Hi STEEMIL community, today we will talk about Jazz.
Marie Bryant was born on November 6, 1917 in Mississippi, was an actress, dancer, singer and choreographer. She made her professional debut at the age of 15 with Louis Armstrong at the Grand Terrace Cafe in Chicago in 1934, becoming a regular singer and dancer at the city's Jazz venues, later performing in Los Angeles with Lionel Hampton, and at the Cotton Club in New York with Duke Ellington, he also worked in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
After that experience with the Duke, he obtained small roles in several films and also taught dance for film studios and in several schools, his students included great movie luminaries like: Marlon Brando, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Ava Gadner, among others.
After Marie's stay in London, she traveled with various shows throughout Europe and Southeast Asia, returned to the United States in the 1970s, dividing her time between Hollywood and Los Vegas and directing her own dance studio, died of cancer in 1978 at the age of 61 years.
Despite his association with some of the best jazz musicians, he only recorded six swing songs (Jazz style, very popular at the time)
"I have built a dance style of my own that can best be described as 'controlled release.' It consists of finding the natural line of each body and the favorite shapes in which it likes to move, and then controlling these movements." - Marie Bryant
He had a wonderfully easy style that reminds Billie Holiday.
Duke Ellington, referred to her as "one of the greatest dancers in the world."
Gene Kelly called her "one of the best dancers I've ever seen".
Below I show you two videos where Marie Bryant performs as a singer and as a dancer.
