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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZJAXON, Frankie 'Half Pint'(b Frank Devera Jackson, 3 February 1895, Montgomery AL; d 15 May 1953) Blues-styled singer, played piano and saxophone. Orphaned as a small child; to Kansas City at 10 to go to grammar school; began working in vaudeville there at 15, so nicknamed because he was only 5'2" tall. He spent eleven months in the U.S. Army in 1918-19. He made his first records in St Louis in 1926, in Chicago in 1927, with Georgia Tom, 1928 with Tampa Red (see Thomas A. Dorsey), and others; he had his own radio show from the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, recorded with his Hot Shots that year; his eclectic blues/ jazz/ show-biz hokum made him very popular on radio in the 1930s, performing on several stations in Chicago and other midwestern towns with a band as Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon and his Quarts of Joy. He sometimes sang in a falsetto but the story that he performed in drag is apparently not true; his comedy was often bawdy. He worked with the Harlem Hamfats on Decca '37; then to NYC on Decca with excellent jazz support: Lil Armstrong, Henry 'Red' Allen, etc. He wrote several songs, including the suggestive 'Wet It', and 'Fan It', later recorded by Woody Herman. He left music for a government job in 1941 and his last days were a mystery untl Brian Berger's detective work found his spot in the Los Angeles National Cemetery. A CD on a Story Of Blues label compiled '27-40 tracks. |