Chet Burchfield (Charles)

Born Kingsport, TN, Thursday, July 22, 1943. Double bass, electric bass and guitar bass player. Self-taught. Began playing the upright bass while attending Lanier Junior High School, Macon, GA. Playing with The Homer Scarbourgh Band (1960), The Sheiks Quintet, Macon, GA (1960-1961). After graduating from Willingham High School, Macon, GA, he joined in December 1961 the 581st US Air Force Reserve Band at Warner Robins, GA. He was transferred in May 1963 to the 501st US Air Force Band of the Pacific at Hickam AFB, Pear Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii. Discharged on October 1965, he remained in Honolulu and played with Ernie Washington, Trummy Young, Hadda Brooks, John Poole and Anita O’Day, participating at the Penthouse Sunday Jam Sessions leaded by Joe Castro (1965-1966). After returning to Macon in March 1966, he played with The Duke DeMay Trio (1966) and then toured the east coast with The Flo Dryer International Quartet (1966-1967). Through 2008 he worked three unrelated jobs (1972-1979), attends DeVry University, Decatur, GA (1979-1981) and then, Director of US Field Services, Intermec Technologies, Inc., Atlanta, GA (1979-2008). Retired, he played with The Georgia Big Band (2013-2015), and currently plays with Evan & Patti Jones & The Family Affair (2009-), The Tabernacle Baptist Church Orchestra (2009-), The Southern Gentlemen Dixieland Jazz Band (2010-), The World Famous Walnut Street Dixie, Racing & Marching Society Jazz Band (2012-), as well as The Jazz Association of Macon Ensemble (2013-).

Influence: Ray Brown, Charles Mingus

Recording: Flo Dryer Band: The Circus Room [1966], Mark Records CD Baby 634479910418, released Tuesday, October 14, 2008; Tabernacle Worship Experience: Sunday Morning All Over Again Tabernacle Baptist Church CD Baby, 884501544726, released Tuesday, July 5, 2011; Tom Rule: It Should Be Called Christmas MaconMacMusicGuy Publishing CD Baby, 700261432854, released, Saturday, November 21, 2015.

Chet Burchfield ^[•]

Flo Handy (Flora Anne Morse)

Born Houston, TX, Wednesday, May 15, 1929. Died Canadensis, PA, Wednesday, April 3, 1996. Singer, piano, composer. Non-professional musical family, father lead a band, mother a pianist, Ella Mae Morse's younger sister.* After the divorce of her parents, she lives in her maternal uncle’s family (Roy Lafayette Blissard and Evelyne Louise Blissard, née Stephenson) at 6, San Diego, CA. Self-taught, later study piano with Stanford Gold. Married to George Handy (Hendleman), Las Vegas, NV, May 13, 1946; Al Cohn (Koviwitz), New York, NY, 1963. First public musical performance, CBS Radio show “Which Is Which?” where she imitates her sister, Los Angeles, CA (June 6, 1945). First musical employment in saloons (ca 1950). Replace Annie Ross in Lambert-Hendricks-Ross at the Great South Bay Jazz Festival, NY (August 1, 1958). Sings at Birdland with George Barnes-Carl Dress Guitar Duo, New York City (October 6, 1964). Plays piano at Dunwoodie Cafe Lounge, Yonkers, NY (October 16, 1964). Sings with The Duke Ellington Jazz Society band: Bob Wilber, Pepper Adams, Dave Bailey, Shorty Baker, Quentin Jackson, Jaki Byard, Wendell Marshall, Flo Handy at Barbizon Plaza Theatre, New York City (May 22, 1966). Sings and plays piano at Holiday Inn, Stroudsburg, PA (February-March, 1973); 4 Seasons, Mountainhome, PA (June 1-June 6, 1973); Lone Pine Jazz, Henryville, PA (June 27, 1973); The Back Door, Stroudsburg, PA (January 4-January 5, 1974; January 11-January 12, 1974). Sings at The Bottom O’The Fox, Delaware Water Gap, PA (July 17-July 18; July 25; July 31-August 1; August 7-August 8, 1974); The Inn, Tannersville, PA (July 29; August 5; August 12-August 26, 1974). Plays piano at Club Mo-Nom-O-Nock, Mountainhome, PA (May 18, 1975); Holiday Inn, Stroudsburg, PA (May-September 3, 1977). Sings with Salute to Al Cohn, Flo Handy, Barry Harris, Milt Hinton, Mousey Alexander at NYU, Loeb Student Center, New York City (December 15, 1977).

