New Orleans Willie Jackson

b. USA. Jackson sang comic renditions of opera tunes in ‘blackface’ at a New Orleans ice cream parlour. His mid-20s recordings are versatile and vaudevillian, with strong dance numbers, double entendres, and humorous vignettes of Darktown life, ranging from the church to politics and the judiciary. He also sang a number of traditionally based blues, covered contemporary hits such as ‘Kansas City Blues’, and made the first recording of ‘T.B. Blues’, generally associated with Victoria Spivey.