Ginger Smock
Ginger Smock | |
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 Ginger Smock's violin, at the Smithsonian | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Emma Smock |
| Born | 4 June 1920 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Died | 13 June 1995 (aged 75) |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Violinist |
| Instrument(s) | Violin |
Emma Smock (4 June 1920
Life and career
Born in Chicago, Smock grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Jefferson High School.[2] She studied violin privately with Bessie Dones, and at the age of 10 appeared as a soloist at the Hollywood Bowl.[2] She was featured on Clarence Muse's radio program at the age of thirteen performing Edward MacDowell's To a Wild Rose.[2] She earned degrees in music from Los Angeles City College, and the Zoellner Conservatory of Music.[2] At the latter institution she was a pupil of Edith Smith.[2]
During 1944 she was leading a trio, with Nina Russell and Mata Roy.[6] In 1951, she led an all-female sextette, featuring Clora Bryant,[7] on the Chicks and the Fiddle show hosted by Phil Moore[3] that broadcast for six weeks on CBS.[8] In 1952, she was the featured soloist on KTLA's variety show, Dixie Showboat.[3]
On March 31, 1953, Smock recorded as part of a group, with Gerald Wiggins, Freddie Simon, Red Callender, and Rudy Pitts, accompanying the vocalist Cecil "Count" Carter.[9]
Beginning in the mid-1970s, she spent ten years as concertmaster of show orchestras in Las Vegas.[2]
A violin owned by Smock is in the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.[10]
Recordings
- Ginger Smock: Studio and Demo Recordings 1946-1958 (AB Fable, 2005)
References
- ^ Cox, Bette Yarbrough (1996) Central Avenue - its rise and fall, 1890-c. 1955: including the musical renaissance of Black Los Angeles. BEEM Publications At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
- ^ a b c "Hot violinist is TV Hit in Los Angeles" Jet. At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ "New York Beat" Jet. At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ Lewis, Steven (June 2017). "The Woman with the Violin: Ginger Smock and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene". si.edu. Smithsonian Institution.
- ^ "Reviews: Nina, Mata and Ginger" Billboard. At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ Mcgee, Kristin A. (2009) Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959, p. 211. Wesleyan University Press At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ The New York Times Television Reviews 2000, p. 372. Routledge, Jun 5, 2003 At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ Women in Jazz: A Discography of Instrumentalists, 1913-1968. Greenwood Press, 1985 At Google Books. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ "The Woman with the Violin". 25 September 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
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