Lyricist Johnny Mercer—”Harlem Butterfly” (Maxine Sullivan)
Lyricist Johnny Mercer (1906-1976) probably wrote more popular hits than anyone else. Besides being a songwriter/composer, who wrote for many Hollywood movies, and being the co-founder/co-owner of Capital Records, Mercer could never fulfill his life-long ambition to write an entire Broadway show.
"Harlem Butterfly" is one of his few songs for which Johnny Mercer wrote the words as well as the music. It was first released in 1942 and this week's Sunday Classic is performed by Maxine Sullivan in 1969.
Highly musical Maxine Sullivan (1911-1987) has one of those deligtful voices which makes her ideal to sing with a small jazz group.
The Pennsylvania born girl, whose real name was Marietta Williams, started out singing folk songs in an after-hours club in Pittsburgh called the Benjamin Harrison Literary Society.
Bassist John Kirby as well as pianist Cliff Jackson both first heard her singing there. (She would marry Kirby in 1938, and after her divorce in 1950 she married Jackson).
As Maxine Sullivan explained herself about her way of singing those folk songs : "I couldn't sing it straight ... I had no choice but to swing it."
When she recorded "Loch Lomond" in an arrangement by pianist Claude Thornhill, she shot to national fame.
Maxine and her first husband John Kirby set a precedent by becoming the first black performers to star in a weekly radio networks series: the National Broadcasting Corporation's "Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm."
In the 1940s she appeared in several Hollywood films.
After a serious illness Maxine retired from music in the 1950s.
In June 1969 she came out of retirement and recorded two albums at A&R studios with saxophonist Bob Wilber.
From then on she remained on the jazz scene.
After Cliff Jackson's death in 1970, Maxine Sullivan founded a Bronx community center called “The House That Jazz Built."
In 1979 Maxine received a Tony Award for her role in a musical about aging.
She continued performing until a fortnight before she died in a New York hospital.
Her albums with Bob Wilber, who also wrote the arrangements, are among the most treasured in my record collection.
Enjoy listening to Maxine Sullivan-vocal, accompanied by Bob Wilber-soprano sax; Bernie Leigthon-piano, George Duvivier-bass; Gus Johnson Jr.-drums, and have a nice Sunday.
