the Boswell Sisters

the Boswell Sisters, were an American jazz vocal trio noted for intricate harmonies and rhythmic experimentation; they were also a major influence on vocal artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and the Andrews Sisters. The three sisters were Martha (b. June 9, 1905, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.—d. July 2, 1958, Peekskill, New York), Connee (original name Connie; b. December 3, 1907, Kansas City, Missouri—d. October 11, 1976, New York, New York), and Helvetia (also called Vet; b. May 20, 1909, Birmingham, Alabama—d. November 12, 1988, Peekskill, New York).

Reared in New Orleans during the early years of jazz, the Boswell Sisters studied classical music, and their mother took them to experience the varieties of music that were to be found in the city. The sisters were trained as instrumentalists, and their first public performances (including one with the New Orleans Philharmonic) featured Martha on piano, Helvetia (known to all as “Vet”) on violin, guitar, and banjo, and Connee on cello, saxophone, and trombone. By 1925 they had evolved into a singing group, but the few records they cut that year attracted little notice. During an early broadcast engagement, the group accidentally discovered the sound that brought them success. Lead singer Connee found her voice weakened from a cold; to compensate, she moved closer to the microphone and sang at half-volume. The resulting sound gave greater emphasis to the group’s intimate, close harmonies, and Connee was subsequently regarded by many as the first popular singer to use a microphone for maximum effect.

The group’s greatest success came during 1930–35. They made their most noted recordings during that time, in addition to appearing frequently on radio and in Hollywood films such as The Big Broadcast (1932) and Moulin Rouge (1934). They were noted for exceptionally tight harmonies, scat singing, instrumental imitations, and several surprising tempo changes within a given song. They frequently inverted melodies and employed odd syncopation on recordings such as “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” in which they follow the song’s original harmonic progression but render the melody barely recognizable. The Boswells had a natural feeling for “hot” jazz and swing, unique among white singers of the era, and were greatly admired by many top jazz musicians. Connee wrote the group’s arrangements, as heard on esteemed recordings such as “Heebie Jeebies,” “Old Yazoo,” “Shout, Sister, Shout,” “It’s the Girl,” “Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long,” “42nd Street,” “Crazy People,” and “The Object of My Affection.”

After a handful of sides recorded for Decca in early 1936, Vet and Martha quit the music business to becomes wives and mothers. Connee Boswell continued with a solo career that met with some success, and she continued singing until her retirement in the mid-1970s. Confined to a wheelchair as a result of a childhood bout with polio, she often appeared onstage in an elevated chair covered by a long gown to give the impression that she was standing. Connee also acted in several films during the 1940s and was a regular on the early ’50s TV series Pete Kelly’s Blues, opposite Jack Webb.

For all their importance, innovation, and popularity, the Boswell Sisters were largely forgotten for many years. Their classic recordings began to be rereleased in the early 1980s (some reissues supervised by Vet Boswell), prompting a revival of interest in their work and an ever-growing cult following. Their influence on jazz singing was incalculable; Ella Fitzgerald often cited Connee Boswell as her only influence (and, on many of her early recordings with the Chick Webb band, Fitzgerald sounds uncannily like Boswell). Many critics today regard the Boswell Sisters (along with Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross) as one of the two greatest jazz vocal groups of all time.