Philburn-trombone; Sid Tucker-clarinet; Paul Ricci-tenor sax; Fulton McGrath-piano; Dave Barbour-guitar; Pete Peterson-string bass; and Stan King-drums. Recorded in New York, March 5, 1936.

On an LP-reissue Connie Boswell -- who by then called herself Connee Boswell -- recalled that these house musicians were a nucleus of hopeless alcoholics. They were referred to sardonically by drummer Stan King as “The Falling Down Five.” “It was a rule that no musician should stand up to take a solo, for fear of the consequences.” King was the original percussion man with Bud Freeman’s Summa Cum Laude Orchestra and Eddie Condon once said that Stan was a fine drummer, but that he was glad when he left the band because he drank too much. “Which is rather like Ghengis Khan chiding Attila the Hun for excess violence,“ observed jazz critic Michael Brooks.

Connie Boswell recalled that during this recording date, guitarist Dave Barbour -- future husband of Peggy Lee -- asked the recording engineer “to put him up close to the mike, as he’d had a rough night the night before.” Trumpeter Sterling Bose was once dragged out of the sea, near death, for trying to play his trumpet to the fishes.

“I never cared what the boys did as long as they could swing, and they never gave me any trouble at all,” was Connie’s comment.

Singer/arranger Constance Foore Boswell (1907-1976), who was crippled by polio since childhood -- first came to public attention as a member of the Boswell Sisters. Connie, Martha and Helvetia “Vet” Boswell were born in a middle-class household in Kansas City, Missouri, but they were raised in New Orleans. Connie recalled: “We weren’t wealthy, but we could afford help, so I guess we all grew up listening to the blues and spirituals -- oh yes, and Caruso. Caruso on the phonograph. That’s how I learned about breath control.” When the other two sisters retired in 1936, Connie went on alone.