Appreciation: “… The term ‘jazz singer’ too often means the performer has poor breath control, resorts to gimmicks, and distorts melodies for the reason that he or she cannot generate much interest when singing straight. The term fits Flo Handy, however, and not for the foregoing reasons. On the contrary, she sings with superb control, minimal gimmickry, and a wonderful sense of the true character of a melody. She is an esthetic descendant of Billie Holiday. But unlike so many singers who study the late Miss Holiday’s work and then get hung up in it, Flo has used it as a point of departure only. Her own vocal quality is quite different than Miss Holiday’s. It has a rich, warm, smoke sound. Occasionally she will turn the end of a phrase or pronounce a word exactly like Miss Holiday, but these moments have the character of tributes. And Flo obviously has listened to other singers as well. What she has learned from them has been integrated into her own conception.

One final point: most singers lean toward emphasizing either the musical qualities or verbal content of a song. The first approach tends to be cold, the second is sloppy. Flo is one of the very, very few singers who can pay sensitive attention to both.”
Gene Lees, notes on LP Smoky and Intimate: The Remarkable Voice of Flo Handy Carney LPM 201, 1965.

Recording as a leader: Single Carney 45/33-1004, 45/33-1006, released poss. 1964;Smoky and Intimate: The Remarkable Voice of Flo Handy LP Carney LPM 201, released February 1965; Flo & George Handy at Duke Farms 1956 CD Sunnyside tbs, released tbs 2019.

Recording as a sideman: The Creed Taylor Orchestra: Ping Pang Pong—The Swinging Ball LP ABC Paramount ABCS-325 (A “Percussive Sound” album), released July 1960.

Recorded compositions: Keyf, by Boyd Raeburn and His Orchestra 78 V-Disc No. 677B, released September 1946; Major-Major, Minor-Minor, by Zoot Sims Zoot Plays Alto, Tenor and Baritone LP ABC-Paramount ABC-155, released February 1957; Why Cry?, Echoes of You, Swim Jim, Here and Now, by Zoot Sims Zoot! LP Riverside RLP 12-228, released April 1957.




Ella Mae Morse*
The Early Years

“Former Paris Girl Goes with Dorsey’s Band. By Henry Moore.” “Born in Paris¹ and only a few months ago holding down a regular sustaining program on Radio Station KPLT was Miss Ella Mae Morse, 19-year-old [sic] songstress who is due to make her debut with Jimmy Dorsey’s orchestra in Dallas this week ² and who will be in front of the band when it opens at the swank Hotel New Yorker in New York City January 19 [sic].³ Miss Morse is the granddaughter of Reuben Vallier, employed at the Plaza theatre⁴ here, and it was in his home she was visiting when she sang on KPLT. So off to New York will go the native Parisian [sic], and along with her will be her mother, Mrs. Anna Morse. There, in one of the big city’s best hotels, she’ll appear with one of the nation’s better swing bands. There, too, she’ll be given a chance to go even higher, as has another Texas girl, Mary Martin of Weatherford. Terms of her contract make it possible for her mother to go with her. It’s been a hard grind and one which perseverance, as almost always won out in the end. In Paris this past summer, she sang with the Studio Gang⁵, carried her own program and sang with the Southerners Paris band⁶ that opened the Texahoma Club just across Red river on the Oklahoma side.⁷ That was probably her first appearance in front of an orchestra at a night club, although I do believe she’d had some appearances with orchestras in Dallas before that. She was introduced by Richard Schlaudroff, then program director of KPLP and master of ceremonies at the club’s opening as a ‘beautiful girl with a beautiful voice’—and the description fits, except that the term ‘warmly appealing’ is a more apt expression of her voice register. For months, she had asked the big time band leaders who came to Dallas to give her an audition. Time and time again, she was turned down. But Dorsey was keeping his eyes, ears open is a search for a new girl vocalist, and she turned out to be the answer to his problem. Although she got through her first test with manager Bill Burton of the Dorsey band in a none to encouraging manner, she perked up plentifully in when the band joined her. So, to make a long story good, she was accepted with much gusto. She’ll make her bow with the band either Monday or Tuesday night in the Century Room of the Adolphus hotel⁸ provided her special arrangements can be worked out in time. In the even this can’t be handled, her debut will come in the snazzy Hotel New Yorker. She’s in for a Happy New Year. And here’s hoping you are, too.” The Paris News, Paris, Texas, Sunday, January 1, 1939, p. 8.


