"Singer, trumpeter and dancer. Child star, jazz pioneer and world traveler. Legend and myth. If Valaida Snow's life wasn't already sensational enough, she sensationalized it further, freely evading and embellishing the truth of her triumphs, trials and tribulations. But even after her life has been measured against the historical record, it remains a grand and compelling tale, and Valaida herself a grand and compelling figure" so reads the blurb on the back cover of Mark Miller's High Hat, Trumpet and Rhythm: The Life And Music Of Valaida Snow (2007)
Valaida Snow was born fabulous! Contrary to various other dates listed for her birth, Snow was virtually born in a suitcase on June 2, 1904, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her parents were show people and she made her first stage entrance with the The Pickaninny Troubadors, a vaudeville act that her father managed. A child prodigy, "Valaida The Great" was soon the star performer of a troupe that consisted mainly of children, or those who could pass as children.
It is said that she learned to play the cello, bass, violin, banjo, mandolin, harp, accordian, clarinet, trumpet and saxophone with astounding virtuosity by the age of 15, but if that's true, Mark Miller makes no mention of it in his book. She was, however, first married at the age of 15, and Miller does clarify that the young Miss Snow wowed audiences with her dancing, singing and coronet playing and that she didn't pick up the trumpet until 1928 as a young adult. Whatever the truth, it was an easy transition and she did it with such aplomb that even her idol, Louis Armstrong, gave her such mad respect that she became known as Little Louis!
Valaida Snow's career really began to take off when she changed the spelling of her name and took off from her family. She had already confounded the gender roles of jazz, and as the 1920's introduced a new, more carefree, less restricted type of female, Valaida embraced the new era with open arms. Anything men could do, she could do too - if not better than! She led orchestras, produced her own shows and was a world traveler before she was 25. And she knew how to love them and leave them in every city just as freely, and as big and bad as any of her male peers were known to do.
Valaida Snow worked consistently throughout the 20's in Harlem, Chicago and throughout the black theater circuit. Like so many other African American entertainers of the 1920's, Valaida traveled abroad and found major success. Unlike them, she didn't go straight to Europe, but to Asia - Shanghai to be specific! She stayed for three years, became the toast of the continent and made that money! When she finally decided to come back home, she did so by way of Egypt, Italy and on Josephine Baker's turf, France. Both she and Baker had their roots in such earlier productions as The Chocolate Dandies, and remained lifelong friends. As the black press did with Baker, they kept readers at home informed of Valaida's triumphs and exploits abroad. In fact, at one point, they asked if she was trying to "out Josephine" Miss Baker herself with her own brand of outrageous antics, fabulosity and eccentricities.
It's in the early black newspapers that the legend (if not the total truth) of Valaida Snow can be found in all its glory and notoriety. There you will find Valaida as Queen of the tabloids as well as the trumpet, her friendship and her feuds with Ethel Waters, the charges of bigamy, drug addiction, supposed suicide attempts, thefts, arrests and subsequent jailtime. They will also say she robbed the cradle when, nearing 30, she whipped it on young 16 year old Ananias "Nyas" Berry of the dancing Berry Brothers and then married him. In the vintage press, you will find Valaida Snow as the original comeback queen! But will you find the real truth about her stint as a prisoner of war in a Nazi prison camp during WWII?
The writers and historians say one of the reasons Valaida Snow has been wiped from our collective consciousness is because she expatriated herself by spending so much of her career in Europe. Valaida Snow's real life wasn't particularly easy and maybe she knew a little bit about the facts of life - namely that if you don't work you don't eat! Maybe the constant work, the fabulous pay and the adoring audiences were just too much to pass up in favor of a country where she was only as good as her last big record or stage show? It also didn't help that Valaida Snow's recordings were not released in the States pre-1946.
Cafe society & cabaret performer, Bobby Short (who knew a little something about everybody) once said that while he met her once, even HE didn't know anyone that really knew (or remembered) Miss Snow all that well. And THAT'S saying something!
Outside of the Mark Miller book, there are very few others; one is a book of fiction by Candace Allen who said she had to reinvent Miss Snow's life because beyond the screaming headlines, the facts just weren't there. They say that's partly Snow's fault, too! She often reimagined the truth for her own gain when the purposes suited her - like when she returned to the United States nearly forgotten in the early 40's to a Black America that was being soothed by the charms of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and two teenagers named Sarah Vaughn and Dinah Washington. She needed a gimmick and she found one!
Miss Snow resumed her place in the gossip columns but she also proved she could roll with the times by remixing her musical style many times over through her recordings for small R&B labels like Apollo, Chess, Derby and Bel-Tone. Though she eventually became a sad and bitter woman, she continued to work and influence other up & coming female musicians like Melba Liston and Clora Bryant! You will read a lot of things about Valaida Snow that just isn't true - and that's an exciting part of the legend but some people want to keep it that way. They'll say that she died onstage or backstage at this or that theater, but she passed away at King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, on May 30, 1956 from a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 51 years old.
As I officially declare this Valaida Snow Week on the blog, there will definitely be snow flurries all week. I have at least three other planned posts that deal directly or indirectly with Miss Snow. It looks like snow, indeed!
Lol, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! What a fascinating woman, a rebel and black feminist. I love the energy of someone who is fearless and runs through life challenging everyone and everthing around them (and having a damn good time, too)
Posted by: Thomas | August 02, 2011 at 08:14 PM
I'm interested in the POW in a Nazi concentration camp thing! I believe that there are significantly more Blacks who were interred in those camps than we know of. Germany and France had a significant number of Blacks living in their capitals at that time and not all of them could run home in time to escape the Nazi's so what happened to them?
This would be a great research project for a documentary.
Posted by: Greg | August 04, 2011 at 11:58 AM
@Greg! Yes, some of those interred African Americans were well-known musicians like Henry Crowder. Valaida Snow was NOT one of them! In just a few days, I'll be examining this story in a post soley devoted to that particular legend.
Posted by: Corey | August 04, 2011 at 12:46 PM
let is Snow Kudos
Posted by: jahlaune | August 07, 2011 at 04:31 AM