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Edythe Baker

Edythe A. Baker (August 25, 1899 – August 15, 1971) was an American jazz pianist.

Baker was born in poverty in Girard, Kansas to Asa and Sophronia Baker. After her mother died around 1910 she was sent to Kansas City, Missouri to live, and attended a convent. There she was trained in piano fundamentals, eventually working for a music store. After touring with a vaudeville troupe in 1918, Edythe moved to New York City in 1919. There she made piano rolls (for Aeolian and Duo-Art) between 1919 and 1926; these included ragtime and pop pieces. She worked on Broadway in musicals and performed with vaudeville troupes such as the Ziegfeld Follies.

In 1926, Baker relocated to England, and recorded twenty two pieces there between 1927 and 1933. She became a star there after appearing in revues in 1927. Constant Lambert saw her perform, and suggested to Harold Rutland that she might be the soloist for the premiere of his jazz-influenced choral piece The Rio Grande in 1930. However, Hamilton Harty was the eventual soloist.

She married into the banking family of Gerard d'Erlanger in 1928, and left the music industry after the mid 1930s. After divorcing d'Erlanger, she romanced the Duke of Kent. Baker returned to the United States in the late 1940s, at one point settling in Laguna, California and enjoying a quiet life of bridge and gardening. Little was heard of her until her death in Orange, California in 1971.

A selection of Baker's piano rolls, recorded by Dave Jasen, were reissued on an album released by Folkways Records in 1983.

Baker died in California in 1971, aged 71.

Birth and Death Data: Born August 25, 1899, Died August 15, 1971 (Orange County)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1920

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
OKeh S-7505 10-in. July 1920 Dreaming blues Joseph Samuels Jazz Band Jazz/dance band composer  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Baker, Edythe," accessed November 22, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106977.

Baker, Edythe. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106977.

"Baker, Edythe." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 22 November 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106977

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