Continued: Final Notes

Singer Connie Haines Dead at 87

by Leslie Johnson

Connie Haines, 87,  who first gained fame when she teamed with Frank Sinatra as a lead vocalist with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, died Sept. 22 in Clearwater Beach, Fla. Cause of death was myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease.

Her birth name was considerably more exotic that her stage name. Born Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais on Jan. 20, 1921, in Savannah, Ga., she grew up in Florida where her mother taught voice and dance. Little Yvonne was already performing by age 4 and winning state contests as a Charleston dancer by age 5. She won contest after contest after that, eventually winning the Major Bowes contest in New York. Soon after, at age 16, she was hired by bandleader Harry James, who changed her name to Connie Haines. She joined Dorsey's band after James' band ran into financial trouble, and found herself in august company, because, at that time, Dorsey's band included Sinatra, Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers.

After leaving Dorsey's band, Ms. Haines had a very successful career, performing at top nightclubs and recording prolifically, including 24 records that sold more than 50,000 copies. During the 1940s, she was rated as one of the top female band singers. She was known especially for her swinging style in singing uptempo tunes.

The versatile vocalist appeared on radio with top talent such as Abbott & Costello, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Jack Benny, and she also appeared on TV with Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, Frankie Laine, Eddie Cantor and Perry Como. There were even forays into movies, including Duchess of Idahoin 1950 with Esther Williams and Van Johnson.

Ms. Haines is survived by her sister, Barbara JaMais, Hemet, Calif.; her daughter, Kimberly Harlan, Prineville, Ore.; her son, Robert DeHaven, Jr., San Francisco; and her mother, Mildred JaMais, Clearwater, Fla., who is 109.

Remembering Dawes Thompson

by Butch Thompson

When I think about my friend Dawes Thompson, who died early last month at 84, I remember how we first met at the St. Louis Ragtime Festival almost 40 years ago. Dawes was a self-taught jazz guitarist, a great rhythm man, and the St. Louis festival was perfect for him. The all-night jam sessions were the best part for a lot of us, and Dawes was always one of the very last to leave. I know because I was the same.

Dawes was born in Trenton, N.J., and he stayed there his whole life. Never a full-time professional musician, he taught himself guitar while stationed in the Yukon Territory as an air traffic controller during the final two years of World War II. After his discharge, he wrote for the Newark Evening News from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and later worked as a spokesman for the Delaware River Basin Commission. But, although music was not his profession, it was, along with friends and family, his passion.

Like me, Dawes was a lifelong Louis Armstrong fanatic, and he was at Town Hall in Manhattan on May 17, 1947, when Armstrong played a legendary concert with a specially assembled small group including trombonist Jack Teagarden, cornetist Bobby Hackett, and other top New York based players. Nearly 40 years later, when I was working a show at the same hall, Dawes came to an afternoon rehearsal and showed me exactly where Armstrong stood that night.

He was a habitué of the New York jazz scene, and he played regular engagements in the city at times, but for Dawes the point was not applause, but the joy of playing with others. He was never happier than when he could jam with friends, whether in a hotel room, on the bank of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, or in his own living room.

Dawes didn't record a lot, but he was greatly admired by his musical compatriots and was part of a very fine group that recorded Jazz: It's a Wonderful Sound! for Diamond Cut Productions on July 29, 1977. Bandmates were Warren Vaché, Sr., bassist/leader; Warren Vaché, Jr., cornet; George Masso, trombone; Clarence Hutchenrider, clarinet; Dick Wellstood, piano, and Johnny Blowers, drums. It's a wonderful swinging session of standards, and Dawes is an integral part of the superb rhythm section.

October 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.