Musicwoman Magazine Spring 2020

Melba Joyce

Jazz

Vocalist

From the Swingin’ Sixties to 2020

MELBA JOYCE by Diedre Johnson [Edited on July 10, 2020 for reprint.]

Melba Joyce Is Still The Toast: Veteran Singer’s Life Has Not Been Without Hardships

Some people just know. Veteran jazz singer Melba Joyce is one of those who knew pretty early. She started singing for anyone within earshot at age five. The mellifluous earfuls were not polished, but there were signs of what was to come. From clubs in the Big D, Dallas, Texas, to Ronnie Scott’s in London, to singing backup for Smokey Robinson, plus appearing with so many jazz greats, hers is a life with so much life!

In September 2019, Melba Joyce celebrated her 80th year on earth but she has not slowed down. When not on tour in some foreign country, she is loving her New York apartment, hanging out with her family - sons Keith and Karl and their younger sister, singer Carmen Bradford, or teaching music at Medgar Evers College. This Dallas transplant is always working on music for herself or friends. During the interview, Melba fluttered from one subject to another, just like a chanteuse singing a medley of songs. However, the subject fluttering is the fun part.

DJ: What are you working on right now?

MJ: I am collaborating with the lyricist of Sounds from a Slave. He is one of my colleagues at work and I am adding the music. I have not been successful with that yet. I have had to work for a while but since he is retiring, I really need to get to that. If I don’t get to it soon, he will think I am not taking care of business. Also, another composer has written music he wants me to sing.

DJ:You work so much in other countries, what ithe difference between them and the US in terms of jazz appreciation?

MJ: People in foreign countries appreciate jazz more than they do here. People seem to love it and want to hear it so badly. My grandson asked me how many countries I have been to. I counted and it was 60.

DJ: Please mention a few countries.

MJ: Russia is one. I have been there eight times. But I changed my number and did not give it to the producer. I never had her number. She

called me at six in the morning saying, “We really would like you to come.” Russia was really something to me.

DJ: When did you first know that you could sing?

MJ: When I was about five.

DJ:What was your parent’s reaction?

MJ: Well, my grandmother was very encouraging. She sang along with the radio all the time. She taught me to read and bought me a book of lyrics. When I five, Paula was a young girl in my neighborhood was taking piano lessons. She knew my father was a singer. We lived on the same street, at opposite ends of the block. My cousin lived across the street from the girl. One day, she crossed the street to tell me that she would like to teach me some new songs. I learn songs and we sang together. Paula’s family lived in a two-story house with a big backyard filled with toys, a sandbox, a slide, a tricycle, and other fun things. She and her brothers had outgrown the toys. So, I enjoyed their backyard when Paula was finished teaching me new songs.

DJ: What happened next?

MJ: I got bored. She was learning to play. I was just an impatient little girl. Eventually, I took piano lessons.

DJ: How did you balance raising kids and doing all that?

MJ: I found a way, if I had the jobs. My husband cooperated with me. I could not have traveled if it were not for him. I started traveling when my kids were eight or nine. I had a babysitter, but I didn’t leave home to go on the road until they got to that age when they could cook for themselves. Before that, I sang in Dallas with The Redtops. I went to jam sessions and the guy who produced the jam sessions had me sing with the house band. Some of them worked with Ray Charles. I had a wonderful experience with them.

I was involved with a group called the Jazz Society. We learned that Louis Armstrong was coming to town and got cheap tickets. The concert was at the State Fair Music Hall, a part of the Texas State Fair. That night, the woman Con’t on page 55

From the Swingin’ Sixties to 2020

Jazz Vocalist MELBA JOYCE by Diedre Johnson (con’t)

name of the club was The Sly Cat and the owner, Ray Dewey, was at my 80th birthday party. He and I became friends and I was working at the club, all of a sudden. Then, we moved to Pomona (suburb near Los Angeles) and I got a job at a club called The Royal Tahitian. It was like a country club. They had another big room in the back, and they were bringing in people like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. When Sarah Vaughn came, the owners told her, ‘There’s a young lady who thinks she is you.’

One night there was someone peeking behind a door at the club, trying not to be seen. I looked and it was Sassy (Vaughn’s nickname). I said to myself, `You’ve got to find Melba tonight because you cannot sit here and sing every lick this woman sings.’

