J10: Good morning Irene, part 1
Posted on April 27, 2007
Filed Under JazzSphere Entries |
Her songs have been covered by the likes of Nat Cole, Anita O’Day and Louie Armstrong. She is the author of “Good Morning Heartache,” one of the most emotionally searing ballads in all of jazz. She was a close personal friend to Billie Holiday. The jazz history books have her born in Worcester on June 11, 1918. To say that Irene Higginbottam is one of our lost treasures would merely be stating the obvious.
Like a lot of jazz women of her day, very little is written about her. She is, in fact, sometimes considered to be two different people. Here in Worcester, the name Higginbotham has disappeared from local directories, only Higgenbottom and Higginbottom appear and are of no relation. The name Kitchings is absent as well. Local bassist Bunny Price, who is now in his 70s, says that there were some black folk in Worcester with the name Higginbotham but moved out of town a long time ago.
Musician Eugene Chadbourne has given us something to work with to help bring Irene Higginbotham’s identity into focus. In his biographical sketch written for All Music Guide, he writes: “While her closest connection in the popular music of the ’30s and ’40s was the great jazz singer Billie Holiday, prolific songwriter Irene Higginbotham was also related by blood and marriage to several famous musicians from this genre.
“The songwriter was the niece of classic jazz trombonist J.C. Higginbotham. She was also the ex-wife of Teddy Wilson by the time he provided piano accompaniment for some of Holiday’s most deeply romantic performances. In a not particularly rare example of jazz combining with soap opera, some of these were Higginbotham’s ballad masterworks, haunting tales of hearts that albeit broken can still be syncopated. Chances are these songs would be on the list of any Holiday fan’s favorite records, including “Some Other Spring” from 1939 and “Good Morning Heartache” from three years later.
Chadborne also notes that in a period of several decades, Higginbotham wrote enough songs to fill the pages of her own biographical volume. See ASCAP pages for a partial list.
Chadborne goes on to say, that despite the association with songs of love and loss, Higginbotham’s songs show a wide range in subject matter and singers who delivered them. He says that “In the Quiet of the Dawn,” is especially worth mentioning because it established her as a seminal presence in the creation of early doo wop.
“She also had a humorous side,” Chadborne says, “concocting material combining on-stage antics and music for the vaudeville team of Stump and Stumpy. Her collaborations with co-writer Syd Shaw were in demand as jumping jive reached up to the R&B shelf.” He cites such witty songs such as “No Pad to Be Had,” “It’s Got a Hole in It,” and “The Bottle’s Empty.”
Evidently, Higginbotham could also write hit material for dancers. “In the early ’50s some of the latter material such as a toll-free “Jersey Turnpike” was published under the pseudonym of Glenn Gibson due to shenanigans involving a BMI contract,” Chadborne reports. “Not every song attributed to Glenn Gibson is Higginbotham vintage, however. Joe Davis — A&R man, record label manager, and one of Higginbotham’s publishers — also used the name Glenn Gibson to copyright songs, some of which were actually in the public domain.” In the 1950s, Davis also recorded Stump and Stumpy singing Higginbotham’s “Two Thirds Dead.”
In closing, Chadborne compliments our lost hero by saying, “In general, high quality is the proof of an Irene Higginbotham composition. Her songs routinely stood out, sparkling with something special, at recording sessions where several sets of writers participated.”
A few years ago, jazz radio host David Brent Johnson on his show “Night Lights,” heard over WFIU 103.7 FM in Bloomington, Indiana presented a fascinating show called “Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes (a Jazz Mystery).” In his commentary on the program he claims to have solved the riddle of the two Irenes.
Building his show around the inquiry, Johnson presented a program that featured the Irene Wilson/Kitchings and Higginbotham compositions recorded by Billie Holiday, as well as songs that Holiday co-wrote with Arthur Herzog Jr., the man who supplied the lyrics for Irene Wilson’s songs. In “Ghosts of Yesterday,” he thanked jazz writers Chris Albertson and Chuck Nessa for their assistance in the matter.
An important link to Higginbotham may be traced to Joe Orange, a retired health insurance executive, who is currently running his own health insurance consulting firm near his home in Columbia, Maryland. Orange is a relative of Irene. A jazz musician himself, Orange was born and raised in the Bronx. He is also a noted trombonist who has worked with among others, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Palmieri, Charlie Palmieri, Lloyd Price and Herbie Mann. In a musical memoir written as a project for Fordham College, Orange wrote: “Music was also always part of my home life. My mother played piano and Hawaiian guitar, and I had an uncle and cousin that were prominent jazz musicians. My Uncle, J.C. Higginbotham was considered the greatest jazz trombonist, of the 1930’s and 40’s. He had played with Fletcher Henderson’s band, and recorded ‘Saints Go Marching In’ with Louis Armstrong.
“My cousin Irene Higginbotham was a great Boogie Woogie pianist and songwriter. She composed the words and music to Good Morning Heartache’ that was made famous by Billie Holiday in the 1940’s, and again by Diana Ross in the 1970’s. Today the song is considered a standard in the jazz repertoire.”
To be continued …
Here’s a link to a boogie woogie songbook adapted by Higginbotham.
Check out this clip of Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell and Paul Motian performing “Good Morning Heartache,” live.
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3 Responses to “J10: Good morning Irene, part 1”
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Hi Chet,
Quite interesting to read about Irene Higginbotham.
I first heard her name on WGBH FM’s “Eric In The Evening” from Eric Jackson’s guest Ran Blake. Half listening as i read my ears were perked when pianist/composer Blake mentioned a Worcester native named Higginbotham(I did think of J.C.)who the NEC instructor was seeking information about. He asked if any listeners had info. about this composer-I was stymied. Interesting, too, that my friend Eugene has found info. on her. Also, and mostly, that she penned such classics! -b#-Michael
Irene Higginbotham was my first cousin and lived with my family in the Bronx for a while. She wrote Good Morning Heartache while living with us. I remember this clearly because I was fascinated with the last words “Good Morning Heartache, sit down” Her parents were Garnet and Carrie Higginbotham. She has a sister Violet and a nephew still living in the Atlanta, GA area.
Irene was married at the time of her death and has a step son with whom I have lost contact.
One of Irene’s greatest compositions (in my opinion) was This Will Make You Laugh recorded by Nat King Cole and later, Natalie Cole. Irene was in a class by herself.
As a major fan of J.C. Higginbotham, I have also developed an interest in Irene Higginbotham and her songs.I believe she also wrote “I’ve Got News For You”, a hit for Ray Charles (with whom I worked from 1984 on and off til just before his death.) Another of her songs, “That Did It, Marie” was recorded by Benny Goodman’s band with vocal by a young Peggy Lee. I think Irene collaborated with J.C. on “Harlem Stomp”, of which Louis Armstrong made a fine record in 1940 and Red Allen’s combo included in a Jubilee Transcription from 1943. Joe Orange and I are kicking around the idea of writing extensively about J.C., Irene and the whole family, in which musical talent abounds.