Greetings, horlettes, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Today's starry songstress studied piano and voice in college, as she was set on becoming an opera singer. But once she heard a few Duke Ellington LPs, introduced to her by her mother, opera was dunzo . Jazz had infected her soul, as it had for so many in the early 1930s. Back then, jazz was also called "devil's music," since it was created by Black musicians, of course, but also because it was linked to the Women's Liberation movement, and unlike classical music, it wasn't based on any foundation of specific rules and techniques. Improvisation was scary - and, yes, it increased immorality and promiscuity. I know, I know, I can hear you now: "Sign me up!" But this was a different time, as they say. Lucky for us, at the Manor's "Cake Shakin' Lounge and Dessertery," DJ Li'l Cat will be spinning her tunes tonight. Do you recognize this gently coquettish ope...

"Xest sx̣lx̣alt," music hors, or "Good day" in the highly-endangered Salishan Indigenous American language. After all, it's Indigenous People Day in the U.S. (Columbus who? We don't know her). Confused? Curious? If it makes you horny, don't worry, you're a hussy and you're in the right place.  Welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with a lass who popularized the swooning, bluesy, "Lover Come Back To Me" in 1938, though it was her versions of "Georgia On My Mind" and "Rockin' Chair" that really made her famous. DJ Li'l Scratch and I just love her to bits, and tonight at the Manor's "Pink And Sloppy" bar and taco dinette, he'll be spinning her tunes for all to savor.  So rejoice jazz fans  - and Indigenous Americans, too! Mildred Bailey, a jazz chanteuse extraordinaire who was known as "The Queen Of Swing" in her day, is here at last. Born in northwestern Idaho on...

Welcome, music sluts, to anther edition of Manor Music Monday, today with an added skosh of sass, brass and class - and heaps of talent, too, from a flirty dame who started out as a jazz songstress, then segued to becoming a fine actress, then segued right back to being a jazz songstress. You can hear her perform scads of delightful tunes tonight at the Manor's "Bush Diver" after-hours lounge and ramen dinette, so be sure to swing by. And get this: yours truly actually met this songstress. Can you believe? Lucky me! Can you guess who it is? If you guessed Monica Lewis, you win! When I met her, it wasn't long before she passed, unfortunately. She was in her early 90s, chipper as can be and attending an anniversary screening of the movie "Earthquake!" in which she appears. I nabbed her before she went inside. She was so delightful, so sweet, and surprised that I knew her primarily as a singer. "I thought everyone forgot about that," she said and rega...

Greetings fellow hussies, and welcome to another kickin' edition of Manor Music Monday. I say "kickin'' cause DJ Li'l Scratch will be playing some fantastic tunes to get you movin' and grovin' tonight at our exclusive after-hours "Love Hole Lounge." Hold on tight - wheeeee! - 'cause were speeding straight to the heart of Memphis soul with a songstress who was born in Missouri. Confused? Don't be. But be prepared to be wowed. Yes, it's the invincible Ann Peebles. Born in Missouri to a family of 11 children, she started singing as a wee one in the choir of her father's church - and also with the family's group, The Peebles Choir, who were often the opening act for touring gospel stars like Mahalia Jackson and the Soul Stirrers. It wasn't long before she was stepping out as a solo performer, and in the 1960s, she was slaying with her own brand of gritty, deeply felt R&B at clubs in St. Louis, then Memphis. It was in Memphi...

Welcome music sloots, to another edition of Music Manor Monday! Tonight, at the Manor's "Lost Sheep Lounge and Dinette," DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning tunes by a criminally-unheralded vocal artist, the one and only Candi Staton, a Southern-Soul dynamo whose been married five times (once to Clarence Carter ), charted hits across five decades, beat breast cancer's ass, and in 2025, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the UK Americana Awards . Which is just another way of saying that she really and truly is all that (as the kids used to say). Candi's life has been a whirlwind of extraordinary talent mixed with heart-wrenching, sometimes shocking, adversity. As a child, her family faced dire poverty and soul-crushing physical abusive from their alcoholic father. Luckily, by age 11, Candi revealed that she had powerful voice chops, and with her sister, joined The Jewell Gospel Trio . They were quickly discovered by talent scouts, thereafter touring throug...

Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Today is a Monday in which all of Hollywood has yet to awaken and most of America has already forgotten about who won what last night at the Emmys. It's also a day when DJ Li'l Scratch is eager to introduce us to yet another forgotten Mademoiselle of Music™, this time a jazz crooner who was also a songwriter and a sharp-eyed businesswoman. Tonight, make sure to swing by the Manor's exclusive Muffin Puffin After Hours Lounge and you'll hear all about this smart 'n fiery sex-bomb songstress. Her name is Nancy Steele, a va-va-voom performer who began her career as a commercial artist in Philadelphia and New York City in the late 1940s and early 50s. At the same time, purely as a hobby, she was taking voice lessons, and her teacher was so impressed, he urged her to pursue a professional career. With that bit of encouragement, it didn't take long for our Nance to snag a prime gig at the ve...

Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Music Manor Monday! Tonight at the Manor's exclusive Kweef Korner Lounge, DJ Li'l Scratch will introduce a forgotten artist who'll remind you of people nowadays that give their children names like Kathron or Mellowdee or Creeklyn or Amaziyah and other such fuckery. Back in the day, all you had do was an an extra letter to be dIfFeReNt. Like an extra "n." As in Annita. No, really. I'm not sure why this was done. It's like meeting someone named "Johnn" or Suue" or "Maaggy" (and how do even you pronounce Annita?) (do you stutter?). Regardless, the one and only Annita Ray had a unique career. In the 1960s, she and singer Diane Hall were known as "girl bookends" for bandleader Ray Anthony - or singing window-dressing for the more "important" Ray and his musicians. By that time, Annita was likely used to being undervalued. But she kept on keeping on, even reco...

Greetings, music hors, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday - with a shout-out to those 'Muricans celebrating Labor Day. Are you doing a cook-out today, maybe going for a dip in the pool? More importantly, are you blasting festive music? Nothing accompanies festive music better than a side of cheesecake, dont'ya think? Speaking of, do you know the lithesome lass featured below? I bet you do, but only in her later incantation. Have you guessed yet? B et’cha haven't. Voila! It's Jaye P. Morgan. Surprised? If you only know her from her 1970s and 80s-era game show appearances - she was hilarious as a judge on "The Gong Show" (and stunned live audiences by flashing her breasts during commercial breaks) - that was just one teensy part of her career which started when she was only 3 years-old in her family's vaudeville act. Later, at age 18, she was hired as the primary vocalist for the Frank DeVol orchestra. Yet she was anything but the normal k...

Greetings music vixens, and welcome to another edition of Music Manor Monday, today with a little Italiano flair, va bene ? Tonight, you can find out what this means by moseying on over to Pompino Club and Winery, where DJ Li'l Cat will be playing some tunes from a very special singing principessa . Quick, which jazz luminary also worked as a featured actress in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II?" There's only one. If you guessed Morgana King, you're right! She played Carmela Corleone, the wife of Don Vito Corleone, or Marlon Brando, in both movies. Interesting side note: the character's first name is never mentioned in either movie, and because she's played by Morgana, she gets to sing a small bit from  "Luna Mezz'o Mare" during the wedding reception scene. The scrappy daughter of Sicilian immigrants, Morgana thrilled audiences from a young age. At 16 years old, she was embraced by New Orleans’ Black audiences at Bohemian Ca...

Greetings, lascivious sloots and layabout loons, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with sass, class and just a touch of Rachel Dolezal (not really, but kinda) (intrigued, aren't you?). I speak of Ruth Olay, a one-of-a-kind singer who started out "passing" as Black while touring with a group of talented Black musicians, all of whom carefully guarded her secret, since, at that time, "mixed" groups were forbidden and they all enjoyed playing together. Some risks were worth taking and her dark complexion and short, naturally curly hair, owing to her Hungarian ancestry, made it easy to fool eagle-eyed bookers and club owners.  Only years later did she break through, finding moderate success after appearing on TV's "The Jack Parr Show." Years previous, it was none other than her friend Ivie Anderson who gave her one of her first big breaks when she invited her to sing with Duke Ellington's band.  Tonight only, at the Manor...

Greetings, music trollops, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with a little opera, a little Broadway, and a big serving of jazz. Confused? Don't be. Back in the day, whenever a musical opened on The Great White Way, the cast album would frequently rise to the top of the music charts. But wait - there's more. When "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway, for instance, and released its cast album, what followed were seemingly endless LPs in which singing stars and celebrated jazz luminaries released their own versions of "My Fair Lady." Want to hear jazz notable Shelly Mann kick it with "My Fair Lady?" Step right up ! And on and on. With many musicals, it was an embarrassment of riches, like when "West Side Story" hit the boards and then the record stores . My grandmother, who was way into jazz, was all over these albums. Want to know - and hear - what this transformative music trend was all about? Then make sure and swi...

Greetings, music hors, and welcome to another edition of Music Manor Monday. Hold tight as we skip-to-me-lou to the recent past, or the early 2000s, a time where you could whiz-bang down the street on Razor Scooters, sashay around in Heeleys , and blast irritating songs like "Hey Ya" by OutKast if you really wanted to work my last nerve. "Fo shizzle my nizzle," as the kids said back then. Right about that time, "nu jazz" - which blended jazz, funk, soul and electronica - reached an amazing creative peak. The heyday didn't last long, since the continued rise of Hip-Hop all but obliterated mainstream niche genres. It's a shame. There was an intelligence at work with nu jazz, which often took existing standards and souped them up to sometimes sublime effect. The long-running  Saint Germaine  series is a good example of this, where jazz tunes from the 1930s and 40s was reinvented, electro-jazz-style, "for the new millennium." Yet at its very ...