Thursday, April 14, 2011

Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon Part 1......

"If this song's too hot, cool it if you can...Go out and buy yourself a five cent fan.....and fan it"

Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon....Part 1

Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon (February 3, 1895 - 1944 ?) was an African American vaudeville singer, female impersonator, stage designer and comedian, popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

He was born in Montgomery, Alabama, orphaned, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. His nickname of "Half Pint" referred to his 5'2" height. He started in show business around 1910 as a singer in Kansas City, before travelling extensively with medicine shows in Texas, and then touring the eastern seaboard. His feminine voice and outrageous manner, often as a female impersonator, established him as a crowd favorite. By 1917 he had begun working regularly in Atlantic City, New Jersey and in Chicago, Illinois, often with such performers as Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, whose staging he helped design.

In the late 1920s he sang with top jazz bands when they passed through Chicago, working with Bennie Moten, King Oliver and Freddie Keppard among others. He also performed and recorded with the pianists Cow Cow Davenport, Tampa Red and "Georgia Tom" Dorsey, recording with the latter pair under the name of The Black Hillbillies. He also recorded with the Harlem Hamfats. In the 1930s he was often on radio in the Chicago area, and led his own band, Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon and his Quarts Of Joy.

Jaxon appeared with Duke Ellington in a film short called Black and Tan Fantasy (1929). Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" (1931) is based both musically and lyrically on Jaxon's "Willie the Weeper" (1927).

His recordings, such as "Fan It" (later recorded by Woody Herman), are mostly filled with bawdy comedy, double entendres and hokum. Blues fans reserve a special place in their hearts for his orgasmic parodies of "How Long How Long Blues" and "It's Tight Like That", louché collaborations with Tampa Red, Georgia Tom and assorted jugbandsmen.

In 1941 he retired from show business and worked at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He was transferred to Los Angeles, California in 1944 where, according to most sources, he died in the veterans hospital, although according to Allmusic he lived in Los Angeles until 1970.


Allrighty then! Let's get to part 1!!


Be your natural self-4-17-1940
Callin' Corrine
-5-19-1939
Can't you wait till you get home?-piano=Blanche Smith Walton-7-12-1927
Can't you wait?-2-13-1929
Corrine blues-7-22-1929
Corrine-8-3-1927
Don't drink it in here-Bill Johnson's Louisiana Jug Band 3-21-1929
Don't pan me (please don't talk about me when I'm gone)-5-19-1939
Down at Jasper's Bar-B-Que-10-28-1928
Fan it (take A)-11-28-1928
Fan it (take B)-11-28-1928
Fan it Boogie woogie-5-19-1939
Fifteen Cents-Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon and his hot shots-7-29-1933
Get the L on down the road-Bill Johnson's Louisiana Jug Band 3-21-1929
Gimme a pig's foot and a bottle of beer-4-17-1940
Hannah fell in love with my piano-As Frankie JACKSON w/Lloyd Barnes, piano 5-14-1926
Head rag hop-Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon/Romeo Nelson/Tampa Red 1928?
Hit ta ditty low down-10-28-1928
How can I get it-10-28-1928
I knocks myself out-w/ The Harlem Hamfats 4-22-1938
I'm gonna dance wit de guy wot brung me-8-1-1927 (sorry, VERY bad quality)
I'm gonna steal you 2-piano=Blanche Smith Walton-7-12-1927
I'm gonna steal you 1-4-22-1938
If that don't get it, this sho' will-As Frankie JACKSON w/Lloyd Barnes, piano 5-14-1926
It's heated-6-11-1929
The dirty dozens-3-12-1937

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VOZ1S86D

3 comments:

  1. Hi, Thanks so much for posting this stuff. I had not known of Half Pint Jaxon before, and I'm so happy to know of him now! J

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  2. More to come....some trippin', hilarious, excellent stuff :)

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  3. Hiya Barb! Can you re-up Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon? Got more you say? Hubba-Hubba! Bring it on! Thanks again!!!

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