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¹ She was born on Wednesday, September 12, 1923, in Mansfield, Texas. After the divorce of her parents, George Elmer Morse and Anna Beatrice Morse (née Blissard), Ella Mae lived with her mother in Paris Texas, where resides her remarried grandmother Alice Mitty (née Field, and formerly Morse) resided with her husband Ruben Vallier.

² Jimmy Dorsey at Century Room, Hotel Adolphus, Commerce Street, at Akard and Main, Dallas, Texas. From Wednesday, December 21, 1938, to at least tbs Tuesday, January 3, 1939. “Campus Chapter. By Guy Hamilton” The Cougar, Houston, Texas, Friday, December 9, 1938, p. 2. “Former Parisian Joins Dorsey Band.” The Paris Texas News, Paris, Texas, Tuesday, January 3, 1939, p. 2.

³ Jimmy Dorsey at Terrace Room, Hotel New Yorker, 8 Avenue at 34th Street, New York, New York, from Wednesday, January 11, to Tuesday, March 7, 1939. “Dinner, Supper, and Dancing,” The New Yorker, Saturday, January 7, 1939, p. 2; “Dinner, Supper, and Dancing,” The New Yorker, Saturday, March 4, 1939, p. 4.

⁴ Plaza, North Plaza, Paris Texas.

⁵ Frank Ladd vocal, fiddle; Dixie Walker piano; J.D. Kahler banjo; John Conner bass; Gross Lay trombone. “On the Airwaves…. Winners in KPLT Search for Talent Announced. By Henry Moore.” The Paris Texas News, Paris Texas, Sunday, January 8, 1939, p. 10. Musicians of the radio program, “Studio Gang,” Radio Station KPLT, Paris, Texas.

⁶ 10-piece dance orchestra that included “The Five Buddies.” “On the Airwaves…. Whistler To Join Heidt in June. By Henry Moore.” “…Although program dates still have to be set, the Five Buddies, new swing dance band, will be doing radio work from Radio Station KPLT in the near future. Built on the skeleton idea of the Dixieland band, the boys offer doubling work that can bring into action two saxophones, two clarinets, a trumpet, piano and drums. Unusual and versatile arrangements make up their style. Moye Prock manages the boys….” The Paris Texas News, Paris, Texas, Monday, March 14, 1938, p. 7. “Sixty-Five Musical Years Behind Five Buddies: And Little Band Going over Here.” “…Organized here March 5, 1938, the band named Walter Wooldridge business manager an has met with remarkable success as a unit and when featured with the 10-piece Southerners orchestra on road engagements. Wooldridge is also manager of the Southerners, headed by Lloyd Wooten, trumpet player in both bands…. Lloyd Wooten trumpet; Moye Prock clarinet, alto saxophone; Walter Wooldridge clarinet, tenor saxophone; Walter Beacham piano; Bill Highberger drums, percussion [or Billy Snow]….” The Paris Texas News, Paris Texas, Sunday, January 8, 1939, p. 10.

⁷ Opened Thursday July 14, 1938. “Night Club to Open Thursday Night.” The Paris Texas News, Thursday, July 14, 1938, p. 2. Texahoma Club, 15 miles out of Paris, U. S. Highway 271, across Red river from Arthur City to Hugo, Oklahoma.

⁸ “Former Parisian Joins Dorsey Band,” (picture of Ella Mae Morse, Jimmy Dorsey, Anna Morse) “Looking on as Jimmy Dorsey, famed orchestra leader, studies new new 2-year contract as vocalist with the band, currently at the Hotel Adolphus in Dallas, is 10 [sic] year old Ella Mae Morse…. Her debut with the orchestra was slated for Tuesday night in the Adolphus Century room.” The Paris Texas News, Paris, Texas, Tuesday, January 3, 1939, p. 2.