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Soprano Kathryn “Kay” Wimp Dies at 92 - One of the Last links to Duke Ellington
The death of Kathryn “Kay” Wimp means one of the last links to jazz giant Duke Ellington is gone.
Mrs. Wimp’s classical music training at Northwestern University burnished her silvery lyric soprano, which “Sir Duke” used to ethereal effect in many recordings.
The Evanston native, who performed with Ellington from 1944 to 1950 as “Kay Davis,” was part of an unusual dream team he created of three female lead vocalists with different styles. Most swing bands used just one male and one female singer. It was a typical innovation by the man widely considered to be the greatest jazz composer-pianist-orchestra leader of all time.
Ellington’s two other key vocalists in the lineup were Joya Sherrill and Maria Ellington (no relation), who married Nat King Cole.
But Mrs. Wimp stood out. In addition to swingin’ songs, Ellington often had her perform wordless, soaring bell-like filigrees over melodies.
She “was outstanding among them for her classical training and beautiful voice. It was haunting,” said Richard Wang of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, an associate professor emeritus of music at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“She sang almost like an opera singer,” said Morris Hodara of New York City’s Duke Ellington Society. “Her specialty was really these exotic things that Ellington wrote, non-lyrical.”
Mrs. Wimp died last month at her home in Apopka, Fla., at age 92.
With her death, “There’s almost nobody left who was with the orchestra,” Hodara said, particularly from the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s.
She was born Kathryn McDonald in Evanston, the daughter of a chiropractor father and homemaker mother. Mrs. Wimp’s family was musical. Her father sang in church, and she always remembered performing. Read More….
Story courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times

Feb 19th

Soprano Kathryn “Kay” Wimp Dies at 92 - One of the Last links to Duke Ellington

The death of Kathryn “Kay” Wimp means one of the last links to jazz giant Duke Ellington is gone.

Mrs. Wimp’s classical music training at Northwestern University burnished her silvery lyric soprano, which “Sir Duke” used to ethereal effect in many recordings.

The Evanston native, who performed with Ellington from 1944 to 1950 as “Kay Davis,” was part of an unusual dream team he created of three female lead vocalists with different styles. Most swing bands used just one male and one female singer. It was a typical innovation by the man widely considered to be the greatest jazz composer-pianist-orchestra leader of all time.

Ellington’s two other key vocalists in the lineup were Joya Sherrill and Maria Ellington (no relation), who married Nat King Cole.

But Mrs. Wimp stood out. In addition to swingin’ songs, Ellington often had her perform wordless, soaring bell-like filigrees over melodies.

She “was outstanding among them for her classical training and beautiful voice. It was haunting,” said Richard Wang of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, an associate professor emeritus of music at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“She sang almost like an opera singer,” said Morris Hodara of New York City’s Duke Ellington Society. “Her specialty was really these exotic things that Ellington wrote, non-lyrical.”

Mrs. Wimp died last month at her home in Apopka, Fla., at age 92.

With her death, “There’s almost nobody left who was with the orchestra,” Hodara said, particularly from the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s.

She was born Kathryn McDonald in Evanston, the daughter of a chiropractor father and homemaker mother. Mrs. Wimp’s family was musical. Her father sang in church, and she always remembered performing. Read More….

Story courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times

(via everylittlethingwantstobeloved)

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