I changed my style, was introduced to Benny

Carter, and started making good money. Benny Carter was an important musician in my career. Rex Stewart had just come off the road with Duke Ellington. He made a valuable observation about my singing and gave me Benny’s contact information. Benny wrote themes for TV shows. He was famous. He arranged for Count Basie and a other big bands.

Benny’s agent sent me on the road with Big Tiny Little, a ragtime piano player on the Lawrence Welk Show. We went to Washington State and Tahoe. Black people said the club in Tahoe was segregated and that I did not need to work there. One night, they played, “Those Old Cotton Fields Back Home.” When he introduced me, he said, “I want to introduce you to a lady and she is not from the cotton fields back home but from the black tarpits of Los Angeles.”

Some people playing the slot machines stopped

From the Swingin’ Sixties to 2020

Jazz Vocalist MELBA JOYCE by Diedre Johnson (con’t)

playing. When the show was over, I called the manager to ask why he had me on the road with a racist? He said he did not mean it that way. I said I don’t care whether he meant it or not. I don’t like him and this is not going to work for me. So, I went with Louis Jordan, a saxophist and bandleader with a hit song, “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”. I worked with Jordan for a while.

Later, Skip Trenier of The Treniers booked me with his band at the Sahara in Tahoe. I made new connections for gigs all over the country.

DJ: What was LA like in the 1960s, seventies, and eighties for jazz artists?

MJ: It was all right. Redd Foxx had a club on La Cienega. They had an open mic night and the prize was to work at Redd Foxx’s club for two weeks. I won and was there for 22 weeks. Redd got me work on TV shows including the Woody Woodbury and Donald O’Connor shows.

I worked at some of the big jazz clubs in LA. I met Carmen Twilly, a well-known background singer, who wanted to know what kind of music I was doing. That stuck in my mind. One of my friends was playing piano with Smokey Robinson, who was leaving The Miracles and needed a background singer. I had performed at Pasadena City College and opened for Smokey.

DJ: Then, there was the divorce?

MJ: Yeah, at that time, there was a headline in a Tahoe newspaper: Poor Melba, Someone Stole Her Name. Melba Moore was in Purlie on Broadway. Her name was Beatrice Melba Hill and she changed it to Melba Moore. And there I was with my name, trying to get a divorce. I had to decide whether to spend money on that situation or the divorce? I chose to get the divorce.

DJ: How did you ensure that your talented daughter, Carmen found her way?

MJ: Carmen inherited my voice, but God placed her where she belonged. She was dating a pianist who opened for the Count Basie Orchestra. They agreed that he could have a girl sing with

his band. He brought Carmen and Basie heard her. He said, “Pack your bags at the end of the show.” The rest is herstory.

DJ: What did you say when your daughter said she was singing with the Count Basic Band?

MJ: I said, “Ok, See ya.”

DJ: Were you in California or New York?

MJ: I was in California but I got the divorce, sold the house, and moved to New York.

DJ: What made you move to New York?

MJ: The jazz clubs were closing in LA and I had to go to New York, the place everyone goes to prove themselves.

DJ: Are you still teaching part-time?

MJ: Yes, four days a week at Medgar Evans College. I received a B.A. degree from Antioch College and my Master’s from Rutgers University.

DJ: Talk about the making of the live album of Melba Joyce at Ronnie Scott’s?

MJ: My father and Billy Eckstine were friends. Billy made a tape of my songs and sent it to Ronnie Scott in London, England. Ronnie booked me, immediately. Before I knew it, I was singing in London.

DJ: That CD is amazing! Now, that you’re a seasoned jazz singer, what are some of the things you’ve learned and want to pass on to those just starting out?

MJ: You have to be committed to it and you need to learn as much as you can about music and about jazz so that you understand what the genre is because it is a phenomenal genre of music.

You need to become familiar with all the songs, the repertoire of jazz, all of the songs are that are noted, learn how to sing them well. Learn to read music. You do not have to read but musicians should because it prepares you for other opportunities. Find out what jazz really is; find out the history of the music. Do as much of the blues as you can. Study music like a horn player studies.

DJ: That’s a lot of studying.

MJ: Yes, it is. But working is the best study. It introduces you to other singers, musicians, and songwriters, and a lot can come from that.