Sunday, June 27, 2010

Marian Bruce



Lucky To Be Me (Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)
Let Me Love You (Bart Howard)
It Never Entered My Mind (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
Things Are Looking Up (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
Something To Live For (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn)
Looking For A Boy (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) (Duke Ellington, Paul Francis Webster)
My One And Only (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
A Ship Without A Sail (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
No One Ever Tells You (Hub Atwood, Carroll Coates)
The Gentleman Is A Dope (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
Don't Like Goodbyes (Harold Arlen, Truman Capote)

Marian Bruce (ldr), Joe Wilder (t), Everett Barksdale (g), Jimmy Jones (p), Al Hall (b), Marian Bruce (v) rec. late 1958

Download available for the next 48 hours only

Marian Bruce Logan's NYT obit

Marian Logan, 73, A Civil Rights Aide And Cabaret Singer

By RICHARD D. LYONS
November 28, 1993

Marian Bruce Logan, a civil rights advocate, former New York City Commissioner of Human Rights and a cabaret singer in her youth, died on Thursday at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Medical Center. She was 73.

The cause was emphysema, her son, Warren Arthur Logan, said.

Mrs. Logan was an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a campaign aide for several political figures, including Nelson A. Rockefeller, Robert F. Kennedy and Robert F. Wagner.

Mayor Abraham D. Beame appointed Mrs. Logan to head the Commission on Human Rights in 1977. During her two-year tenure she worked to stop the practice of redlining, by which banks and savings and loan institutions refuse to make mortgage loans to residents of certain areas. Efforts on West Side

Along with her husband, Dr. Arthur C. Logan, a surgeon, she was involved in efforts to stabilize the West Side as an integrated community during urban-renewal efforts there.

Mrs. Logan was a socially prominent fund-raiser who generated financial backing for both national and local civil-rights issues and causes, particularly those of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Mrs. Logan was at one time the only Northern board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She also raised money for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Urban League.

In 1971 the Citizens Union presented Dr. and Mrs. Logan with awards for outstanding public service for their prominence in campaigning for civil rights and better public health.

During her career in show business she sang using the stage name Marian Bruce. In the 1940's and 1950's she starred in the first all-black show to be presented in a Miami Beach nightclub. She also sang in Europe.

Mrs. Logan's husband died previously. She is survived by her son, who lives in Manhattan, and a sister, Esther Harris of Philadelphia.
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postscript
Dr. Arthur Logan was Duke Ellington's personal physician. Both he and his wife were also close personal friends of Ellington. Legendarily, "The Duke," reportedly as "great" a hypocondriac as he was an artist (!), spent much of his down time "on the road" on the phone with Dr. Logan.

Marian Bruce appeared on half the tracks on Luther Henderson's MGM album, Last Night When We Were Young, and also a track or two on Clark Terry's Duke With a Difference. A fine singer!

6 comments:

Piers said...

What an honor to be able to listen to Mrs. Logan.

jeronimo said...

BTW every day at your place there's a surprise!
highly appreciated!!!

jeronimo said...

Sad to hear of her death.
Quite a life she had!
An interesting lady.
Oh so glad to see this album appear here! Any album with Jimmy Jones is great!

thankyouthankyouthankyou

j.

Anonymous said...

The three big jazz labels of the 50's, Prestige, Bluenote and Riverside, did not put emphasis on singers.

I'd be interested in a listing of all of the vocalist records on Riverside. Many are aware of the better known examples, but this one is certainly an obscure one. Did Japan ever do a vinyl reissue, way back when they seemed to reissue the entire Riverside catalogue?

(I'm guessing that they missed many, as I do not believe they reissued the Coleman Hawkins 2 LP interview)

I suppose there are various definitions of "hypocondriac" but my definition would be a person who cannot accomplish anything because of an obsession with being ill. I know about Duke's fear of illness, but it certainly did not slow him down

Bruce said...

Wow - missed this back in 2010 - any chance I could get a link to the album? - I've tried and tried, and tried!
Best and thanks,
Bruce

P.S. I'm a member of the board of Billy Strayhorn Foundation and am writing a chapter in a centennial tribute book. Marian and Billy were awesome together!

Bill Reed said...

This album is a reallllll toughie to find. email me at drchilledair@yahoo.com