Betty Roché

A singer who performed with Duke Ellington in both the '40s and '50s, Betty Roche was famous for her strong, dramatic way of putting across blues material. She began her career by triumphing at an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. In 1941, she sang with the Savoy Sultans, then joined Duke Ellington two years later. It was a tough assignment, replacing one of the bandleader's most popular vocalists, Ivie Anderson, just days before Ellington's first concert at Carnegie Hall. She rose to the occasion, scoring highly with both the critics and audience in her featured section of the Ellington suite "Black, Brown and Beige." Ellington could not make a studio recording of the suite until 1944, unfortunately, by which time Roche had already been replaced by Joya Sherrill. In a similar bit of bad career luck, Roche sang the Ellington signature tune "Take the A Train" in the 1943 film Reveille With Beverly. Again, she did not come up with a studio version until nearly a decade later. One can blame these misfortunes on the second World War and the subsequent ban on all recording activity, which kept Ellington from documenting much of anything in 1943. Roche also performed and recorded with pianist Earl Hines, trumpeter Clark Terry, and funky singer/pianist Charles Brown. She cut three sides under her name for the Bethlehem and Prestige labels in the late '50s and early '60s. The impression she made on the jazz scene is actually larger than many think, as she is credited with being a major influence both on bebop singers and the public's ability to deal with that kind of musical adventure. However, the lack of easily available documentation of some of her activities has hindered a full understanding of her career. ~ Eugene Chadbourne