Adele Girard Marsala was a jazz harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

ist associated with the Dixieland

Dixieland

Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 and swing (genre)

Swing (genre)

Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...

s. She is one of the first jazz harpists, with only Casper Reardon

Casper Reardon

Casper Reardon was a classical and later jazz harpist. He studied classical harp at the Curtis Institute of Music going on to play for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra...

 predating her. As a musician she is known by her birth name "Adele Girard", but she became "Adele Girard Marsala" on marriage to jazz clarinetist Joe Marsala

Joe Marsala

Joe Marsala was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist and songwriter, born and based in Chicago. He was active during the big band era. Marsala is notable as one of the early employers of drummer Buddy Rich. Among his other musicians included pianist Joe Bushkin and guitarist Jack Lemaire, Carmen...

.

Biography

Adele Girard had classical training in the harp and her mother was an opera singer. This musical background and her choice of instrument made her an unusual figure in jazz. Initially she played piano at lounges and later worked as a singer for Harry Sosnik. At the instigation of her mother, and due to her tendency to trip in the high heels female singers then wore, she began to play harp for his orchestra as a novelty. She went on to play with Jack Teagarden

Jack Teagarden

Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...

 and did work at the Hickory House. She also spent time in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 where she screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...

 and had a minor role in a film. She eloped with Joe Marsala in 1937. Her mother was at first unhappy on discovering this as she had anti-Italian

Anti-Italianism

Anti-Italianism is a hostility toward Italian people utilizing stereotypes about them, such as the idea that the Italians are tolerant of violence, political corruption, Italy's former alliance with Nazi Germany and criminal groups such as the Mafia...

 prejudices. Still, the marriage to Joe would be beneficial and in part because both musicians were Catholic, the marriage continued for the next forty years. However, professionally the couple had difficulty after the rise of bebop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

, as both had trouble adjusting to it.

She became inactive in the late 1940s and much of the 1950s. However in the 1960s she worked in musical theater and also did piano work again. She continued to perform after the death of her husband, with one of her best regarded CDs being a release from 1992, a year before her death.

External links

• [ All Music]