Jean DuShon

[Guest]

I read with interest the posts on a good friend of mine, the one and only Jean DuShon, who turned me into an instant fan when I saw her perform at the New Jersey Jazz Festival some years ago. She was there with Count Basie, Joe Williams and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Need I say, she was spectacular.

We became friends a few years ago and she's a wonderful lady. What's she been up to? When disco came in, Jean stopped recording (save a couple of albums she made with Brother Jack McDuff, "The Fourth Dimension" and "Moon Rappin'." At the urging of actor, Dick Williams, she went into the theatre (off-Broadway). A couple of years later, she was on Broadway in the hit play, "What the Wine Sellers Buy," and subsequently, went into musical theatre. She starred with Cab Calloway in "Bubbling Brown Sugar" on Broadway and on the road for eleven years. Later, she co-starred with Leslie Uggams in "Blues in the Night" which was nominated as "best musical" at Tony Award time (it lost to "Cats"). She replaced folk singer, Odetta in the Chicago production of "Night in the Life of Bessie Smith," and stayed with the show for over a year.

Meanwhile, she appeared in most of the top nightclubs across the USA and Europe, and graced the stages at jazz and blues festivals.

Today, Jean is writing a one-woman show which she plans to take on the road. One thing I'm trying to convince her to do is to release some of the fantastic "live" recordings she has of herself performing in nightclubs. I'm sure her fans would love to put those in their collection. She also is shopping for a recording deal, so if any good record companies are reading this: pounce! They can contact me and I will put them in touch with Jean. Fans of Jean's would like to see the three albums she recorded on Chess/Cadet released on CD. MCA owns them now and have been leasing cuts for numerous compilations. Those albums are "Make Way for Jean DuShon," "You Better Believe Me" and "Feeling Good."

One more thing. I've convinced her to put "For Once in My Life" back in her club act. She was the FIRST singer to ever record that song. In my opinion, hers is the BEST version.

[Gene-R]

Nice piece Oliver!! Best thing I like of hers is "It Won't Stop Hurtin' Me", a 45 she cut for Lennox in 1963. I think it's a semi-known on the soul scene here......anyone confirm just how known it is?

Gene

[soul45s]

"anyone confirm just how known it is"?

I agree, great track, crying out for more exposure to the masses. I've championed this for years, always got good response when I put it on tapes for mates etc, B side 'Look the other way' is also nice track.

Regarding how known it is, I had an issue in my sales box for a few months, a lot of people didnt seem to recognise it, eventually sold it on Ebay.

Another one to look out for by this wondeful singer is "As I watch you walk away" on Cadet 5550, lovely mid-tempo dancer arranged by Bert Keyes.

cheers

Paul

[Guest]

Since you guys were talking about "Feeling Good," I thought I'd enclose a picture of Jean DuShon, in the studio, recording that album. She's seen with the late, great and legendary conductor/arranger, Oliver Nelson.

A piece of trivia. After Ahmet Ertegun, VP of Atlantic Records saw DuShon performing at NY's Roundtable, he invited her to sign with his record company and assigned the young Phil Spector to produce her. They cut several numbers including the single "Talk To Me" backed with DuShon-penned, "Tired of Trying." A couple of other tunes were never released.

I reminded Jean that a record she made on Okeh (Columbia Records) was very popular as a cult record in Europe. She was surprised to find out that the record was "Second Class Lover." You should have heard her howl. "Second Class Lover?" she asked. "I forgot I ever recorded that!"