Dorothy Donegan

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Dorothy Donegan

| background =

| image = Dorothy Donegan - American jazz pianist.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|4|6}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|5|19|1922|4|6}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| genre = {{hlist|Jazz|blues|classical|boogie-woogie}}

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = {{hlist|Piano|vibraphone|vocals}}

| years_active = 1936–1998

| label = {{hlist|MGM|Capitol}}

| associated_acts = {{hlist|Lionel Hampton|Brook Benton}}

}}

Dorothy Donegan (April 6, 1922 – May 19, 1998) was an American classically trained jazz pianist and occasional vocalist, primarily known for performing stride and boogie-woogie, as well as bebop, swing, and classical.{{cite web|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=Dorothy Donegan| url= https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dorothy-donegan-mn0000191515/biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=1 September 2011}}{{cite news| work= Smithsonian| title= Fascinating Women| first= Ted| last= Scheinman| page= 20| publisher= Smithsonian Institution | date= January–February 2021}}

Biography

=Early life, family and education=

Donegan was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and began studying piano in 1928.{{cite book| last1= Travis |first1= Dempsey J.|title=An Autobiography of Black Jazz|date=1983| publisher= Urban Research Institute| location= Chicago |isbn=0-941484-03-3|edition=1st |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb00trav}} She took her first lessons from Alfred N. Simms, a West Indian pianist who also taught Cleo Brown.{{cite encyclopedia |last= Balliett |first= Whitney| author-link=Whitney Balliett|title= Dorothy Donegan| encyclopedia= American Musicians II: Seventy-One Portraits in Jazz |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aDbbGIyPCOEC&pg=PA232| access-date =September 14, 2011|date=February 15, 2006 |publisher= University Press of Mississippi| isbn=978-1-57806-834-0|pages=232–238}} Donegan graduated from DuSable High School, where she studied with Walter Dyett, a teacher who also worked with Dinah Washington, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, and Von Freeman. She also studied at the Chicago Musical College and the University of Southern California.

=Career=

File:Dorothy Donegan Great Lakes Naval Station.jpg within Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, 1943]] Donegan was known for her work in Chicago nightclubs. In 1942 she made her recording debut. She appeared in Sensations of 1945 with Cab Calloway, Gene Rodgers, and W. C. Fields. She was a protege of Art Tatum, who called her "the only woman who can make me practice". (She said that Tatum "was supposed to be blind...I know he could see women.") In 1943, Donegan became the first African American to perform at Chicago's Orchestra Hall.{{cite web|last=Waldron|first=Clarence|title=Dorothy Donegan: Bouncy as ever at age 61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA87|access-date=September 14, 2011| date= December 1983| work=Ebony |pages=87–90|issn=0012-9011}} She later said of this pathbreaking performance:

In the first half I played Rachmaninoff and Grieg and in the second I drug it through the swamp – played jazz. Claudia Cassidy reviewed the concert on the first page of the Chicago Tribune. She said I had a terrific technique and I looked like a Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph.

In May 1983, Donegan, along with Billy Taylor, Milt Hinton, Art Blakey, Maxine Sullivan, Jaki Byard, and Eddie Locke, performed at a memorial service for Earl Hines, held at St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in New York City.{{cite web|title=Earl Hines Memorial Service|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/05/arts/earl-hines-memorial-service.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=9 November 2017|date=5 May 1983}} Her first six albums proved to be obscure compared to her successes in performance. It was not until the 1980s that her work gained notice in the jazz world. In particular, a recorded appearance at the 1987 Montreux Jazz Festival and her live albums from 1991 were met with acclaim. Even so, she remained best known for her live performances. She drew crowds with her eclectic mixture of styles and her flamboyant personality. Ben Ratliff argued in The New York Times that "her flamboyance helped her find work in a field that was largely hostile to women. To a certain extent, it was also her downfall; her concerts were often criticized for having an excess of personality."{{cite journal |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/22/arts/dorothy-donegan-76-flamboyant-jazz-pianist.html |journal=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1998 |last=Ratliff | first = Ben | title = Dorothy Donegan, 76, Flamboyant Jazz Pianist | access-date =September 14, 2011}} In 1992, Donegan received an "American Jazz Master" fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts,{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/dorothy-donegan|title=Dorothy Donegan {{!}} Pianist, Vocalist, Educator|website=NEA Jazz Masters|publisher=National Endownment for the Arts|access-date=April 5, 2021}} and in 1994, an honorary doctorate from Roosevelt University.{{cite news| title= Dorothy Donegan, Famed Jazz Pianist, Dies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2MMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38|access-date=September 14, 2011 |date=June 8, 1998 |work=Jet |pages= 38–39 |issn=0021-5996| via= Google Books}}

=Personal life and death=

Donegan was outspoken about her view that sexism, along with her insistence on being paid the same rates as male musicians, had limited her career. Donegan died of cancer in 1998, aged 76, in Los Angeles, California.

Discography

=As leader=

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year recorded

!Title

!Label

!Notes

1946?

|September Song

|Jubilee

1954?

|Dorothy Donegan Piano

|MGM

1955?

|Dorothy Donegan

|Jubilee

1957?

|Dorothy Donegan at the Embers

|Roulette

1959

|Dorothy Donegan Live!

|Capitol

|Album liner notes claim this trio recording was made at "The Embers on Manhattan's elegant East Side."

1959?

|Donnybrook with Dorothy

|Capitol

1961

|It Happened One Night

|Roulette

1963?

|Swingin' Jazz in Hi Fi

|Regina

1975

|The Many Faces of Dorothy Donegan

|Mahogany

|Trio, with Arvell Shaw (bass), Panama Francis (drums); reissued by Storyville with trio tracks from 1961

1975

|Dorothy Donegan

|Four Leaf Clover (Sweden)

|Trio, with Red Mitchell (bass), Lars Beijbom (drums); some tracks add Jan Allan (trumpet) - recorded live at "The Best of Harlem" in Stockholm, Sweden; expanded CD re-issue released in 1994 adds 3 tracks

1978

|Live at the King of France Tavern

|LiSem

|released 2015

1979?

|Makin' Whoopie

|Black & Blue

1980?

|Sophisticated Lady

|Ornament

1980

|Live in Copenhagen 1980